4 Best Sights in Austin, Texas

This 12-mile series of hike-and-bike trails follows the contour of Barton Creek and the canyon it created west along an 8-mile-long area from Zilker Park to west of Loop 360. The popular Greenbelt features even more sought-after swimming holes when the creek is full (very rain-dependent, it's usually in spring and fall). Several access points will get you on the riverside trails, including at Zilker Park, Loop 360, Twin Falls, Scottish Woods Trail Falls (near the intersection of MoPac and Loop 360), and Scottish Woods Trail (at the trail's northern border, off Loop 360).

The former site of temporary Franciscan missions in the 1700s and a former Native American gathering place is now Austin's everyday backyard park. The enormous 351-acre site that sprawls along the shores of Lady Bird Lake includes Barton Springs Pool, numerous gardens, a meditation trail, and a Swedish log cabin dating from the 1840s. In the spring, the park hosts a kite festival as well as concerts in the park's Zilker Hillside Theater, a natural outdoor amphitheater beneath a grove of century-old pecan trees; in July and August, musicals and plays take over. And, of course, the annual Austin City Limits Music Festival rules here every year in October. 

The 19th century lives on at this delightfully eccentric museum, where German Romanticism meets the Texas frontier. The historic home and studio of sculptor Elisabet Ney is a lovely gem in the Hyde Park neighborhood that showcases Ney's life and work, with more than 70 sculptures on display. Ney's studio, where she produced sculptures of historic figures, like Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston, is set up as she knew it, with sculpting tools, hat, teacup, and other items all in their proper places. The castle-like home is surrounded by native prairie grasses and more outdoor sculptures. Family-friendly art classes and special events are also hosted throughout the year. 

The story goes that Austin musician Amy Cook took a can of red spray paint to write her then-partner, Liz Lambert, a love letter on the side of Jo’s Coffee (one of Lambert’s businesses). The mural has since become a photo op for locals and visitors alike, and on any given day, you could see a couple getting engagement photos snapped or best friends hamming it up for Instagram against the now-famous mint-green backdrop. Lines for a quick photo op can stretch around the block on weekends.