The Internet is full of recommendations for things you can do while visiting Austin, but we wanted to share a few of our personal favorites. At the bottom is a map so you can see where everything is!
Food and Drink
- Patrizi’s Italian Restaurant has freshly made pasta and is adjacent to the Butterfly Bar, which specializes in cocktails.
- Tyson’s Tacos is generally the first place we bring visitors, and not just because it’s in between the airport and our home.
- Black Star Co-op Pub and Brewery is the country’s first cooperatively owned and worker managed brewpub, and has some awesome food options.
- Jester King Brewery is a world class brewery specializing in farmhouse beers, and it happens to be both in Texas’ scenic Hill Country and alongside the wonderful Stanley’s Farmhouse Pizza.
- Fonda San Miguel has wonderful interior Mexican food, and it has been an Austin institution for decades.
- Easy Tiger is a wonderful bakeshop and restaurant in downtown Austin, and may be opening a north location by the time of the wedding.
- Steeping Room has a lot of great food and tea options, including a number of vegetarian options. They have a location in the Domain, nearby the hotels we have rooms reserved at.
- Veracruz All Natural has great Mexican food from food trucks and a new brick and mortar location in North Austin this Fall.
- Trudy’s has some of the best tex-mex in town.
- Micklethwait Craft Meats has some of the best BBQ in town without the wait of Franklin’s.
- Brentwood Social House is a great breakfast spot, as it has wonderful savory and sweet baked goods as well as coffee and tea.
- Batch serves craft kolaches and beer. They’re super tasty with both savory and sweet options.
- ABGB is an award winning micro brewpub in South Austin. They also serve pizza. They’re really fantastic at both.
- Radio Coffee and Beer is a very chill very ‘Austin’ space down south. They also house a food truck for Veracruz All Natural mentioned above.
- Paco’s Tacos is yet another super tasty tex mex option in town.
Activities:
- Lady Bird Wildflower Center is a great botanical garden featuring, well, wildflowers.
- Hope Outdoor Gallery, aka the Graffiti Park, is a large outdoor diy park that lets you spray paint whatever you want, or you can just take a look at the art made by others. (BYO paint)
- Congress Avenue Kayaks lets you rent kayaks and paddleboards to use on lady bird lake.
- South Congress is full of shops to peruse and food to eat.
- The Congress Avenue bridge, aka Bat Bridge, is home to the largest North American urban bat population. Every evening at dusk, you can see them embark on their nightly feeding. It’s really cool, and although it’ll be a little off peak season for the bats, it’ll still be a marvel.
- Texas Capitol is a great short trip full of Texas history.
- Mount Bonnell is a short steep walk that provides a view of the whole city.
- Zilker Botanical Garden is a beautiful walk.
- Umlauf Sculpture Garden has some wonderful outdoor art.
- Rainey Street has a number of upscale restaurants and bars. It also happens to be where Doug and Ana celebrated their engagement after Doug proposed a short walk away adjacent to Waller Creek.
Coffee shops:
- Thunderbird Coffee – Great coffee, and they have beer and food too.
- Epoch – They have two very different locations both in North Austin. Our favorite is open 24/7 and also offers both baked treats and pizza by the slice.
- Barrett’s – great coffee, but they also sell home made breakfast tacos.
- Mozart’s Coffee – Have tasty cheesecake and coffee while enjoying views of the lake.