AUSTIN · TEXAS
Live music, lake boats, bats over Congress at dusk.
Sixth Street pub crawls, Lady Bird Lake kayak tours, Hill Country BBQ shuttles and the bat bridge at sunset. The Live Music Capital, ranked and reviewed.
Only in Austin
Three things you can’t do anywhere else.
City tours, breweries and food walks happen in every U.S. city. These three don’t. A 1.5-million-bat sunset, the country’s densest live-music strip, and a wine-and-BBQ country half an hour west. Plan the rest of the trip around them.
At dusk
1.5 Million Bats Over Congress
The largest urban bat colony in North America roosts under the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge. From late March to early November, around 1.5 million Mexican Free-tailed bats stream out at sunset in a dark ribbon over Lady Bird Lake. You watch it from a kayak, a paddleboard, a sunset cruise or the bridge itself.
- 1 Congress Avenue Bat Bridge Kayak Tour in Austin
- 2 Austin: Sunset Bat Watching Kayak Tour
- 3 Downtown Austin Sunset Kayak Tour with 1.5 Million Bats
After dark
The Live Music Capital
Austin has more venues per capita than any city in the U.S. and the city trademarked the phrase "Live Music Capital of the World" because no one else could. Sixth Street, Red River, Rainey, South Congress — guided pub crawls move between three or four rooms in a single night so you hear the city, not just one bar.
- 1 Austin Live Music Crawl
- 2 Austin Haunted Pub Crawl Walking Tour
- 3 Downtown Austin Live Music Pub Crawl
Day trip
BBQ & Wine in the Hill Country
Texas Hill Country starts about thirty minutes west of downtown: thirty-plus wineries around Fredericksburg, the Driftwood smoked-brisket trail, distilleries through Dripping Springs. Day shuttles from Austin handle the driving so you can actually drink the wine and eat the BBQ.
- 1 Austin and Hill Country Sightseeing Tour
- 2 Half-Day Hill Country Wine Shuttle From Austin
- 3 From Austin: Hill Country BBQ & Wine Shuttle
The first day
Start where everyone starts.
If you’ve only got one day in Austin, this is where to begin. Booked more than any other tour in the city — a half-day that gets you Capitol, downtown, Mt. Bonnell and a feel for which neighbourhood you want to come back to.
The classics
Austin’s Most Popular Tours
Sixth Street, Lady Bird Lake, the Texas Capitol, the Hill Country shuttle out west. The tours readers book first when they land in Austin.
By place
Pick a corner of Austin.
Each one is its own day. Downtown for the music and the Capitol. Lady Bird Lake for the kayaks and the bats. Lake Austin for the sunset cruises. Hill Country for the wine and the brisket. South Congress for everything weird.
By tour type
Or pick how you want to spend the day.
Live music if you came for the bands. Kayak if you came for the lake. Bat watching if you’re here in summer. Pedicab if it’s a Friday night downtown. Ghost walk if you want the spooky cut of Sixth Street.
Plan a day
From the Capitol at dawn to Sixth Street at last call.
Austin fills a whole day. Here’s where to start it, where to be at sunset, and where to end it — the top-reviewed tour for each slot, in order.
- 1 Morning Texas Capitol & Mt. Bonnell Austin Small Group Morning Walk Walk it before the heat
- 2 Afternoon Food, Bikes & Breweries Austin in a Nutshell Bike Tour with a Local Guide Tacos, e-bikes, brewery shuttle
- 3 Sunset Lady Bird Lake & the Bats Lake Travis Public Sunset Tour, BYOB Kayak out under the bridge
- 4 After Dark Sixth Street & Ghost Walks Austin Murder Walk Pub crawl or the spooky cut
On the water
Lady Bird Lake, Lake Austin, Lake Travis.
Three lakes inside city limits or twenty minutes out: kayak under the bat bridge, cruise the cliffs of Lake Austin, sunset BYOB on Lake Travis. Three water days we’d send anyone to first.
When the bands start
After dark on Sixth Street.
Sixth Street, Red River, Rainey, South Congress — guided crawls that move you between three or four rooms so you actually hear the city, not just one bar. Our three favourites for a night out.
Day trips from Austin
Out into the Hill Country.
Wineries around Fredericksburg, the Driftwood smoked-brisket trail, the Alamo in San Antonio — all reachable as a day from town if someone else is driving. Three shuttles we’d book first.
Keep Austin weird
The quirky cut of the city.
Murals along South Congress, scavenger hunts that bring you to the “I love you so much” wall, escape rooms downtown, pedicabs through Sixth Street, the Museum of Ice Cream. Three picks for travellers who want Austin’s other side.
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