Austin

Miguex

Miguex

The lad himself
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Just bought tickets to see Rush in April in Austin and have never been there. We still haven't bought our airfare so haven't decided how long to stay. Austin experts, how many days would you recommend for someone (and girlfriend) who have never been to Austin. Also, what are some must do things in the food, nature, and arts world in Austin? Thanks!
 
Springbok

Springbok

Karen
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My only advice would be to leave the girlfriend at home and bring a bro friend. More hot sluts in Austin per capita than any city in America, no doubt. Otherwise, South Congress can be fun, 6th street can be fun if you're really young (early 20's). I would say Lake Travis would be fun but the last time I was down there the fucking thing was dried up, plus its kind of a mission getting out there.
 
Haast

Haast

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Here's a quick rundown, tell us what catches your interest for more details.

Food: most of the hot restaurants are downtown or close to it. Upscale food trailers are big right now and they will often group up and have picnic tables for their shared guests.

Nature: not sure what you are interested in exactly. Barton Springs is the classic experience, it's a natural spring fed pool south of downtown. There's also Zilker botanical gardens, hike and bike trails, Hamilton Pool, frisbee golf courses, Lake Travis/Lake Austin/Lady Bird Lake (all formed by dams on the Colorado river), etc. What are you looking to do?

Fine Arts: there are live music venues everywhere, as well as a couple of museums and whatever is being hosted by the university or other big venues. Again, what type of stuff are you looking for?
 
Miguex

Miguex

The lad himself
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We're both in our upper 30's so the bar scene isn't on our radar. Just wanted to find a few places to eat and something to keep us out of the hotel for 3 or 4 days with a mellow vibe, we very rarely get to take vacation. I'm working on a Japanese garden in my backyard so the botanical gardens sounds pretty cool. Other than that just looking for a few sight seeing type things that the locals would recommend, instead of some guidebook. Appreciate the info so far, going to look up the things mentioned already.
 
Haast

Haast

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I see the concert is on campus, so I assume you guys will stay in the downtown area. From north to south: UTexas campus, the capital and downtown are lined up one after the other. The capital itself is fairly interesting and open to self-guided tours on the weekends, unless that changed recently. Very close to the capital are the Bob Bullock Texas History museum (which also has an IMAX) and the Blanton art gallery, which belongs to UTexas. If you want a walking tour of downtown with some historical info, you can take a Ghost Tour. They walk you around some of the various landmark locations and tell you about the history and ghost rumors at each stop.

Outside of 6th street, which is strictly a college crowd, most of the bars in the downtown area are geared towards young-to-middle age professionals. If you are a beer fan, you have to visit to the Ginger Man.

I could give much better restaurant advice assuming I knew what kind of food you like and if you are going high budget, mid budget, on the cheap, etc. I'll put a few out there to start: Congress is one of the best fine dining restaurants in town but very pricey; Swift's Attic is fancy food at a more reasonable price; Easy Tiger is upscale pub food with a great beer selection at very reasonable prices for the quality. If you are into Top Chef, Andrew Curren of Easy Tiger was a contestant and the exec chef for Uchiko is Paul Qui, who won the Texas season. Paul also has several upscale food trailers and Andrew also runs 24 Diner. Anyway, there's a preview. I can give better advice with more info.
 
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supertouch_sl

shitlord
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- stay away from 6th street at night. that's when it's full of rambunctious young college students
- see a movie at an alamo drafthouse theatre
- east austin has some of the more charming areas
- austin has some of the best food in the country. some of my favorites include little deli and pizzeria, dk sushi, and curra's grill. just look on yelp
 
K

koljec_sl

shitlord
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Miguex_sl said:
We're both in our upper 30's so the bar scene isn't on our radar. Just wanted to find a few places to eat and something to keep us out of the hotel for 3 or 4 days with a mellow vibe, we very rarely get to take vacation. I'm working on a Japanese garden in my backyard so the botanical gardens sounds pretty cool. Other than that just looking for a few sight seeing type things that the locals would recommend, instead of some guidebook. Appreciate the info so far, going to look up the things mentioned already.
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My wife and I went to Austin in December (probably well-timed because UT was just on winter break). I went to school there. I still love it. It's gotta be one of the best cities in the U.S.

Don't feel like you need to spend a lot on a hotel. This place is fine and has more of an Austin feel than anything pricier:http://www.austinmotel.com/It's on South Congress, just across the bridge. There's good food and kinda touristy shopping nearby. You could walk or take a bus to pretty much anything you'd want to do.

Take in something at the new Austin City Limits stage at Moody. It's a pretty awesome venue. Jog around Zilker. Take it easy there.
 
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Ignorant Slut_sl

shitlord
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supertouch_sl said:
- stay away from 6th street at night. that's when it's full of rambunctious young college students
- see a movie at an alamo drafthouse theatre
- east austin has some of the more charming areas
- austin has some of the best food in the country. some of my favorites include little deli and pizzeria, dk sushi, and curra's grill. just look on yelp
Click to expand...
^^^This. All of this is righteous truth.
 
TheBeagle

TheBeagle

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SXSW - Anyone going? Thinking about driving down for an extended weekend/spring break next week. Still have a few old bros down there, I can usually talk em into a weekend of very bad things. There's so many fucking bands playing I don't know where to start. Who are the highlights this year?
 
Jorren

Jorren

Maximum Derek
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Couple food recommendations:

+1 for 24
Just about a hundred yards north on Lamar is a tiny place called the Counter Cafe. Absolutely amazing breakfast. There is also the Whole Foods flagship store right there if you are into that kind of thing.

Both spots are good as you can then walk south on Lamar and get to Barton Springs/Zilker area in short order. For lunch/diner if you are still in the park area, Shady Grove is pretty descent, they have a nice outdoor eating area. Across the street from there is Juice Land if you want to get your healthy fix. Junk food? Go to P. Terry's for a burger.

If you are looking for a slightly upscale dinner or brunch. One of my favorite places is Bess Bistro. It is casual/upscale. Great food. Apparently Sandra Bullock and her sister own it.

A very nice area with trails that you can go to isBarton Creek Greenbelt
 
Borzak

Borzak

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Moto GP race at the circuit of the Americas outside of Austin late April. Just throwing that out there, possibly not your thing.
 
TJT

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Been living here for 5 years now, soooo my time to shine!

Key Restaurants/Food Trucks:

-Vera Cruz Tacos (Food truck on E. Caesar Chavez)
-Romanouskas' Delicatessen (food truck downtown, Jewish Deli stuff like awesome Reubens)
-Ramen Tatsu-Ya (get Tsukemen)
-Pho Dan (Braker Avenue, get #2. Broth is out of this world good)
-Hop Doddy (hispter burger joint with some interesting stuff. HUGE fucking lines though)
-Sunday Brunch at Banger's Sausage House on Rainy is cool as shit and has these gigantic mimosas... German folk band and shit. Fun times.
-East Side Kings, the food truck or the restaurants. Asian fusion/interesting dishes.
-Odd Duck/Qui if you're interested in high quality fancy food.

You can get breakfast tacos in every conceivable location as well. Which is awesome.

BBQ:
Most will tell you Franklins. But that place is mainly for the fun of standing in line and drinking for several hours before you go in. Black's BBQ is a drive away but also quite good and there's a top BBQ near Vera Cruz Tacos as well that isn't as well known.

Breweries:

TONS of these in Austin.
-Adelbert's Brewery has a really convenient tour/tasting schedule. Friday or Saturday and you can try all of their delicious Belgian ales.
-Real Ale Brewery in Blanco. My personal favorite
-Uncle Billy's. Right next to Barton Springs so you can have some craft beer and walk over to the Barton Springs Pool

Well fuck it just read this.Brewery Guide.

Nightlife:

Avoid 6th street (dirty six). Kind of nice and deserted during the day though. East 6th is where I prefer to go when I do go downtown. Go to Rainy Street before it is completely overrun with development. It was a cool neighborhood of bars thing when I moved here originally. Now it doesn't even resemble its former self. Its crazy.


Outdoors:

If you're here in the near future. The Barton Greenbelt is full of water after all this rain. So go enjoy it! Kind of like a cool little beach in the middle of the city. Austin likes to be topless, so be prepared for hot and not so hot titties abound on the Greenbelt and Barton Springs especially.

Lake Travis is also full for the first time in a decade with all the rain we've been getting. So that is there to enjoy. Be ware of the Southeast side of the lake as it is nudist area. Unless that's your thing.

Adrenaline:

Come jump out of planes with me or join me at iFly for some wind tunnel time. PM me!
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orcmauler

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I second Black's for BBQ. It is a bit of a drive, but worth it.
If you are near the capital, Hut's Hamburgers is awesome, plus it is near Book People and Waterloo Records (if you are in to dirty hipster things).
The Russian House was a decent place, was a nice change of pace for "Typical" Austin fare but the dinner was hit-or-miss (free shots good, appetizer good, main dish not so much).

Be aware Austin is full of both agressive bums and aggressive Grackles. Man fuck those birds.
 
AladainAF

AladainAF

Best Rabbit
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orcmauler_sl said:
Be aware Austin is full of both agressive bums and aggressive Grackles. Man fuck those birds.
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That's mainly on Guadalupe though and by UT. The bums downtown are not nearly as aggressive.

And yes, no more uber and lyft, sadly. Thanks city council fuckheads.

Seriously, I've lived in Austin since 1992 and I just laugh at everyone that thinks this place is awesome today. It's maybe 10% as awesome as it was in the early 90s. Seriously. Ask anyone that's been here that long and everyone will tell you Austin's best days were 1990 - 1997, without question. I live out in Bee Cave now, I can't fucking stand being inside Austin city limits anymore. For new people, its a fun place, but you missed out on the glory days.
 
TJT

TJT

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Aladain is an OG Austin Hipster. I was a child during the glory days so whatever. I also live in Pflugerville though because of how retarded housing prices are in this city. That and commuting makes me physically ill.
 
Hoss

Hoss

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Missed this thread. I know I'm a little late for the OP, but since it's still active I'll weigh in. Been a while since I lived there so I can't swear these places are still going. Some of you current denizens let me know how these places are doing.

BBQ: County line on the Hill. it's the second best BBQ place I've ever been to, and the #1 spot is closed down (it was called Dusty's and was in manor). Get a loaf of bread and the honey butter as an appetizer. Don't accidentally go to county line on the lake. It seems to be more hip, but the food aint as good.
Home Cooking : Hoovers, it was on a road called manor. I forget the cook's name but he made everything from scratch. The Chicken Fried Steak is worth killing for.
Hamburgers: Frans or Dans. There's lots of them around and they are pretty much identical. I've never had a better greasey hamburger anywhere in all of my travels.
Mexican: Anywhere really. If it looks like a run down house, it's probably great food. I used to like Darios, Austexmex, and Enchiladas Y Mas. Austex and EYM were run by brothers.
Breakfast tacos: Good ones all over, but I liked the tacos from dans and kens best. Kens is also a HB joint, but I never went there for lunch.

For entertainment I can't help much. Strip clubs are pretty much the only thing I ever did, and those always go on good runs and bad runs. A spot would be awesome and have all the hot chicks for a few months, and then they'd leave and go somewhere else. There's a couple of lakes close by, a place called Hippy Hollow (on one of those lakes) and a swimmng hole called barton springs (unless the endangered salamanders finally shut them down). There's also the Hill's cafe on south congress. The food is decent, not great, but they have live bands. Other than 6th street, that's the only place I ever went in austin to listen to live music.
 
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