Austin during the day?
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Anonymous
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We have been invited to a wedding at a hotel about 45 minutes outside austin. Both the friday rehearsal dinner (7pm) and wedding/reception (6:30pm on saturday) are outside the city. DH and i have always wanted to visit austin, because we like cool small cities, checking out bars, live music etc. Also generally enjoy daytime activities in smaller walkable cities, like brunch, small shops, exploring the architecture, etc. Just by way of example, we've really enjoyed visiting savannah and durham for weddings in the past couple years. Both daytime and evening found fun stuff to walk to.
Because of where the wedding events are, we figure the only time we'll have in austin is 9am to 3pm on saturday. We've always had the impression that austin's attraction was the nightlife. What with having to pay for childcare for the weekend to leave DD at home, expensive flights ($600 rt), hotel, rental car, etc, this would be an expensive weekend for the two of us (~$3000). We also literally do not know a single person at the wedding except the groom. Having a getaway weekend at this hotel isn't a huge draw for us. SO we are trying to figure out if we send DH by himself to make a showing at the wedding, and i stay home and keep it simple. Or if austin offers fun stuff to do during the day that it would make the weekend a little more fun. Would we feel like we got to see a bit of downtown austin? Tell me, please! |
Anonymous
| I live in Austin. I love Austin. However, I would stay home. First, I would never in a million years consider spending 3K to attend any wedding, let alone a wedding where we didn't know anyone but the groom. I also wouldn't leave my kid for the weekend for that type of event (I would leave them, for sure, but not for this type of scenario). From 9 - 3 on a Saturday, you could go and have a nice brunch, walk around the shops on South Congress, have coffee, take a walk around Town Lake, have lunch, and then either drive to a lookout spot like Mt. Bonnell or the one off of 360 by the Pennybacher bridge, or sit in the courtyard of Guerro's or somewhere else if there is live music. Where is the wedding? What month are we talking? |
Anonymous
Next month, in the Lakeway area, which i think is NW of Austin. The friday dinner is 30 minutes due south of Lakeway, so we'd probably spend friday night in Austin proper. The cash isn't a huge deal to spend for us, and it's not far off what we have had to spend for various domestic weddings in smaller towns (because there are never cheap flights). That said, i don't want to spend money for nothing, either. |
Anonymous
| Next month will be nice - not too hot yet - which is great. My recommendations are the same if you're willing to drive in to Austin to stroll around a bit and eat. If they are getting married out there, I'll bet they will be at lovely locations since it is pretty open and scenic. I still would either spend 3K on a weekend that you both can plan at your leisure or to come back to Austin and stay and explore the city on your own schedule. The San Jose Hotel on S congress is really lovely and so is the Driskill Hotel on 6th. If you eat bbq, you can skip Franklin's (there's always a line) and instead go to La Barbecue (https://www.labarbecue.com/) which is equally amazing and doesn't have a line. |
Anonymous
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Different poster.
Great information, PP, because I will be in Austin next month (April) for a day. I will take your advice about the restaurants; I definitely want some barbecue! I also sent away for the Convention & Visitors Bureau info packet from the Austin web site and some things have started to arrive. Are there any places that I should definitely see, including any cool shopping districts? I will have a car. I know the slogan I always think about is the 'keep Austin weird' but I didn't know if it is just quirky in general or if there are really some places I don't want to miss. I love to explore new towns and cities! Thanks in advance! |
Anonymous
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If you like nature/flowers, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is nice. It's about 20 minutes from downtown Austin. There may be too early for the fields of wildflowers when you visit, though...you may want to check their website.
The LBJ Library on the UT-Austin campus is very interesting, too. |
Anonymous
South Congress is the most famous - I'd definitely spend time there shopping and eating. There are a ton of places on that strip to eat - Torchy's Tacos (Obama ate there when he visited) and it's awesome. They have a secret menu in addition to the posted one, so look it up online. Theres Home Slice pizza, also great, and several other higher end places. You can take a tour of the State Capital, which is nice. Lady Bird Wildflower Center is lovely, the Bullock TX State Museum is great, the LBJ Library is great, and there is a huge food truck park on the East Side of I-35 that is well known. There are several breweries around town. Amy's Ice Cream is well known. You can look up great restaurants in the Austin American Statesman, which does regular reviews of places. If it's warm, you can rent kayaks or canoes or other things to use on the Lake (right in town), or you can just walk around the lake, which is lovely. Mt. Bonnell gives a great view of Austin as does the overlook on 360 (google it - but it's awesome). have fun! |
Anonymous
| Austin is a cool city, but how much of any City can you see and experience in 6 hours? |
Anonymous
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I spent about 6 hours in Austin a couple years ago and saw quite a bit.
I went to the LBJ Presidential Library, which was interesting. Then I went down to 6th and signed up for a van tour of Austin, so got to see the sights around town and even a little of hill country. Then I ate at Green Mesquite BBQ and caught some live music. Then I left! It was a nice day. |
Anonymous
Well, I think you can see Baltimore, Durham, Savannah, Syracuse, Palm Springs, Burlington, Portland (ME), Sarasota, Charlottesville.... those are a handful of cities that I just thought of in 1 minute that I've visited and feel like I saw the city in an afternoon. Sure, I didn't visit every attraction (but I suspect many residents haven't visited all the attractions, either). And I didn't see much of where people actually live. But when a downtown core is only 4 blocks square, it's pretty easy to see a city in an afternoon. |
Anonymous
| This is 2203. Thank you for all the suggestions, everyone! I'm totally psyched about the trip. And I do think I'll be able to get enough in just during the one day to get a feel for it. Beggars can't be choosers, after all, and it is either see Austin in a day or laze around the hotel pool all day waiting for the infernal meetings to end. I choose Austin! A friend of mine has a saying 'Rome may not have been built in a day but I saw it in a day!'. So more would be great but I'll take what I can get. Cheers! |