Austin, Texas

At Franklin Barbecue, people begin queuing before the place opens. Occasionally before dawn. The brisket is that good – a 14-hour smoked beef brisket with a bark that holds its shape and a smoke ring that goes all the way through – and the operation sells out by early afternoon daily, which means if you arrive at 11am on a Saturday thinking you’ll just duck in, you won’t. The queue is the activity. You bring beer (they sell it from a cooler outside), you talk to strangers, and when the doors open at 11am, you get one of the best plates of barbecue in the United States.

Austin has grown from 300,000 people in 1990 to over a million today, and the city’s personality is in active negotiation with that growth. The original music culture, the counterculture neighborhoods, the “Keep Austin Weird” impulse – these compete with the tech industry, the rising costs, and the homogenisation that comes with becoming a destination. What Austin has that most rapidly growing American cities don’t is infrastructure: the live music venues exist and continue working, the outdoor spaces are genuinely excellent, and the food culture has more depth than the barbecue reputation captures.

Music and Nightlife

6th Street is the dense concentration of bars and clubs, loud and crowded on weekend nights. The better music is further out: the Paramount Theatre on Congress Avenue runs serious national and international touring acts. Stubb’s Amphitheatre on Red River Street has an outdoor stage that suits the Austin climate (shows happen into November). The Continental Club on South Congress has been booking live music since 1957.

South by Southwest (SXSW), held each March, draws around 400,000 attendees for music, film, and technology programming. The scale has diluted some of what made it interesting in the 1990s, but the free shows and unofficial events around the registered programming remain compelling. Book accommodation months ahead for SXSW.

Austin City Limits Festival in October at Zilker Park presents a more predictable lineup of mainstream acts across multiple stages. Less interesting than SXSW for discovery; excellent as a two-weekend outdoor concert experience.

Outdoors

Barton Springs Pool is a natural spring-fed swimming hole in Zilker Park, maintaining 68-70 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. In July when Austin hits 105 degrees, getting into the cold water is a specific local pleasure. Open to 10pm most nights in summer.

Lady Bird Lake has a 10-mile hike and bike trail around it, flat, well-maintained, busy with locals in the mornings. Kayak and paddleboard rentals are available from multiple points on the south shore.

The Congress Avenue Bridge bat colony: roughly 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats roost under the bridge from March through October and emerge at dusk. Watching from the bridge or from the park on the south bank is free. Peak emergence is July-August; the column of bats rising from under the bridge and spreading across the sky is genuinely extraordinary.

Food Beyond Barbecue

Uchi (1801 South Lamar) is the restaurant that explains why Austin’s food scene has more depth than the barbecue focus suggests. Chef Tyson Cole’s Japanese-influenced cooking using local ingredients won a James Beard Award in 2011 and the restaurant has been operating at a high level since. Book ahead.

Torchy’s Tacos is Austin’s breakout chain, now national but originating here. The “Trailer Park” and “Dirty Sanchez” tacos are the ones worth knowing about.

Getting around Austin requires a car or Uber for most destinations outside the central corridor. The city’s transit system is developing but not yet sufficient for a carless visit.