Austin, Texas - Highly Recommended
They say Austin is the blueberry in the strawberry pie. Although I haven't spent much time in Texas (thank god), I can definitely see where this expression comes from. What a badass city!
Even though Austin is a relatively small city, it has a great big-city feel but it's easily accessible and there is plenty to do. I'd been hearing great things about the city, so my bff Chris and I decided to take a 3 day/3 night trip to explore the fun.
First things first, I'm obsessed with Austin's airporter bus. It cost $1 and only takes 20 minutes to from the airport to downtown Austin. I can honestly say its the cheapest and easiest public transport into the main part of town than in any other city. And getting from downtown back to the airport was just as easy. They have social media tied to all of their public transit - it's amazing!
We stayed at the Hilton on 4th Street - it was right by the (awesome) Convention Center and really well centrally located. It also has a really great gym and spa facilities and a wonderful rooftop pool. I'm sure there tons of great hotels in the city just make sure to stay north of the river in the Downtown area.
The first night we arrive we went to an awesome restaurant called Koriente. It's fun and easy Asian fusion. Really great, cheap and healthy. We loved it and I highly recommend it. Definitely stop by the capitol. You can go in for free and it's fun to cruise around. Texas sure does love their Texas Stars!
In Downtown Austin lies 6th Street - quite possibly the craziest street I've seen in an American metropolitan city. It's basically one big street with nearly every other store front as a bar. They block off the side streets and hundreds of people walk up and down the street bar hopping. It's very similar to DP in Isla Vista, but with people of all ages! There were SO many people we were just in awe... and it wasn't even a holiday weekend or anything. Definitely go there at least one night - lots to see and tons of cool bars. We stopped into Pete's Dueling Piano Bar right on 6th and had a blast! Lots of fun and cheap drinks... live music and tons of fun.
We walked west and on 5th Street is a bar called Rebel's Honky Tonk. This had been recommended to me by a friend for a classic Texas bar, and man that's sure what we got. A mechanical bull, line dancing, fucking amazing two set couples dancing around and I even arm-wrestled a few girls on the arm wrestling table. It was fun to watch the couples - super into it and having fun. I got myself onto the stage area to do a line dance but I really am not good. Definitely worth stopping in to check it out! There are a few other more clubby bars in that area too if you're looking for something more dance-focused.
Austin is supposedly the live music capital of the world. Can't say for sure if that's true but there is TONS of amazing live music - and we sure got our share of it. The first night we saw Cicso, the Expendables and Iration at a little theatre outside of town. For $18 it was a pretty good deal. We saw a really amazing band at a bar called Friends. Super cheap drinks and GREAT music. We also attended the FUNFUNFUNfest. We only knew a few bands but it was really fun to people watch and see some good music. They had two stages for the main stage so they could switch bands without it taking forever... I had never seen that and I thought it was cool. Austin is full of hipsters, tattoo'ed people and diversity. Definitely a really cool mix of people. Lots of culture.
Probably one of my favorite spots in Austin is Rainey Street. The old houses on the street were basically converted into bars... from the outside you'd have no idea they are bars and restaurants We stopped in to a beer and sausage place and sat outside on long beer-garden-like tables and enjoyed a few local brews. I had a really strong cider and got PRETTY tipsy. Don't miss this stop on your Austin trip!
One day Chris and I rented bikes and rode around the Austin's amazing Whole Foods. This is also a must stop. The Whole Foods here was the original store and it's HUGE! Amazing food stations and lots to see. We were there for over an hour and didn't even buy anything.
Next we headed to the University of Texas campus. With over 50,000 students the campus is really big. It was pretty nice with a great view of the city, but definitely not on my top ten list or anything It's worth checking out although we didn't get to see the stadium.
Another must-stop location/attraction is the Lake Ladybug. I'm not sure why they call it a lake... it's definitely a river. You can run up and down the river and see great city view. There are tons of runners and walkers and it's something you won't want to skip on. We heard great things about Barton Springs but ran out of time at the last minute.
Austin is really a great city. We had so much fun and got to see a lot of things. Check out some really good frozen yogurt at Berry Austin. There are tons of great restaurants including some good TexMex, really fun bars and quirky shops. We got really lucky with the weather... early November worked out well for us but I imagine it could be bath weather as well.
KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD!! And go visit!!
Even though Austin is a relatively small city, it has a great big-city feel but it's easily accessible and there is plenty to do. I'd been hearing great things about the city, so my bff Chris and I decided to take a 3 day/3 night trip to explore the fun.
First things first, I'm obsessed with Austin's airporter bus. It cost $1 and only takes 20 minutes to from the airport to downtown Austin. I can honestly say its the cheapest and easiest public transport into the main part of town than in any other city. And getting from downtown back to the airport was just as easy. They have social media tied to all of their public transit - it's amazing!
We stayed at the Hilton on 4th Street - it was right by the (awesome) Convention Center and really well centrally located. It also has a really great gym and spa facilities and a wonderful rooftop pool. I'm sure there tons of great hotels in the city just make sure to stay north of the river in the Downtown area.
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| View from Hilton Rooftop Pool |
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| Cool Chairs! |
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| Do work! |
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| Live Music at Friends |
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| 6th Street Madness |
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| Pete's Dueling Piano Bar |
We walked west and on 5th Street is a bar called Rebel's Honky Tonk. This had been recommended to me by a friend for a classic Texas bar, and man that's sure what we got. A mechanical bull, line dancing, fucking amazing two set couples dancing around and I even arm-wrestled a few girls on the arm wrestling table. It was fun to watch the couples - super into it and having fun. I got myself onto the stage area to do a line dance but I really am not good. Definitely worth stopping in to check it out! There are a few other more clubby bars in that area too if you're looking for something more dance-focused.
Austin is supposedly the live music capital of the world. Can't say for sure if that's true but there is TONS of amazing live music - and we sure got our share of it. The first night we saw Cicso, the Expendables and Iration at a little theatre outside of town. For $18 it was a pretty good deal. We saw a really amazing band at a bar called Friends. Super cheap drinks and GREAT music. We also attended the FUNFUNFUNfest. We only knew a few bands but it was really fun to people watch and see some good music. They had two stages for the main stage so they could switch bands without it taking forever... I had never seen that and I thought it was cool. Austin is full of hipsters, tattoo'ed people and diversity. Definitely a really cool mix of people. Lots of culture.
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| FUNFUNFUNfest |
Probably one of my favorite spots in Austin is Rainey Street. The old houses on the street were basically converted into bars... from the outside you'd have no idea they are bars and restaurants We stopped in to a beer and sausage place and sat outside on long beer-garden-like tables and enjoyed a few local brews. I had a really strong cider and got PRETTY tipsy. Don't miss this stop on your Austin trip!
One day Chris and I rented bikes and rode around the Austin's amazing Whole Foods. This is also a must stop. The Whole Foods here was the original store and it's HUGE! Amazing food stations and lots to see. We were there for over an hour and didn't even buy anything.
Next we headed to the University of Texas campus. With over 50,000 students the campus is really big. It was pretty nice with a great view of the city, but definitely not on my top ten list or anything It's worth checking out although we didn't get to see the stadium.
Another must-stop location/attraction is the Lake Ladybug. I'm not sure why they call it a lake... it's definitely a river. You can run up and down the river and see great city view. There are tons of runners and walkers and it's something you won't want to skip on. We heard great things about Barton Springs but ran out of time at the last minute.
Austin is really a great city. We had so much fun and got to see a lot of things. Check out some really good frozen yogurt at Berry Austin. There are tons of great restaurants including some good TexMex, really fun bars and quirky shops. We got really lucky with the weather... early November worked out well for us but I imagine it could be bath weather as well.
KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD!! And go visit!!
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