3 Days in Austin

The Texas State Capitol was designed by Elijah E. Myers and built from 1882 to 1888, and Texans will tell you it is taller than the one in Washington. They are right: it stands 302 feet (92 m) high. The pink "sunset red" granite outside came from Granite Mountain near Marble Falls, donated by the quarry's owners after the first stone, a local limestone, stained with rust.

The building is free and open daily (7am to 8pm on weekdays, 9am to 8pm at weekends). Walk into the rotunda and look up into the dome. Free guided tours leave Monday to Saturday from 9am and on Sundays from noon, last departure 4:15pm, and are worth the half hour.

Half a mile north of the Capitol, the Bullock Texas State History Museum opened in 2001 and tells the story of the state in one building. The first-floor Texas History Gallery, which starts more than 16,000 years ago, is the main attraction. It is the state's own version of its story, told with some confidence.

The museum is open daily from 10am to 5pm. Add the Star of Destiny show in the Texas Spirit Theater for 6 USD (5.40 EUR) if you have kids. The garage costs 15 USD (13.50 EUR), so walk from the Capitol.

Aaron Franklin opened Franklin Barbecue in 2009 as a trailer and moved to East 11th Street in 2011. Aaron Franklin won a James Beard Award in 2015, and President Obama bought lunch for the people in line behind him in 2014. The brisket sells out most days, and the line has run to hours.

The way around it is to order online at preorder.franklinbbq.com and collect at your slot. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 11am until the meat is gone, usually around 2 or 3pm, closed Mondays and around Thanksgiving and Christmas. The brisket has a dark bark and wobbling fat; add ribs and a link of sausage.

The Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge crosses Lady Bird Lake just south of downtown, and the gaps in its road deck shelter the largest urban bat colony in the world, Mexican free-tailed bats that spend summers in Austin and winters in Mexico. Bat Conservation International puts the summer colony at 750,000 to 1.5 million. At dusk they pour out in a long ribbon to hunt insects.

The best viewing is mid-March to mid-April and late July through August. Emergences happen nightly in the warm months, usually within 30 minutes before sundown in hot, dry weather, later when it is cool and damp. Late in the season most have left for Mexico, though up to 100,000 stay year-round. Stand on the bridge sidewalk or on the grass at Auditorium Shores. No white lights, loud noises within 100 feet or drones near the columns.

Sixth Street, once called Pecan Street, is a nine-block historic district of Victorian brick buildings, now packed with bars and clubs. It is the most touristy part of town and gets loud late, especially at weekends. Red River Street, a few blocks east, is where the touring bands play.

For a real show, walk the Red River stretch: Stubb's at 801 Red River is a barbecue restaurant with an outdoor amphitheater, and Mohawk is at number 912. Check their calendars, since tickets are usually sold online. Bars in Austin are smoke-free by ordinance. Walk Sixth for the atmosphere, but spend the evening on Red River.

Lockhart is a county seat of about 14,000 people, and in 1999 the Texas Legislature proclaimed it the "Barbecue Capital of Texas." The Second Empire Caldwell County Courthouse dates from 1894. Walk the square, then to the Dr. Eugene Clark Library, the oldest operating public library in Texas, and keep it short: the meat markets are why you came.

Central Texas barbecue grew out of the meat markets of German and Czech settlers in the nineteenth century, who smoked unsold meat and wrapped it in butcher paper. Charles Kreuz Sr. bought a meat market here in January 1900. The business moved in 1999 to its current building at 619 N. Colorado after the family couldn't agree on a lease, and Smitty's Market opened in the original building. Black's Barbecue, at 215 N. Main, dates from 1932.

At Kreuz you order at the counter and the meat is weighed by the pound, brisket, pork chop, sausage, with crackers and pickles. The old no forks, no sauce rule is gone, but the meat still comes on butcher paper and tastes best with your hands. It is open Monday to Saturday 10:30am to 8pm and Sunday 10:30am to 6pm. For a second round, Black's is open daily from 10am and Smitty's is in the old building (check hours).

Wimberley sits on Cypress Creek in the Hill Country, 38 miles southwest of Austin, and the Blue Hole is its swimming hole. Swimming is seasonal, needs a reservation, and the city can close it for high bacteria levels or poor visibility.

Outside the swim season the trails and picnic areas stay free, but the creek alone is not worth the extra 100 miles of the day. Skip Wimberley then and spend the afternoon at Mount Bonnell.

Wimberley Square is the center of a town of about 2,800 people, named after Pleasant Wimberley, who ran a gristmill and cotton gin here in the 1870s. Find a coffee and keep it short, because it is almost an hour back to Austin and tonight you have a dance hall to get to. Old Baldy Park has 208 steps up to a 360-degree view, best at sunrise.

Opened in 1964 by James White and still run by his family, the Broken Spoke at 3201 South Lamar calls itself the last of the true Texas dancehalls. It has a Texas Historical Marker, unveiled in 2023. It is a dance floor, a stage and a restaurant under one roof.

It is open Tuesday to Saturday from 4pm, with the kitchen serving until 10pm Tuesday to Thursday and 11pm Friday and Saturday, and the dance floor opening at 7:15pm. Two-step and swing lessons run from 8 to 9pm Wednesday to Saturday, and line dancing is not allowed. Take the lesson if you don't know the two-step.

Joe's Bakery & Coffee Shop, at 2305 East 7th Street, is a Mexican bakery and diner in East Austin and the right place to start the day. The breakfast taco is a soft corn or flour tortilla filled with eggs, meat or cheese, and Austin has claimed to be its home town, a claim others dispute. Order two or three and add a pan dulce, a sweet Mexican pastry, to finish.

Listings give an opening around 6 or 6:30am and a closing in the early afternoon, closed Mondays. Hours differ by source, so check before you go.

Barton Springs Pool is a swimming pool in Zilker Park, fed entirely by springs from the Edwards Aquifer, so the water stays between about 68 and 74 F (20-23 C) all year. In July it is the best place in Austin to be. Zilker Park is 350 acres the city bought from Andrew Jackson Zilker between 1917 and 1931, and it hosts ACL Fest each October.

The pool is open daily from 5am to 10pm, with lifeguards from 8am, except Thursday, when it is closed for cleaning from 9am to 7pm. The pool also closes for repairs and after floods, so check the city's park closures page before you go.

Lady Bird Lake is not a natural lake: the city dammed the Colorado River in 1960 to make a cooling pond for a power plant. The lake, still called Town Lake by many locals, was renamed in 2007 for Lady Bird Johnson, who had pushed for a cleaner waterfront and a trail. That trail, now the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail, runs along the shore and is the best way to see downtown's skyline.

From Zilker, walk or ride east along the south shore toward Auditorium Shores, where a statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan stands on the south bank. A mile or two is plenty in the middle of the day.

Matt Martinez sold tamales from a wooden pushcart by the Capitol in 1923, at the age of six, and in 1952 he and his wife Janie opened the first El Rancho on East 1st Street with ten tables. The restaurant moved to 2613 South Lamar in 1986 and is still run by the Martinez family, a classic Tex-Mex dining room.

Start with the Bob Armstrong Dip, a Matt's original on the appetizer list, or the plain chile con queso, then order the enchiladas with chile con carne and a margarita. It is open every day except Tuesday: Monday 11am to 9pm, Wednesday and Thursday to 10pm, Friday and Saturday to 11pm, Sunday to 9pm.

South Congress, called SoCo by locals, starts at the Congress Avenue Bridge and runs due south as a shopping and cultural district of eclectic small retailers, restaurants, music venues and food trucks, between the Travis Heights and Bouldin Creek neighborhoods. It is touristy, in a pleasant way.

Walk it from the Elizabeth Street area south, and stop for a coffee at Jo's at 1300 South Congress. The shops are good for souvenirs and vintage clothes.

The Continental Club at 1315 South Congress opened in 1955 as a private supper club, and now says it has live music every night of the week. Its neon sign is a landmark on South Congress, and vintage cars often line the avenue in front. It is a small, long-established room for Austin's roots music.

Check the calendar for your night, since cover varies. Arrive early for a spot near the stage. It is a good last night in Austin.