Traveling to Austin, TX

[7.62NATO]

......

[NinjaMedic]

Depends on what you are looking for of course. Austin is very low crime compared to metropolitan areas plenty of good food and great music. State Capital which is taller than the national Capital. Plenty of touristy stuff. 2 areas of fairly high crime that we consider the "bad parts" are east Austin (east of IH35, north of SH71, and SW of US183) and a small area of north Austin centered around IH35/Rundberg Ln. Downtown is fairly safe with plenty of police presence although I still carry. If you plan to get out and drink or see the night life there is always 6th Street downtown which is 1 mile of solid college type bars with plenty of scenery and music venues, it is closed to vehicles Thursday thru Saturday due to the heavy crowds. Can probably steer you better if you know what you want to do. Can also give you some great restaurants if you need to take out some business clientele. Stay safe.

[Gentoo]

Fliphappy Crepes (http://www.fliphappycrepes.blogspot.com/) is a nice little place I like to hit when I am in Austin.

I don't do bars or clubs so I can't comment on them.

[thedog]

Great BBQ, great live music/bars/beer/beautiful women/ cool cops/ and scenery. All above for a good life, or.. ummm, need I continue? Enjoy. Just be cognizant.

dog

[whiterabbit05]

I second Flip Happy Crepes, get the chicken and mushroom if you go.

Other places to eat:

Juan in a Million - get the "Don Juan"
Casino El Camino
The Best Wurst
Hut's
Taco Stands - located on Riverside
Snow Beach
Amy's Ice Cream
Pete's Dueling Pianos
Round Rock Donuts
Katz Deli
The Oasis - okay food, great view, if Lake Travis isn't dried up from the drought by now...

Things to do:

Kayaking
Biking
Zilker Park
Zilker Botanical Garden
McKinney Falls State Park
Congress Bridge Bats
Barton Springs
Mt. Bonnell Park

Check out Austin360.com for other activities going on.

Hope you enjoy your stay!

[austinN4]

Check out the food and entertainment sections in the Austin Chronicle, our free alternative news paper: http://www.austinchronicle.com/

You didn't say, but will you be staying in the downtown area? Austin, unfortunately, is a big city now with some of the worst traffic in the nation for cities of a similar size. And be very, very careful about drinking and driving as you will get no slack whatsoever if stopped.

Good BBQ and CFS downtown - Green Mesquite on Barton Springs Road http://www.greenmesquite.net/
Good BBQ a little ways out of town but great atmosphere - Salt Lick in Driftwood (BYOB, cash only) http://www.saltlickbbq.com/

For Tex-Mex, try Maudies on South Lamar or Chuy's on Barton Springs Road. Or go to the Hispanic neighborhoods in East Austin and try Joe's Bakery on East 7th or Cisco's on East 6th, but both are only open for breakfast and lunch.
http://www.maudies.com/ http://www.chuys.com/ http://www.joesbakery.com/
http://austin.citysearch.com/profile/10207711/austin_tx/cisco_s_restaurant_bakery.html

Winery with restaurant close by, also in Driftwood - http://www.mandolawines.com/ Damian Mandola is probably best know nationally for his cookbooks and his PPS cooking show, Cucina Sicilia. He founded Carrabba's with his nephew, Johnny Carrabba.

Another interesting restaurant is Hudsons on the Bend out by Lake Travis: http://www.hudsonsonthebend.com/ They specialize in game meats.

Austin is a wine town with per capita consumption said to be the highest in the country. There are numerous wine bars downtown.

Texas dance hall close to downtown - Broken Spoke http://www.brokenspokeaustintx.com/

The bats head back to Mexico for the winter in November so hurry if you want to see them. I.5 million of them are said to live in the Congress Street bridge and they fly at dusk every night.

Austin bills itself as the live music capital of the world, but most of it is rock or country - not my style, but there is lots of it.

If you are staying downtown and are a runner bring your workout gear and hit the trails around Town Lake, which is really just a section of the Lower Colorado River between 2 dams.

Unlike bigger cites which have great museums and live shows, the big attractions around Austin for most people are the various outdoor activities. Edited to add: And there is, of course the UT Campus and the LBJ Library.

The State Capitol building is a thing of beauty and the original oil paintings inside should not be missed: http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/1aa/1aa4.htm

[texag]

I only visit Austin occasionally, but I can say without a doubt you have to actively avoid fun to have a bad time. Good food, good nightlife, good music. If you're going out 6th street is great for a college atmosphere, and I think 4th street is a little bit of an older crowd.

[thopkins22]

I can't disagree with anything that's been said, but I would like to join the cheerleading section for Hudson's On The Bend...it's not cheap though.

You're not going to be terribly far from Luchenbach either.

You'd have to work really hard and be really stupid to wind up in a bad area on foot in Austin.