Upstay's Guide to Austin TX

Outdoors

Barton Spirngs

Barton Springs is a pool/creek that everyone flocks to in the warm summer months. Fed by a natural cold-water spring in Zilker Park, the pool exists within the channel of Barton Creek and uses water from Main Barton Spring, the fourth-largest spring in Texas.

Waterloo Park

Waterloo Park has a growing park system based around Waller Creek with playgrounds, open green spaces and free community events at the Moody Amphitheater.

Lady Bird Lake & Bike Trail

Winding through trees, bridges and more, the Lady Bird Lake Hike and Bike Trail stretches from the Tom Miller Dam on the West side to the Longhorn Dam on the East. The trail's 10.1 miles are some of the most popular in all of Austin.

Food & Drink

East 6th St. "The Dirty 6th"

East Sixth Street (known locally as Dirty Sixth) plays host to a wide variety of events each year, ranging from music and film festivals (such as South by Southwest) to biker rallies (such as The Republic of Texas Biker Rally) and the Pecan Street Festival. The neighborhood has a vibrant arts scene with murals and street art that pay homage to the area's rich Mexican American culture and history.

Rainey St. Historic District

Rainey Street Historic District is a lively alternative to the nightlife scene, it's made up of former residences that have been converted to backyard pubs and eateries.

Picnic Food Trailer Park

Each truck is contracted to stick around for at least a year, so visitors and guests can map out their favorite bites before visiting from out of town. Located near Zilker Park, The Picnic is a great spot to satisfy hunger after a busy day of Austin exploring.

Things To Do

See The Bats

A 1980 renovation transformed the Congress Avenue Bridge into an ideal bat cave, soon attracting migrating Mexican free-tailed bats. Starting in late March and continuing through early fall, hundreds to thousands of bats pour out and cascade East over Lady Bird Lake nightly at sundown. Don't miss the mid-August Bat-Fest, which is during the peak of the migrating season, where you can expect live music, loads of food and drink vendors, and more, at this bat-viewing party each year.

SXSW

South by Southwest, commonly referred to as SXSW, is a conference and festivals that focuses discussion on several key industries like tech, music, film, education and more. Founded in Austin in 1987, this conference has grown exponentially over the years to become the world renowned conference that it is today. Noted filmmakers, musicians and multimedia artists from around the world converge to showcase music, film and interactive media during this internationally-recognized event every March.

Austin City Limits Festival

ACL Festival is is the city's highly anticipated music festival that takes place every October. The two-weekend event brings together more than 130 acts from all over the world to play rock, indie, country, folk, electronic and more on eight stages. The festival is held at Zilker park.