Cold Springs, Trail Runs, and BBQ: How to Do Austin Right, According to a Local
If New York is the city that never sleeps, Austin is the city that never gets back to its resting heart rate. This is weird, because the place averages nearly 30 days of triple-digit temperatures a year, and its worst summers flirt with three months of them.
When I moved here a decade ago, I was amazed that a single Saturday in fall could include a trail run chased by a dip in clear spring water, followed by an afternoon inside a college-football crowd of a hundred thousand, then topped off by a night of sweaty and ragged attempted two-stepping in a honky-tonk. The city is as athletic as you want it to be.
People complain about new Austin. Some of those complaints are fair (the traffic, the tech bro-ification), and most of them are true (the fact that summer seems to start in April). But if you completely nail a visit, you’ll spend an entire day moving, from trail to water to tacos to live music, and might wonder why every city doesn’t work this way. Or why you don’t live here.
Parks and Trails
Barton Springs
2131 William Barton Dr.
Austin begins and ends here, a three acre, spring-fed natural pool that hovers at 70 degrees Fahrenheit year-round, even while the city absolutely cooks. Nearly 800,000 people visit each year, from sunrise lap swimmers freestyling through the fog, to friends sprawled on the hillside trying to reconstruct the previous night. The farther up the hill, the greater your odds of encountering a drum circle, partially nude yogis, or a deeply sincere conversation about extraterrestrials. An absolutely essential visit. Parking sucks; if you’re visiting, hire a car.
Deep Eddy Pool
401 Deep Eddy Ave.
More cold water. Are you sensing a trend? Barton Springs has the mythology, but Deep Eddy is just as legit: spring-fed, opened in 1915 and rebuilt during the Works Progress Administration era, and the water stays 68 degrees. It sits directly off the Butler Trail and maintains an insider-y vibe despite the long history. At the deep end, triathletes and retirees grind though laps while tatted thirtysomethings chatter under pecan trees. After a run on the nearby Butler Trail, take a dip then walk up the hill for a burger and frozen cocktail at Pool Burger or a beer at Deep Eddy Cabaret, where it’s always 1978.
Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail
301 S. Congress Ave.
The Butler Trail is the Main Street of athletic Austin: a mostly flat ten-mile loop around Lady Bird Lake, where the city goes to run, walk, ride, sweat, flirt, vape, commute … often shirtless. The mileage is endlessly adjustable thanks to bridges, boardwalks, and cut-throughs; the mostly crushed-granite footing is forgiving. Years of stitching have paid off; earlier this year a new bridge and underpass closed an awkward eastern gap. Everyone runs here, including pros: prepare to be passed, often.
Lady Bird Lake
2525 S. Lakeshore Blvd.
Though not really for swimming (legally at least), this is one of the best urban paddles in America. Rent a kayak, canoe, or SUP from the inlet near Barton Springs Pool and launch straight into skyline views. Some people are there to log miles. Others are there to drift with a beer toward Party Island. If you bring your own craft, stay until sunset and you can catch the bats come out from the South Congress Bridge.
Barton Creek Greenbelt
3918 S. MoPac Expy.
The Greenbelt is Austin’s backcountry, a tangle of limestone trail that, in wetter years, can be studded with emerald-green swimming holes. During dry years, there’s rock, shade, and a labyrinth of paths where it’s easy to lose track of time (or your route). For a classic 15-mile run or ride, start at Barton Springs and head west to Hill of Life and back. First-timers should download the map before setting out. For bouldering, search up the Gus Fruh entry.
RELATED: Adventure Everywhere in Austin, Texas
Zilker Park
2113 Andrew Zilker Rd.
For two weekends every October, roughly 75,000 people a day descend on Zilker for the Austin City Limits (ACL) music festival. During the rest of the year, it’s Austin’s front yard, featuring 350 acres of grass, skyline views, and a real Where’s Waldo? scene of humanity. Even in triple-digit temps you’ll see people playing pickup sports, throwing a round of disc golf, strumming a six string, or expanding their mind somewhere shady.
Gyms and Spas
Austin Bouldering Project
979 Springdale Rd.
Austin’s climbing scene increasingly runs through ABP, a sprawling former warehouse filled with bouldering walls, yoga studios, weights, saunas, cold plunges, and a coworking space. If ropes are more your thing, Mesa Rim offers 55-foot walls and some of the tallest indoor climbing in the Southwest.
Bathe
2922 E. Cesar Chavez St.
Austin has always liked gathering in water; now it’s doing it indoors. In addition to yoga and Pilates, Bathe combines saunas, cold plunges, and mineral soaks with the sort of crowd that once would’ve met at a bar. The trend is growing: a major bathhouse project from a Meow Wolf cofounder is expected in 2027.
Food and Fuel
Micklethwait Craft Meats
4602 Tanney St.
Everyone here has (many) barbecue opinions. Here’s another: Franklin is great, but if you don’t want to spend half a day standing in line, head to Micklethwait. After 12 years as an East Austin trailer, it moved into a converted church on Tanney Street in 2025. The brisket, sausage, and chile-cheese grits are stellar. Now there’s beer and wine and indoor tables, but the real luxury is getting great barbecue without making a morning of it.
Veracruz All Natural
111 E. Cesar Chavez St.
Few foods are more closely associated with Austin than the breakfast taco, and few places are as consistent or good at making them as Veracruz, which now has several locations. The migas taco (eggs, tortilla chips, Monterey Jack, avocado, tomato, onion, and cilantro) remains the standard order. The Line Hotel outpost is particularly useful before or after a walk on the Butler Trail.
Cosmic
121 Pickle Rd.
Austin has become remarkably good at one specific thing: outdoor hangs where you can get a coffee at 9 a.m., a beer at 3 p.m., and dinner from a food truck whenever hunger strikes. Cosmic is one of the best examples. The original South Austin location on Pickle Road combines coffee, cocktails, food trucks, and a sprawling patio beneath the trees. The newer Saltillo location (1300 E. 4th St.) brings the idea to East Austin. Also see: all Radio locations and Leona Botanical Café & Bar.
Sagebrush
5500 S. Congress Ave.
There are several dance halls and honky-tonks worth your time—Donn’s Depot, Broken Spoke, and The White Horse are all great—but Sagebrush feels the most alive right now. It’s just beyond the busier tourist stretch, and pairs country bands and dance lessons with plenty of taps, a big dance floor, and a big backyard. Two hours here counts as exercise.
Where to Stay
Carpenter Hotel
400 Josephine St.
It’s hard to beat Carpenter’s spot: a one-block walk from the Butler Trail and an easy walk to Barton Springs and Zilker, which matters whether you’re here to swim, run, or survive ACL. The former union hall now has 93 rooms, a great coffee shop, and a shady pool.
Hotel Magdalena
1101 Music Ln.
Just off South Congress, Magdalena exists in the middle of the Austin most visitors come looking for: walkable, slightly weird, access to plenty of restaurants and pricey boot and cowboy hat boutiques. The 89-room property spreads across low timber buildings and breezeways; downstairs, Equipment Room is a swank vinyl listening bar.
This article is from the Fall 2026 issue of Outside magazine. To receive the print magazine, become an Outside+ member here.
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