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This list features the top 25 things to do in Austin Texas featuring Austin sightseeing, attractions, tours, museums, and more that locals love just as much as visitors!
Last updated on Dec 04, 2023 by Ivan Collins
Arriving in Austin during covid, Wonderspaces offers 28,000 square feet of art installations to dazzle every corner of your mind, like Hoshi By NONOTAK Studio (pictured above.) An exquisite fun house of varied installations of light, mirror, technology, and pure imagination, Wonderspaces features a sensually diverse experience that everyone will love. Tickets sell out, so check online to find a day and time to go spend a few hours blowing your mind with this indoor activity that features plenty of space for socially distanced fun alone or with your crew.
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Locals and visitors alike rave about the dark, spooky style of Haunted ATX hearse limo and van tours. One of the more unique experiences in Austin that is seriously keeping Austin weird, this tour lets you pack your friends in a hearse that's been converted into a limo or a passenger van wrapped in spooky art to visit historic locations and hear the tales of ghosts that haunt these landmarks. Tours start at $49 per person, but lasts 3 hours so you get a lot of entertainment bang for your buck. The tour itself is a blend of scary stories, Austin history, and a deep dive into some intriguing tales behind some of Austin's most iconic buildings.
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There are two large river boat operations on Lady Bird Lake that are super packed during warmer months taking people on bat watching tours. When they bats leave, they still offer great sunset, sightseeing, and moonlight cruise tours of Lady Bird Lake. There's also a few companies that offer kayaking tours that are very popular because the weather can be perfect on a weekend afternoon.
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One of the first tours to show visitors around town and the only land and water tour available, Austin Duck Adventures is one of the most popular tours in town. The tour starts at the Austin Visitor Center at the corner of 4th and Red River in downtown Austin. It drives along 6th street, up Congress where you get great views of the Texas Capitol and then on to Lake Austin where you drive straight into the water and float around before heading back. Tours run 7 days a week.
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Located downtown next to the Austin Visitor Center, this is the #1 escape room in Austin. You and your friends will work together to find clues and overcome challenges to ultimately complete a mission and ESCAPE! The Escape Game has 5 different adventures to choose from including The Heist, Gold Rush, Playground, Classified, and our favorite - Prison Break.
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Do you believe in furry tails? Indulge your kitty fix or adopt your new family member with a visit to the newest, coolest, chic lounge in Austin...Purrfecto. This is the only cat lounge in Austin and a one of a kind activity that will warm your heart.
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A uniquely Austin activity that usually takes about an hour, visiting the Texas State Capitol is both enjoyable and educational. Who knows, you might get lucky and bump into Alex Jones protesting against masks, science, or some idea of civic responsibility. While a lot of people will stroll the grounds, take some selfies, and head out, you can go inside on a tour with Texas Capitol City Tours that feature 1 hour tours for $20 a person
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One of the most exotic Austin things to do, Unchartered Adventures features a variety of high octane activities. Originally they featured a Rage Room full of breakables, suited up guests in protective clothing and let them go wild with a baseball bat. Since releasing the rage room they've added more activities with Smash Car, Escape Rooms, Splatter Paint, and something called Zombie Airsoft. If you're looking to log some off the charts memories, definitely check out the scene at Unchartered Adventures.
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Everybody has a friend that claims their city has the most restaurants per capita. You hear that from Austin locals all the time. While it may not offer the most restaurants per capita, it's definitely a hot market for culinary talent looking to escape the high prices of running a boutique restaurant along the nation's coasts. Austin City Guide recently released our Best Austin Restaurants Guide that is organized like this things to do list. We figured we'd give it a quick plug here since everybody loves to eat!
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Fed up you can't help stop the drug war? Every time you shut down a lab, another pops right up. Do your part with Paniq Room's Cartel Crackdown. They also feature rooms called Isane Asylum, Wizard Trials, and Pirates of Tortuga if you're not up for helping with the War on Drugs.
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What better way to bond with friends and family than showcasing your Uzi skills? The Range features a state of the art facility and immersive experience that begins the moment you step inside. Pick from shooting packages featuring, pistols, revolvers, shotguns, modern rifles, and/or automatic firearms! Packages start at $49. We suggest you go big and get the AR15 + Uzi Two-Gun package for $199. Your party's Safety Officer will run you through the protocol and demonstrate proper usage of your gun(s). The Range Safety Officer is there to assist your party from start to finish and make sure you're prepared for the next invasion.
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Pedal power is all the rage in the new green America! Help do your part to save the environment by saddling up on a PubCrawler and hitting the town. If you're worried about stamina, these rides come with electric pedal assist as a backup for your quads. Your tour can include stops at bars, murals, and food trucks in the downtown area. Private tours are a clear favorite of bachelor and bachelorette parties, but public tours are also offered and are a great way to meet new people for locals and visitors alike. Wigs are encouraged but not required;) And they have generously offered up this discount code for our readers to get 10% off: FUN2023
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Get to know Austin's Hill Country with a distillery tour in Dripping Springs. You and your crew can take a private ride from your location in Austin to three celebrated distilleries: Dripping Springs Distilling, Treaty Oaks Distillery, and the Desert Door Distillery. Maybe take some notes on how to make your own hooch in case prohibition circles back to the new America. Or just enjoy drinks at each location and soak in the views. The guys at Austin Tour Company make it fun, safe, and legal to let go a little. It's a great idea for birthdays, bachelor/bachelorette parties, or just a group get away.
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Climb up above the tree lines and then zip across the forest and water like a modern Tarzan with (hopefully) more than a loin cloth. Lake Travis Zip lines offers a chance to suspend your pedestrian life with something more airborne as you zip through, across, and over some of Austin's best scenery. Zip lines offers one of the most highlighted photographic opportunities available to declare to your social media pals that you're bravery is not grounded to bikes and scooters.
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Ready to join a biker gang? This doesn't quite qualify as an automatic entry into the Sons of Anarchy gang but it's as close as you’re likely to get and a lot more fun! YourBikerGang.com offers ridiculously fun guided adventures on electric powered bikes. It's one of our favorite ways to see Austin! They have a variety of different experiences to choose from and tours depart every day of the week.
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We absolutely love Live Love Paddle's bat watching tours during bat season. But they also rent kayaks, paddleboard, and canoes for those looking to get a little exercise in with their sightseeing. The views of downtown from Lady Bird Lake are amazing. Also, check out their full moon music paddle that features kayaking to an island, watching a band play, eating smores, and kayaking back at night under the stars.
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Located in Southwest Austin, Magic's Theater offers a close up magic show inside a magic museum. They're open Monday - Saturday nights with shows starting at 8pm. The museum features with pieces from Harry Houdini, Doug Henning, and more. Plus you can bring your own wine with a small corkage fee.
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Like Escape Games? We love them. The guys at Novel Escape build them based on classic novels. Their main game is built around 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and requires escaping a submarine before you run out of air. Talk about pressure! Novel Escape features 100% private games just for you and your mates.
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We love biking in Austin and nobody knows the trails and sites better than Mike. His crew offers a variety of tours to choose from including a couple on Austin's premiere mountain bike trails and a few that explore the city itself. You might think summer is the only time for a bike tour in Austin, but due to our warm weather these tours run all year round
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Maybe you're into breweries and outdoor seating. Perhaps it a hot dance floor with a sweet disco ball. In the past, Austin's nightlife was isolated to historic sixth street. Now there's districts all over town. Check out our nightlife guide for hot spots to get your groove on or chilax with your dogs and some brews.
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It wasn't until they finished the boardwalk on Lady Bird Lake that you could circle the entire trail without a few treks on the road. Now there's a full 10.2 mile loop along the water in downtown Austin. We love getting our bikes out there when the weather is right.
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Quite the opposite of South Congress, but very impressive with total shopping emersion, the Domain in North Austin features the most exclusive brands in the city. It also features a strong resume of restaurants, nightlife, and boutiques.
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The epicenter of the "Keep Austin Weird" movement, South Congress Avenue remains a top visitor attraction albeit more and more upscale as the years go by. It's a great place to do some unique shopping, catch a great restaurant, even see live music.
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Rainey Street District is probably the most unusual nightlife scene in Austin. The first bar to open in Rainey was Lustre Pearl located in an old home. Not too long after other homes converted into bars and now the area is covered with bars, hotels, restaurants, and food trucks, offering one of Austin's most unique nightlife districts.
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Find balance in your life between the competing energies of shiny chrome, metals prone to rust, glass, plastic, stone, and other mediums as you explore one of Austin's most unique tourist attractions. The Cathedral of Junk in South Austin features a beautifully chaotic blend of artistic expression with the skills of master free mason.
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