Lonely Planet Pocket Austin

By Amy C Balfour and Stephen Lioy

Lonely Planet's Pocket Austin is your guide to the city's best experiences and local life - neighborhood by neighborhood. Enjoy live music at the legendary Continental Club, marvel at the bat colony of Congress Avenue Bridge and relax at Zilker Park; all with your trusted travel companion. Uncover the best of Austin and make the most of your trip!
Inside Lonely Planet's Pocket Austin:

Up-to-date information - all businesses were rechecked before publication to ensure they are still open after 2020's COVID-19 outbreak

Full-color maps and travel photography throughout

Highlightsand itineraries help you tailor a trip to your personal needs and interests

Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots

Essential infoat your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices

Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sightseeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss

Convenient pull-out Austin map (included in print version), plus over 18 color neighborhood maps

User-friendly layout with helpful icons, and organized by neighborhood to help you pick the best spots to spend your time

Covers the Warehouse District, Red River, 6th St, University of Texas Campus area, SoCo and more

The Perfect Choice:Lonely Planet's Pocket Austin, an easy-to-use guide filled with top experiences - neighborhood by neighborhood - that literally fits in your pocket. Make the most of a quick trip to Austin with trusted travel advice to get you straight to the heart of the city.

Looking for more extensive coverage? Check out Lonely Planet's Texas guide for a comprehensive look at all that the region has to offer.

About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveler since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and phrasebooks for 120 languages, and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travelers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, videos, 12 international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more, enabling you to explore every day.

'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' – New York Times

'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveler's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' – Fairfax Media (Australia)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lonely Planet
• Release date: Dec 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781837581405

Book preview

Front CoverFull Page Samplerbutton

Contents

Plan Your Trip

Austin’s Top Experiences

Dining Out

Bar Open

Showtime

Treasure Hunt

Outdoor Activities

Museums

Under the Radar Austin

Weird Austin

For Free

LGBTIQ+ Austin

For Kids

Four Perfect Days

Need to Know

Austin Neighborhoods

Explore Austin

Downtown Austin

East Austin

South Austin

UT & Central Austin

Market District, Clarksville & North Austin

West Austin

San Antonio

Survival Guide

Survival Guide

Before You Go

Arriving in Austin

Getting Around

Essential Information

Responsible Travel

Behind the Scenes

Our Writers

COVID-19

We have re-checked every business in this book before publication to ensure that it is still open after the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the economic and social impacts of COVID-19 will continue to be felt long after the outbreak has been contained, and many businesses, services and events referenced in this guide may experience ongoing restrictions. Some businesses may be temporarily closed, have changed their opening hours and services, or require bookings; some unfortunately could have closed permanently. We suggest you check with venues before visiting for the latest information.

Austin’s

Top Experiences

See government in action at Texas State Capitol

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Austin’s Top Experiences

Remember the Alamo at Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum

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Austin’s Top Experiences

Watch the nightly bat swarm under Congress Avenue Bridge

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Austin’s Top Experiences

Become a Longhorn for a day at the University of Texas

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Austin’s Top Experiences

Explore San Antonio’s historic icon: the Alamo

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Austin’s Top Experiences

Stroll along San Antonio’s River Walk

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Austin’s Top Experiences

Climb the 102 steps of Mt Bonnell

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Austin’s Top Experiences

Discover the flora of Texas at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

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Austin’s Top Experiences

Look and learn at Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) Library & Museum

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Austin’s Top Experiences

Enjoy the outdoors at Zilker Park

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Dining Out

The Austin food scene is innovative and downright delicious. Barbecue and Tex-Mex are mainstays, but fine-dining restaurants and world cuisines abound. Downtown eateries are a mixed bag, serving tourists, business folks, politicians, artists and night-owl clubbers. South Austin and East Austin have lots of interesting choices, including amazing food trucks. Around the UT campus prices drop – but often so does quality.

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Food Trucks

From epicurean Airstreams to regular old taco trucks, food trailers are kind of a big deal in Austin, and wandering from one to another is a fun way to experience the local food scene. Because of their transient nature, we haven’t listed any of these rolling restaurants, but since they travel in packs, we can tell you where they tend to congregate.

South Austin Trailer Park and Eatery This seems to be a rather settled trailer community, with a fence, an official name, a sign and picnic tables.

East Austin This area has its own little enclave, conveniently located right among all the bars on the corner of E 6th and Waller Sts.

Rainey Street A cluster of food trucks is ready to serve the downtown hordes downing beers at nearby bars.

Best Cheap Eats

Hopdoddy Burger Bar Join the line for gourmet burgers.

Veracruz All Natural Food truck that sells tacos so popular they hand you a buzzer.

Home Slice Stop by before or after South Congress fun for pizza.

Ramen Tatsu-ya Get your spicy ramen fix here.

Tacodeli Taco perfection made sublime by the spicy dona sauce.

Best Old Favorites

Güero’s Taco Bar Everybody loves Güero’s for the tacos, margaritas and conviviality.

Texas Chili Parlor Load up your chili with cheese and sour cream.

Fonda San Miguel Old Mexico dishes drawing fans for 25 years.

Kerbey Lane Café Great service, big menu, delicious food – a winner.

Best Evening Out

Uchiko Innovative sushi and Japanese specialties in warmly glossy digs.

Dai Due Flavor-packed fare from the butcher next door and farms nearby.

Barley Swine Seasonal farm-to-table specialties and great cocktails.

Wink Modern French and Asian dishes are ready for your date night.

Launderette Lauded restaurant serving Mediterranean-inspired meals.

Worth a Trip

They call it the Texas Barbecue Trail (www.texasbbqtrails.com): 80 artery-clogging miles of the best brisket, ribs and sausage Texas has to offer, stretching from Taylor (36 miles northeast of Austin) down to Luling. Marketing gimmick? Perhaps. Do our stomachs care? They do not. If your schedule or limited appetite make driving two hours and eating at 12 different barbecue restaurants unfeasible, make a beeline for brisket in Lockhart, or, if it’s hot sausage you crave, Elgin is your best bet.

Bar Open

There are bajillions of bars in Austin. The legendary 6th St bar scene has spilled onto nearby thoroughfares, especially Red River St. Many 6th St places are shot bars aimed at college students and tourists. The Red River establishments retain a harder local edge. A few blocks south, Rainey St is also jumping, with old bungalows now home to watering holes. The coffee culture is strong.

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6th Street

Sixth St cuts across the city. In and around downtown, sections of the street have different nicknames when it comes to nightlife. Dirty 6th is the wild, bar-lined section stretching from Congress Ave east to I-35. East 6th refers to the burgeoning strip of restaurants and bars lining 6th St east of I-35 in East Austin. West 6th, west of Congress Ave, has a few solid dive bars and live-music venues. Also note that 6th St runs one way, from east to west, between Hwy 1/MoPac Expwy and I-35.

Chicken Shit Bingo

We love the Little Longhorn Saloon any old time, but for a uniquely Austin outing, you’ve really got to experience the Sunday-night phenomenon known as Chicken Shit Bingo. Beer-swilling patrons throw down their bets of $2 per square and wait to see what number the chicken ‘chooses,’ with the whole pot going to the winner. The chicken doesn’t seem to mind.

Coffee Culture

Austin’s a laid-back kind of town, so cultivate your slacker vibe by hanging out, sipping coffee and watching everyone else doing the same. Most places offer light meals too.

Best Coffee Culture

Bouldin Creek Coffee House Very representative of the South Austin scene, with a great vegetarian menu to boot.

Hideout Coffee House & Theatre Despite its downtown location, it has a near-campus vibe and damn fine brews.

Sa-Ten Coffee & Eats Enjoy Japanese snacks with your latte in an East Austin artists complex.

Mozart’s Coffee Roasters On Lake Austin you’ll find a great waterfront view and a sinful dessert case.

Spider House North of campus, Spider House has a big patio bedecked with all sorts of oddities. It’s open late and also serves beer and wine.

Best Craft Beer

Easy Tiger Laid-back beer garden between a creek and a bakery.

Craft Pride On Rainey St, only sells Texas beers.

ABGB Picnic tables, live music, great home brews and tasty pizza.

Scholz Garten Long-running downtown favorite with beers and barbecue.

Jester King Brewery In Dripping Springs, serving sour beers in a rustic setting.

Best Atmosphere

Driskill Hotel With taxidermy and leather couches, this clubby bar is prime for making deals.

Mean Eyed Cat The whole interior is an ode to Johnny Cash.

Hotel San José Hip style and fine drinks in a South Austin courtyard.

Whisler’s If Austin has vampires, they surely lurk in this dark cocktail bar.

Garage Craft cocktails in a parking garage hideaway.

Top Tip: Food Trucks at Bars

Some of the best late-night bars don’t serve food but you can recharge at food trucks permanently parked on the property, usually in the yard out back. Check the bar’s website before heading out if you think you might get late-night munchies.

Showtime

When it comes to the performing arts, there is more to Austin than live music. The city is home to a thriving movie-going culture, an active local theater community and a strong comedy and improv scene. And college-football viewing at UT is no small affair, with average attendance per game topping 95,000.

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Find a Perfomance

Entertainment information can be found in the Austin Chronicle, out on Thursdays, or on the Austin American-Statesman’s 360 website (www.austin360.com). The latter has streamlined listings for concerts and nightlife. The Chronicle’s night-by-night encyclopedia of listings often includes set times, plus music critics’ picks and local gossip.

Live Music

On any given Friday night there are several hundred acts playing, and even on a Monday or Tuesday, you’ll typically have your pick of performances. Cover charges range from $5 for local bands to $15 or more for touring acts. Music shows often start late and doors almost always open half an hour to an hour before showtime. Showing up at the last minute or fashionably late may result in not getting in. If you want to start early, most