Things to Do in Austin in the Summer
If you are new to Austin, Texas, or are thinking about moving here, you probably already know it’s hot. It’s July and pretty warm right now. In this blog post, I want to talk about things to do in the summer in Austin, Texas, to help you survive the heat, not go crazy, and just still enjoy your life in Austin.
The first thing that you need to know is it’s hot in Austin. Last year, we ended up with 68 triple-digit days, which was tied for the third most triple-digit days ever.
This year, in 2023, we have already picked up 28 triple-digit days through July 19th, and we have no sign of it slowing down anytime soon. I think this is one of the hottest summers in the Earth’s history, and it’s really hot in Austin, Texas, so just be aware of it.
We are actually on pace to have a hotter year this year than we did in 2022. It’s fine when the weather is a hundred degrees every once in a while, but when it’s every day, it can be stifling. It can feel very oppressive and depressing.
So here are some fun things that you can do in Austin when it’s hot so you can kind of stay cool physically, mentally, emotionally, all the things.
Water Activities in Austin
The first is to do stuff on the water. So here are some of my favorite water fun activities. The first is Barton Springs.
This is one of Austin’s gems. It is a natural spring, and the city built a pool around it, so it’s a huge pool that is fed year-round with natural spring water. It’s $5 for residents to get in, and it’s also free early in the morning and later in the evening. It is 68 to 70 degrees year-round, and it is very popular.
It can get very crowded. You have to be sneaky and creative and find new and interesting parking spots that maybe weren’t parking spots yesterday but they are today, or just walk there.
But just to say, this is one of the best places to be in Austin when it’s hot, and you’re not the only person who knows about it. I’m sorry to say everyone in Austin knows the best place to go is Barton Springs, so just be prepared for it to be a little bit crowded.
But when I say that, you can still find space to put your blankets, to put your towels. There are tons of trees out there, so you can still sit under the shade. It’s still very nice. There’s just going to be a lot of people there. This isn’t some secret that you’re the only person that knows about, I’m sorry to say.
There are a lot of sneaky neighborhoods you can park in. There are also a lot of cool little swimming holes that are also part of this natural spring system in Austin. So in some little neighborhoods that are tucked away, kind of around Barton Springs, there are some little neighborhood watering holes that you can kind of park, take a little trail back, sneak into, and just hang out at your own personal watering hole.
Another cool option that’s just outside of Austin is McKinney Falls. McKinney Falls is going to give you a gorgeous hike, which can get hot, but then when you get to the falls, you just jump in, cool off, and it’s really, really pretty. It makes everything worth it.
It’s just a short drive outside of Austin, but this is one of the best places to check out if you’re looking to do something in the water and you kind of want to get away from the crowds.
Again, this isn’t a secret. Everyone knows about McKinney Falls, but it’s going to be less crowded than Barton Springs because it’s just a little bit outside the city.
Another really awesome option is Krause Falls. It’s similar to McKinney Falls. It’s gorgeous. It’s a little hike out to actually get to the water, but once you’re there, you’re just like, am I in the rainforest? What’s going on?
It’s really, really pretty and also takes you away from the crowds. You are just going to have to drive a little bit outside of town to get there.
Another fun thing to do in the water is standup, paddle kayaking, or canoeing in the Colorado River, also known as Lady Bird Lake. It runs through downtown, and even when it is blazing hot, the river itself and being on the river is much cooler, and it’s very quiet.
I love driving through the hustle and bustle of the city and then going to park for a standup paddle and you get out onto the river and it’s like it’s so quiet and peaceful. You don’t even realize that you’re in the middle of this huge city.
If the water is not for you and you want to do stuff on land, here are a few options that are going to keep you cool in the summer in Austin.
Caverns and Concerts
Inner Space Caverns and Caves in Georgetown is one of my favorites. It was discovered when they were doing roadwork on I35 decades ago.
It’s a really incredible formation of stalactites and stalagmites. These caves and caverns are over 10,000 years old.
It’s 72 degrees year-round, but it can feel like 80 with the humidity, which I don’t know where
you are from, but 80 degrees in Austin in July is a gift.
So even if it’s 80 degrees, you’re going to get in there and be like, Ooh, I’m chilly. I should have brought my hoodie. It just feels so much better than the 104 to 105-degree heat that we have outside of these caverns and caves in the summer.
Another fun option if you want to stay on the land and you don’t want to be on the water is Blues on the Green.
It is a free concert series that we do in Austin every summer for this year. It was two days in July, and it was at Austin Zilker Park, which is the biggest park in town.
It’s where we do the Austin City Limits Music Festival. It’s just south of downtown. You bring blankets, you bring water, you bring your snacks, and it’s basically just like a free concert.
So it’s two nights of a free concert. You bring all your fun stuff. It is for all ages. It’s pet friendly, and just go and chill out and be around other Austinites, enjoy the city, and enjoy your life for a couple of nights.
It is still going to be hot. So even though it starts at 7:00 PM, it’s still going to be 98 degrees to a hundred degrees. Maybe it’ll get down to like 96, 95. So you’re not really going to be escaping the heat very much, but it’s just nice to be in good company and enjoy Austin, being outside, and enjoying a free concert. Who doesn’t want that?
Okay, so we talked about stuff to do on the water and on the land. Now we’re going to talk about fun stuff to do indoors.
Austin Indoor Activities
So, if you’ve read any of my other blog posts, you probably know that I love Alamo Drafthouse, and no, I’m not sponsored by them, but I think that it should be.
Going to Alamo Drafthouse is one of my favorite things to do in the summer. They play the new blockbusters. They replay old movies like The Big Lebowski, Breakfast Club, Spirited Away, and all the fun stuff.
They have really good food. They have delicious cocktails and desserts. One of my favorite things to get there is the chocolate chip shake. It’s literally crushed-up chocolate chip cookies in a vanilla ice cream shake. It is amazing.
Another thing I love about Alamo, why I always go there, is because it’s 18 and up unless you’re accompanied by an adult. It’s not somewhere where you’re just going to have kids running around, running up and down the aisles, and laughing and talking the whole time.
As much as I love the sound of children laughing, not while I’m watching a movie. So there are few kids in there, and most of the people that go to the Alamo understand this, and they respect the movie experience.
Alamo is also really strict on no talking, no phones, no distractions, things like that. It’s a really awesome place if you just want to go and sit and enjoy a movie.
Another indoor spot that I love in Austin is Pinballz. This is one of our favorite places to go for my husband and me when we want to be inside, do something fun, chill, and just kind of be on our own.
So there are a few Pinballz locations in Austin everywhere, from Buda to North Austin, just south of Cedar Park.
This is a place for old-school games. So they have the original Mortal Kombat. They’ve got Street Fighter, Joust, Kubert. Up north, they have drinks and food; they’ve got laser tag go-karts, ax-throwing, everything that you can think of that adults would want to do.
It’s a really cool spot to hang out. They do have a ton of pinball machines. It’s called Pinballz because they have a ton of pinball machines.
They’ve got ski ball. It’s a really cool kind of old-school place to hang out. It’s definitely going to bring back a lot of memories, especially if you ever went to arcades as a kid or played video games or stuff like that. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s just a fun place to get away.
So another good option in the heat is visiting museums. If you’re trying to be in the AC and you want to do something that’s fun, maybe a little bit relaxing, consider going to museums.
Austin has got a ton of really cool museums. I know that’s usually not on the first thing on everyone’s list of fun things to do in Austin in the summer, but they are a really cool way to just get out of the heat and do something different, get exposed to culture, learn some history, some art, or simply learn something while you’re escaping the heat and trying not to die. It’s just a really good opportunity to do things that you wouldn’t normally do.
Right now, the Blank Museum of Art currently has an exhibit called Making Africa a Continent of Contemporary Design. It showcases the work of African artists and designers. It’s a really cool exhibit. I highly recommend checking it out.
They have a permanent collection of over 19,000 works of art, so you can check out this exhibit and check out all of the other ones that they’ve got there.
They have rotating exhibits, and then they have that permanent collection of over 19,000 works of art. It’s really incredible.
Another cool one to check out is the Bullock Texas State History Museum. They’ve got works of Texas history. You can learn a lot about the history of Austin and Texas, which is fascinating.
You’re moving to Austin, so it only makes sense that you get to know the history of Texas. You’ll understand the meaning behind all the shirts that say, “Come and Take It” and “Remember the Alamo.” That is all part of Texas history.
There’s a really cool exhibit going on right now at the Bullock Museum that’s about civil rights. It’s called This Light of Ours – Activists, Photographers in the Civil Rights Movement.
It features really powerful images from the civil rights era. It presents another snapshot of history and of the country and something cool that you can do while it’s blazing hot in Austin,
There is also an ice cream museum, which is more like an Instagram photo shoot area. Again, if you’re trying to get out of the heat and want to do something different, this place is air-conditioned, which is cool, and you get to eat ice cream, which is also literally cool. It’s cold.
You can learn about ice cream there. You can make the ice cream. You can eat the ice cream. You can play in the world-famous sprinkle pool. It’s a cool place to get away.
And then also while you’re there, every different room that you’re in is totally Instagrammable. You can get all kinds of cute pics and put ’em up on your stories, on your posts, and do all the fun things. I think that’s what it’s designed for: come and get your Instagram pics and eat some ice cream while you’re at it.
Grab a Drink
Okay, if you’ve done the education and now you want to have some fun, let’s talk cocktails. Cocktails are a really awesome thing to do when it is blazing hot in the summer in Austin, Texas.
We’re going to talk about some of my favorite spots to get delicious cocktails. One of my favorite bars and places to get cocktails in Austin is La Holly.
This is a bar that’s a little bit downtown that is tucked away on the east side. It is a tiny bar on the inside, very small, but they have a huge patio in the back.
If you know me, you know that I love having a margarita on a patio. So La Holly has my favorite margarita in town, the spicy frozen margarita.
If you really like spicy, you can get it with some fancy habanero salt instead of regular salt. If you don’t like spicy, don’t get the salt. The margarita is not that spicy, but if you do like it, you’re going to love it.
They focus on mezcal and tequila, so this is like a mezcal and tequila bar. All their cocktails are mezcal and tequila base, but they do have a full bar. They can make you pretty much anything else that you want.
If you want to go somewhere totally different, check out Tiki Tatsuya. This is a tiki bar slash restaurant. It’s kind of like a Hawaiian-Asian-food-and-cocktails place. I haven’t been, but I’ve been hearing good things about it for years.
They’ve been open for years, and everyone that I talk to who’s been there says it’s such a cool experience. The food and the drinks are great. Think tiki cocktails with a really cool immersive setting.
If you’ve ever been to, and I hate to use this comparison, Rainforest Cafe, where you walk in, it’s just like, oh my gosh, you’re just immersed in the jungle.
It’s dark, and you’ve got plants everywhere, and there’s steam and mist and sounds. That’s kind of what Tiki Tatsuya reminds me of from everything that I have been told and read about it.
So you go in, and you feel like you’re transported into a whole different location. It’s dark. There are tiki decorations everywhere. There’s cool music playing. It really is going to take you somewhere else. So you don’t have to think about, oh wow, it’s 104 degrees and I’m in Austin, Texas.
It’s going to transform you and transport you to new places, new flavors, new smells, and all of those things. It’s definitely something I would check out, especially if you’re trying to get away from the Austin Heat.
Yes, it’s hot here, really hot, but that is just life. Everyone who lives in Austin knows it, and we work around it. There’s a ton of stuff to do here in Austin when it’s hot, when it’s the summer, and when it’s 104 degrees. You don’t just have to sit in your house to be miserable.
So, if you’re thinking about moving to Austin, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. I’m going to get you squared away when you’re moving to Austin. We’re going to figure out if Austin is actually the right place for you. It’s not the right place for everyone. But if it’s right for you, come on down. Let’s do it.
