Awesome Things To See and Do: A Weekend Travel Guide to Austin, Texas

Hey earth muffins! If you follow me on Instagram, you will know that I took a trip to Austin, Texas last month. It was my first vacation in almost two years – it felt so weird traveling after the pandemic! I was only in Austin for about four days, but I hit up a lot of fun places. As I haven’t written a travel guide post in awhile, I thought I would share my travel guide to Austin with you all today. Here are my recommendations for what you should see and do in the great city of Austin, Texas! 🤠

Fun Things to Do in Austin, TX

Hit up some bars downtown! Austin is known for having a great nightlife scene; however, I am not really into that… So, I didn’t actually go to any bars downtown. However, it is still fun to walk around the city regardless! If you want to see an old hotel (and use a public bathroom), I suggest hitting up the Driskill Hotel. It is super pretty! The area around it has a few shops and a Voodoo Donuts as well.

Go shopping on S. Congress street. In the actual downtown portion of Austin, there are plenty of restaurants but not much shopping. If you are looking for some cute shops, I suggest heading to the trendy S. Congress street area. They have everything from cowboy boot stores to vintage and cutesy art shops. One of the coolest shops in this area is Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds, a huge costume store with so much interesting stuff!

Take some pictures at Austin’s many murals! I’m not one to drive around for Instagram photos, but there are definitely plenty of opportunities for Insta pics in Austin. I just had to add this in my travel guide to Austin, as I know many peope love a good mural pic!

Drive through Hill Country. Texas is absolutely beautiful. (Hot, but gorgeous views.) There is a famous lookout spot called Mount Bonnell that has a great view of the city of Austin as well as the Colorado River. To get there, you have to drive through some affluent neighborhoods – I spotted around 20 Teslas in only five minutes! I was impressed at how beautiful Hill Country actually was, so I would highly suggest driving around it for a bit.

Go see some bats at dusk! 🦇 The “Bat Bridge” in downtown Austin has a gigantic population of bats that live underneath it. At dusk, they fly out for the night which has become a popular spectacle for tourists and locals alike. The timing of when the bats emerge is different each night, so I suggest bringing a picnic blanket and some snacks as you wait.

Tasty Things to Eat in Austin, TX

Get yourself a frozen banana at Bananarchy. This food truck has three different locations across the city – and I totally recommend going at least once! The truck sells frozen bananas dipped in anything you can imagine. You can either build your own (with a sauce, drizzle, and topping) or get a combo that has already been created. I’ve shared my frozen banana snacks recipe before, and this is an amped up version of that. So perfect for a hot Texas day.

Eat some Torchy’s Tacos! I am a huge fan of Mexican food, and I try to get it whenever I travel. Austin has a huge taco scene and a lot of great Mexican restaurants. Torchy’s is a chain that has some delicious food! Their queso dip is really good, and the tacos are excellent as well. 10/10 would recommend to a friend!

Get yourself a gigantic milkshake at The Yard. This place was on Shark Tank and sells massive milkshakes… How could I not add this to my travel guide to Austin? Be prepared for a long wait – the one I ordered took about an hour to come out due to a crazy amount of people at the store. But, it is located in a cute shopping area, so just go shop while you wait to pass the time. I personally loved that the milkshake came in a collectible glass jar, and I can’t wait to add it to my mason jar collection!

Final Thoughts on Austin, TX

I hope this was a helpful travel guide to Austin, Texas! 🤠 There is a lot to see and do in the city (and in the area around it); it was a super fun trip that was packed full of good times. From shopping the cute vintage stores on S. Congress street to eating a too large milkshake at The Yard, the memories from this trip will last a lifetime! If you ever have the chance to visit Austin, I would highly recommend. Where have you traveled to lately? Comment below, and I’d love to hear about other fun things to do in Austin that I didn’t add to this list!

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