Austin, Texas
Austin was our Texas adventure, and we packed two trips into late 2022 — a Thanksgiving-week visit and a Christmas stay at a downtown studio on Barton Springs Road.
Our experience
We came for the music, the food, and that famously offbeat capital-city energy. Live music spills out of clubs on every block, the barbecue and Tex-Mex are worth the trip alone, and the city wraps around the Colorado River and its swimming holes.
We loved being downtown within walking distance of the lake and the bridge, with green space and live shows always close at hand. It's a city that takes "keep it weird" seriously, and we were glad to play along.
Austin is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America — up to 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats roost under the Congress Avenue Bridge and stream out at dusk each evening from spring through fall.
Must-sees and must-dos
- Congress Avenue Bridge bats — the dusk emergence of more than a million bats in season.
- Barton Springs Pool — a spring-fed swimming hole that stays around 68–70°F year-round.
- Sixth Street & South Congress — the live-music and shopping heart of the city.
- Texas State Capitol — a striking pink-granite landmark you can tour.
- Lady Bird Lake — the downtown waterfront trail and paddling, steps from where we stayed.
- Barbecue & Tex-Mex — the food pilgrimage that defines an Austin trip.
Our pro tip
We found late fall a sweet spot — our Thanksgiving and Christmas visits dodged the brutal summer heat. Stay downtown or just south near Barton Springs to walk to the lake and music.
If you want the bats, go between March and October, when the famous Congress Avenue Bridge colony is active.
Catch the dusk emergence with a Congress Avenue Bridge bat experience on Klook, or take a different view on an Austin Night Tour with Sunset Boat Cruise and Bat Watching.