Suggestions wanted for UGA weekend in October

The Texas Campus is in the middle of a busy urban area. Right in the middle. The influx of F1 & FB crowds will multiply that. Be prepared, and plan accordingly.

The Capitol, UT Campus, South Congress Avenue, and Barton Springs are the 4 places I take friends & family that come to town. All are within a short distance of each other and give the best impression of what Austin was, and is.

The drive to the Domain will give you an idea of how it has changed.



Coming in from SA, I would suggest driving up South Congress when you first come into town. The new $$$ is driving out the older places, but it's still my favorite part of Austin.

Barton Springs (~ 40 million gal/day of fresh spring water) is the reason Austin is the Capitol of Texas. Plenty of places to eat & drink along S. Congress & Barton Springs Road.

The Capitol Building complex defines Texas (the Capital grounds are closed after 8 pm).

The Capitol and UT Tower are on the highest hills just north of the lake. Go walk around the south mall of the Tower looking towards the Capitol Building.

Drive up to Mount Bonnell (~ 2 miles west of Loop 1/Mopac, on the way to the Domain.)

All of that is pretty much free entertainment; food & drinks not included.

Go to the UT Hall of Fame in the north end of the DKR before the game.

Austin has always been about Music & Live Entertainment. Find some.

Austin is probably the food truck capital of the world. They routinely make the Top 10 list of best places to eat. Just look for the crowds.

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We are staying in the Domain area,

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Be careful with your drinks if you go out drinking in the domain. There are a lot of reports up people's drinks getting spiked. These are men and women and the intention is to rob them. FYI.

Bro, everything during that weekend is going to be insane. So, I don't even know what to tell you about it. I worked in the service industry while finishing my degree at UT and F1 was always booked up.

This year is going to be nuts. But, we are also a comedy mecha so yall could probably catch a comedy show at Comedy Mothership, Creek and the Cave, Cap City, and more.

Music you have Whitehorse, Continental Club, Elephant Room, and more.

BBQ: Micklethwait, Franklins, Terry Blacks

Bars on East 6th st (east of I-35). Rainey St is interesting and there will be a lot going on there because of F1 too.

Emmer & Rye, Canje, Hestia for some like finer dining type food.

Drink.well, Roosevelt Room, Whislers, Half Step, Garage Bar for some cocktail bar areas.

Thanks for all the advice so far everyone.

Regarding driving/traffic, I thought I read somewhere once to avoid I-35 at all costs. Is that accurate? Based on where we're staying it looks liek for all our driving aroudn on Friday/Saturday that Hwy 1 (N Mopac Expy) or smaller surface streets woudl be fine. Although I have no idea about after the game on Saturday night.

On Friday morning driving from SA to Austin, and on Sunday morning driving from Austin back to SA, is there anywhere that we really need to AVOID driving wise?

Terry Blacks on Barton Springs for BBQ.

For a nice dinner, hit up Eberly on S. Lamar (make a reservation).

You can't go wrong tooling around downtown and hitting up the luxury hotel restaurants and bars. The Peacock at the Proper Hotel is particularly good and the scenery is off the charts.

If you like to run, get up in the morning and run Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake. Or go for a swim at Barton Springs.

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Regarding driving/traffic, I thought I read somewhere once to avoid I-35 at all costs.

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I-35 runs from South Texas to Minnesota and right through the middle of Austin. Just a metric shite ton of traffic. There's never a good time to drive it.

Mount Bonnell - Free



Yes, you have to walk up those steps, so it isn't for everyone.. but when you get to the top.. it is worth it..
Link: Mount Bonnell Wikipedia



There is great food all over town.. Barbecue, Tex-Mex, fine dining, hole in the walls, a little bit of everything.. Look up reviews on Google.. That weekend is going to be crazy, so it might be a good idea to eat closer to your hotel. The Arboretum is close to The Domain and both places have a lot of good options.

The Broken Spoke as mentioned above is a great place, nothing fancy, but if you want to two step, this is a great option.
Link: Broken Spoke


There are great bars all over the place. Before the game, you would probably enjoy Scholz Biergarten.
Link: Scholz



Pro-Tip: Park your car in a good spot near the stadium on Saturday morning (assuming the game is at night).. then walk around campus and uber to food/bars/shopping downtown (should be $10-$15 max), then a couple of hours before the game, uber to Scholz or someplace close to the stadium where you can walk the rest of the way.. then when the game is over, your car is close and you can drive back to the hotel or to a bar or whatever..

99% of people in town will be very helpful and give you advice.. just ask..

If you like boats and being on the water, you could look into a private cruise Lake Austin. Here is one example, but there are others as well.
Link: Longhorn Leisure Lake Austin

If you can afford it, you can book a 3 hour private cruise for up to 15 people for $375 on Friday night. It is still available as of now. Find some other dawgs and you can split it. A 4 hour cruise is $500.

Since you are staying in San Antonio, you could go to Fredericksburg or Wimberly on Friday heading towards Austin. You would avoid I-35 this way, and yes, it will take longer, but the roads are scenic and both destinations are fun little towns, especially if you have a wife/girlfriend/daughter in your group. Canyon Lake is beautiful out that way as well.. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, especially on that weekend because of F1, this might be a great idea, and it is probably what I would do.

If you like Zip Lines, there are several to choose from.. but I have done this one before.
LInk: Wimberly Zip Lines

Another Zip Line. I haven't done this one but the pics look great.
Link: Lake Travis Zip Lines

If you like caves, this one is pretty cool. It isn't huge so it doesn't take all day. I've done it a few times and always enjoyed it.
Link: Longhorn Cavern

If you head to Fredericksburg, you can go to a concert in Luckenbach.. Aaron Watson is playing on Friday night and it should be a good show.
Link: Aaron Watson at Luckenbach Texas

If you like comedy, this is Joe Rogan's place.
Link: The Mothership Comedy Club - October 18 tickets
I haven't been, but I listen to Rogan's podcast a lot. There are other good comedy clubs in Austin. Pauly Shore is going to be there a week earlier.. that would have been a good one.

Another Comedy Show with Kevin Nealon
Link: Cap City Comedy Club
This one is very close to your hotel as well.

The good thing about these that I mentioned.. you can buy tickets ahead of time so you don't have to worry about the crowd that weekend. There are a lot of other ideas as well. Ask questions.. tell us what you like to do..

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BigBro

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Thanks for these!

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Pro-Tip: Park your car in a good spot near the stadium on Saturday morning

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Any suggestions? That is one of my bigger concerns on gameday is where to park that doesn' require a school-issued permit or won't cost like $200.

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he roads are scenic and both destinations are fun little towns, especially if you have a wife/girlfriend/daughter in your group. Canyon Lake is beautiful out that way as well.. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, especially on that weekend because of F1, this might be a great idea, and it is probably what I would do.

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My wife couldn't care less abotu football she's just tagging alon gwith me, but she does love shite like that so this is very helpful to know. Will for sure look more into this.
ETA: Fredericksburg looks way out of the way but Wimberly looks to be relatively on the way to Austin so that could be doable. Any recommendations for things to do in Wimberly?

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We definitely wouldn' even try on Saturday so Friday lunch and/or dinner is when we'd want to hit one of the good BBQ joints. Between franklins or terry black which would we have better luck at you think?

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You'll always be able to get into Terry Black's, the food is good, and they won't run out of BBQ. Franklin's is a small hole in the wall in a landlocked location just East of I-35, so they cook as much as they can on their smoker, and the people lineup before they open and they sell it until they run out. I prefer Franklin's, but opinions vary, and they are both good. On a trip where you have much too see, I don't think I'd make Franklin's a priority the first time. Maybe if you make it back to Austin again some day.

Sadly, my favorite all time Tex-Mex place (Jacala's) burned down a couple years back.

But here are a couple...

Rosario's - there are two in town, the one South is closer to downtown
LINK

If you want Fajita's in a lovely location, with the best fresh flour tortillas made constantly, there is Alamo Cafe:
LINK
Ironically, the Chicken Fried Steak there is also great, and big.

Finally, if you are on the Riverwalk and feeling playful, drop in for a drink at Dick's Last Resort.
LINK

Or go up in the nearby Tower of America's to the bar and have a drink just before sundown. Everyone should do that at least once. The food there is fine but overpriced, and most people dress up a bit, but the whole restaurant rotations 360 deg in an hour--so it's nice. If you go, the same applies, go there about an hour before sundown.
LINK

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I'll see if we can maybe make a stop. I guess I might should have included info abotu our group in the OP. My wife and I are in our mid/late 30s and in SA it'll jsut be us 2. When we get to Austin we'll be joined by another couple that age. In SA I might can get my wife to pop into a bar Thursday evening. In Austin I don't know if the group is going to be interested much. Our partying hard days are well behind us, but we do all drink so any bar we stop into would probably be a more laid back one if possible.

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Well, in case you can't do Broken Spoke, just NW of San Antonio is a little town called Helotes. There is this little place called Floores Country Store. I've danced outside under the stars many a time there:
LINK
Live music and dancing there all the time still. You can even eat there, same as at Broken Spoke.

I'm old enough to remember Willie Nelson being out there. This is worth the read (didn't want to post a paragraph of the legends who have played there):
About Floores

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quote:
]I'm a native San Antonian, so I suggest[/i]

So that's a few ideas along with the obvious tourist-y stuff as a start.
Seconded on Matt's El Rancho. Can you find better Tex-mex? Sure, but you'll have to hit up San Antonio. Matt's is still solid Tex Mex. The El Mercado recommendation is also a good one.

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My family's has been in the Austin area for 100+ years, both sides. I'm 8th Generation Texan, and I'm old.

There are quality Mexican food places all over South Austin. Call it what you want, but the only people that call it Tex-Mex aren't from around here.

Guero's, Maudie's, El Mercado, Casa Garcia. They aren't real big and don't get the pub, but I've been going to each of these every few months for 20-30 years.

BBQ: Try the small towns around Austin; Lockhart (Blacks, Kruez), Driftwood (Salt LIck), Elgin (Southside Market), Taylor (Mueller's), Llano (Cooper's). They have Austin locations, but ... you know. If you go to Black's on Barton Springs Road, take some time and go talk to the pit masters out back.

Zip Lines? Nope.

Nothing will give you a better understanding of Texas, and Austin, than the Capitol. Texas paid the company that constructed it 10 County's (3 million acres) as their payment; the XIT Ranch ("Ten in Texas").