“Don’t Mess With Texas” was a saying that was slapped on almost everything in Austin Texas. You’ll soon learn that the vintage-y nature vibes and southern charm that Austinites radiate are something that you truly don’t want to mess with. Check out my super-quick comprehensive breakdown of my weekend trip to Austin with my friend Jeremy!
What To Pack for a Trip to Austin Texas:
We decided to head to Austin during early Fall. While the days were bearable, I was freezing at night. I should tell you that I do get cold easily. Do what you will with that info. When I travel I usually opt on a capsule wardrobe that covers all situations. My Austin wardrobe consisted of:
- 1 flight outfit (I usually wear this to and from my travel location) – leggings, sneakers, a hoodie, and a flannel
- 3 “day out” outfits – It was tolerable during the day, but there was a slight chill the entire time we were in Austin. So, my day out outfits were all about comfort and warmth. It featured flannels, jeans, sneakers (my Sketchers. lol), a leather jacket, palazzo pants (no surprise here, I take these everywhere), sweaters, joggers and tank tops.
- 2 “turn up” outfits – If I’m going for a weekend, I usually have 2 good turn-up days, which are Friday and Saturday. This trip, however, spanned from Saturday – Monday, so only one outfit was needed. My “out on the town” outfit was a snazzy little dress. BUT… it was cold, we were on the go, AND we didn’t even hit up the club, so I didn’t get to wear it. 😔
- The Nitty Gritty items – make sure you bring enough undies, socks, a set of pajamas, toothpaste, toothbrush, makeup, and other personal toiletries
How to Get to Austin Texas:
We found a cheap roundtrip flight from Atlanta for around $80 dollars. Getting to the airport is where additional fees come into the picture.
- If you’re flying from Atlanta, find your way to and from the airport via the Marta. A roundtrip Marta card will cost you $5, so it’s really the best deal.
- If you opt to drive and park at the airport, there are multiple options. The cheapest option is long-term off-site parking. That’ll cost you $6 per day ($18 for 3 days!)
Once you’re in the Austin airport, you can relax. Seriously, the city is extremely accessible and the airport is approx. 12 miles from the center of the city. Make sure you take note of the airport you’re flying in to. We flew into Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS). According to one of our Lyft drivers, there are multiple Austin airports.
Where to Stay in Austin Texas:
We opted to stay at a cozy little Airbnb in the Parkwood neighborhood, which is about a 10-15 minute drive from all the popular downtown sights, such as Texas State Capitol and the rowdy 6th Street.
If I could go back and do it all over, I’d probably stay as close as possible to the main attractions in the city. My number one choice would probably be this cute little hostel called, Firehouse Hostel, that we stumbled across while we were exploring 6th street. We happened to find it because it also had a low-key speakeasy bar attached to it. It’s a desirable choice of mine because it happens to be right around the corner from the popular stretch of bars and restaurants that all of the Austinites go crazy for.
How to Get Around Austin Texas:
Uber and Lyft are key if you’re embarking on a trip to Austin! They also have a few other rideshare companies that are specific to Austin, such as Ride Austin and Wingz. We downloaded all these apps with the intention of using the one that offered the best deals from our Parkwood housing.
We found that Lyft tended to be the cheaper option. Altogether, for a 3-day trip, we spent around $60 on rideshares and scooters. We’d often take a Lyft in the morning and stay out all day. During our daily adventures, we opted to walk to most of our desired locations. I’m not going to lie, Austin is small, but it’s not that small. We occasionally took scooters to assuage our 15-20 minute walks, but all in all, walking was our go-to. At the end of the night, we’d take a Lyft back to our Airbnb.
While rideshares were our number one choice, multiple people have said that this is not the best way to go. Austin is pretty spread out, and it’s very nature-centric, so if you love all of that, you should rent a car. It’ll be a little more expensive, but you’ll have more freedom. There were plenty of sights that were 45 minutes to a 1-hour drive away from downtown Austin that we opted out of exploring because of the distance. Some of the places that took all day to explore probably could’ve been knocked out in a few hours if we had a car too.
Austin Texas Food & Drink Tour:
Now coming from Georgia (the true south), I had high expectations from Texas. So many people hyped up the BBQ and breakfast tacos, so I couldn’t wait to try them all. Using my handy-dandy Yelp app, and the popular adventurer website Thrillist, I was able to pinpoint the most raved-about spots in Austin Texas. I was so overwhelmed by the number of choices, but my friend and I were able to successfully them down. We ended up creating our own little food and drink tour. You can view a list of places that we visited on my “Austin Texas Food & Drink Tour” Yelp page, as well as below:
- Torchy’s – You’re going to want to order 3 tacos, but please stick with 2. Those things come fully loaded! Pro tip: if you want an alcoholic drink to go with your meal, don’t go to the South Congress location. That location isn’t allowed to serve alcoholic beverages because of its proximity to a school.
- Terry Black’s BBQ – The line will be long, which will increase the hype factor in your mind. Your eyes will be bigger than your stomach once you finally make it inside. Whatever you do, order small portions. If you don’t you could end up spending $25+ on BBQ that’s just alright in my opinion. The one exception is the cornbread. It’s actually so good. Literally go crazy and ball out on it. I personally would’ve bought more pieces if I had known.
- Ego’s – It can get kind of crowded, causing you to have to wait outside. They might tell you that the wait is an hour to get in, but don’t believe them. Once inside, if you’re bold enough, you can grab the mic and
screamsing at the top of your lungs. The drinks here have a kick, and they’re very strong! I warned you. - Kerby Lane’s Cafe – Prepare to be transported into the 70s, or was it the 60s? Anyway, everything here looks very vintage. Don’t play yourself here either. Once again, the wait will make you think that you’re hungrier than you actually are. Order light! The seasonal alcoholic beverages are pretty good as well!
- Ramen Kat-syu – There may be a wait here. This is supposed to be one of the best Ramen spots in the city. Pro tip: There’s a 21+ section right next door. Go over there and order your food if you meet the age requirement. Yes, it’s outside instead of inside, but you’ll avoid that 1 hour wait!
- Voodoo Donut – THE OPTIONS ARE ENDLESS. Just pick a few and keep it moving. It tastes like any of those other specialty/craft donut spots that you’ll come across in your local city. We ended up getting 5 donuts and even that was too much. By this point in our trip, we were completely stuffed. We end up giving one of our donuts away.
- Home Slice – We rounded off our tour with Home Slice. It’s what you’d expect. A quick little slice of pizza, nothing more, nothing less. Oh, but you might run into a celebrity here due to its popularity. My friend swears that he saw Tom Brady, I can neither confirm or deny. I legit couldn’t tell whether or not it was him. 🤷
Notable Sights & Instagramable Stops in Austin Texas:
During our trip, we were the ultimate Austin tourists. We successfully took pics at the majority of Austin’s postcard walls and stopped traffic for our South Congress pics. We even did some non-touristy things, like crash an open house for a house that was worth 2 million bucks. sheesh! Check out our stops below!
- South Congress Street: Features the famous SOCO postcard, and a list of other popular tourist stops such as Allen Boots (see below), Home Slice, the famous ‘i love you’ mural‘, and the Austin Motel.
- South Congress Bridge: The view from this bridge is truly breathtaking. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to see the bats. Pro-tip: don’t go out of your way to see these bats, like we did (we went back 2 days in a row). It’s okay if you miss them because it won’t make or break your trip.
- Before I Die Wall: Pro-tip: this is outside of someone’s house, so get in and get out y’all. It was super awkward to be taking Instagram pics in someone’s front lawn.
- Stardust Vintage Clothing Store: Prepare to be transported into the 70s and 80s! This was a stop that we made on a whim, and I’m so glad that we did. We no lie spent probably 40 minutes in this shop playing dress-up. If you happen to have time, please make this stop!
- Allen’s Boots: The smell of leather will hit ya as soon as you walk in. If you’re interested in exploring more, ask one of the store reps to show you the most expensive boot in the store. Just listening to how much some of these boots cost and their backstory is truly fascinating!
- ATX Sign: This is found right in front of the parking lot at the local Whole Foods store. This also happens to be the largest Whole Foods in the country, so browse around a bit if you have enough time.
- 6th Street: Sadly we only heard about the rowdiness of 6th street and its bars. We ended up going on a Sunday, and I’m guessing that’s the day that the locals like to go (and our Lyft driver also confirmed this fact). There were no rambunctious crowds, and the vibe was very chill.
- Barton Springs Pool: We went and saw it but neither one of us brought bathing suits. Although it was early Fall, it was still a bit warm on the day that we went, so we could have easily gotten in if we wanted to. The pool is inside of a larger park and it was about an 8-10 minute walk from the entrance that we came in on. The park also featured walking/ bike trails and little patches of greenery space. When we were there people were practicing acro-yoga and hosting some kind of hippy music circle.
Random Adventures: Also, don’t be afraid to do something random. Jeremy and I decided to go to a random open house. Here’s how that went:
Austin Texas Souvenirs
If you happen to be in Austin Texas you can get a plethora of weird swag. While I was there I contemplated buying: Tito’s Vodka, Kerbey Lane’s Pancake Mix, Yellowbird’s Serrano Sauce, “Keep Austin Weird” Shirt, Cowboy Boots (from Allen’s Boots), and an Austin Postcard.
In the end, I only ended up getting Yellowbird’s Serrano Sauce and 2 Austin Postcard. This was partly due to the fact that I didn’t want to hold anything too heavy, or get flagged down in the airport (I only do carry-ons, no checked bags). But, even buying my Yellowbird sauce was a whole mess. I had to divvy up the sauce into different containers so that I wouldn’t get called out at the airport. Turns out, the people at the ATX airport were super chill. I probably could’ve gotten away with it. Oh and get this, the Whole Foods in Atlanta actually sells the sauce too, so I went through all of that for nothing. 🙄
When Am I Going Back to Austin Texas?
Who knows! Austin Texas is a cool little city, but as I mentioned before, it didn’t necessarily top my “most desirable places to visit” list. But you do have to understand that the words “hipster” and “nature” are two things that I’d definitely say are not aligned with my travel style. If that’s something that you gravitate towards, then Austin Texas might be your next travel destination. I will say, that both South by Southwest and Austin City Limits does make an appearance on my bucket list, so I’ll make my way back to Austin for those events one day!
