Austin, TXBy ArrivLast checked
Plan a trip to Austin
Barbecue, swimming holes, and a live-music calendar that fills up on weeknights. Stay near the water. Most of the good stuff sits within a few miles of the river, so the city plans more easily than its sprawl suggests.
- Bachelor parties
- Group trips
- Food trips
- Music
Free to run, and you keep editing after. Add who's coming or a pace like “slow mornings” to shape the result.
Austin at a glance
A 3 to 4 day trip to Austin comes down to a few decisions: which stops earn a morning, whether you sleep in Downtown / Rainey or somewhere cheaper, and whether the month you picked was the right one. This page has an opinion on each. Change any of it once it is on the map.
- How long
- 3–4 days
- When to go
- March to May, then October to November. Summer sits near 100°F. SXSW in March and ACL in October both spike hotel prices city-wide, so check the calendar before you commit to any dates.
- Getting around
- Rideshare covers most of it. Downtown and South Congress are walkable on their own, and once you find the trail around Lady Bird Lake, it connects more than people expect. A car helps for Hill Country only.
What to build the plan around
- 1
Franklin Barbecue
The line starts before opening and moves for hours, so La Barbecue and Terry Black's are the shorter answers.
- 2
Barton Springs Pool
Spring-fed and 68°F year-round, so it is the reset button after a heavy lunch.
- 3
Rainey Street
Bungalow bars in a row, walkable from downtown hotels, and busy from happy hour on, so the early table is the one to take.
- 4
South Congress
Shops, patios, and the Congress Avenue Bridge bat flight at dusk from March through October, which is worth timing around.
Where to stay in Austin
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- Downtown / Rainey
- A walk to the bars and the river, though it is the loudest and most expensive. Browse stays in Downtown / Rainey
- South Congress
- Quieter blocks with good food, and a short ride to downtown when you want it. Browse stays in South Congress
- East Austin
- Best food per block and the least polished of the three, with nothing much in the way of hotels, so most people rideshare in for dinner. Browse stays in East Austin
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More itineraries to copy
Each one opens as a map with every stop already placed.
Austin planning questions
- How many days do you need in Austin?
- 3 to 4 days is the usual answer, and the low end works only if you skip one of the four stops. Three days covers barbecue, a swim, and two nights out. A fourth day opens up Hamilton Pool, which needs a reservation, or a Hill Country drive that will happily eat the afternoon.
- What is the best time to visit Austin?
- March to May, then October to November. Summer sits near 100°F. SXSW in March and ACL in October both spike hotel prices city-wide, so check the calendar before you commit to any dates.
- Where should I stay in Austin?
- Depends what you want to be able to reach on foot. Downtown / Rainey: A walk to the bars and the river, though it is the loudest and most expensive. South Congress: Quieter blocks with good food, and a short ride to downtown when you want it. East Austin: Best food per block and the least polished of the three, with nothing much in the way of hotels, so most people rideshare in for dinner. Nightly rate and walking distance pull against each other in all three, so you have to pick the version of that trade you mind least.
- How do you get around Austin?
- Rideshare covers most of it. Downtown and South Congress are walkable on their own, and once you find the trail around Lady Bird Lake, it connects more than people expect. A car helps for Hill Country only.
- What should I see first in Austin?
- Start with Franklin Barbecue, Barton Springs Pool, Rainey Street. Schedule the first of those before anything else, because it is the one that suffers most from a late start. The line starts before opening and moves for hours, so La Barbecue and Terry Black's are the shorter answers.
- Is there a free Austin itinerary I can copy?
- Yes, and reading it costs nothing. Arriv has a Austin itinerary with every stop mapped and a day-by-day order to follow, which is enough to plan from without touching it. Duplicate it into a trip of your own and the dates, the places, and the order are all yours to change.