Day Trips From Austin You’ll Love

 

Located in the Texas Hill Country, Austin benefits from being near tons of fantastic tour spots that you can easily drive to within a day. Though there is always plenty to do in the Live Music Capital of the World, sometimes you just feel like getting away from Austin real estate and exploring a new place. Here are some of the best day trips you can take when you want to have a little adventure.

 

Located just 35 minutes from townhomes in Austin, Dripping Springs is probably the most popular day trip for Austin residents. Known as the “Gateway to the Hill Country,” Dripping Springs is full of unique shopping experiences, plenty of wineries, and fantastic year-round events. Make sure to schedule a visit to the Bell Springs Winery for a wine tasting paired with lunch at their tasty food truck and live music by local musicians. Also, consider spending some time at Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center and taking a hike to the grotto, a trek that culminates in a beautiful 40-foot waterfall.

 

 

Foodies who own Austin homes know that Texas has some of the best-barbequed food in the world, and the barbeque capital of the state is located just 35 minutes from their city. The town of Lockhart has three restaurants that constantly vie for the title of best barbeque: Black’s, Smitty’s Market, and Kreuz. Day-trippers should try all three and make their own determination of who deserves the title. After filling your belly with barbeque, make sure to swing by the Caldwell County Jail Museum and the historic Caldwell County Courthouse for a taste of history, then relax in The Pearl, the oldest bar in Lockhart, with a cold drink.

 

It might be a small town, but New Braunfels, located just 45 minutes from Austin, is full of fun things to do. Water lovers can float down one of the two rivers in town or enjoy the giant slides at Schlitterbahn water park. Want a little culture? Attend a play or ballet at the Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre or Circle Arts Theatre. New Braunfels is also the home of several great microbreweries. You can try a Gruene Session IPA or Pumpkin Style Texas Honey Ale at Guadalupe Brewing Company, an Alex Meixner’s Polka Pils at Faust Brewing, or a Blondine Sour Farmhouse Wheat at New Braunfels Brewing Company. No matter what you choose to do, New Braunfels will be a trip worth remembering.

 

 

If you love wine, a trip to Fredericksburg is the ideal way to get out of town and sip the day away. Those who own Austin real estate and don’t mind an hour and a half drive will find plenty to get excited about, as Fredericksburg is the home to more than 30 wineries, 18 of them on a single road! After you hit all the wineries you can handle, there’s still plenty more to do, including hiking the 1,825 feet up Enchanted Rock (probably an activity better done before the wineries), picking wildflowers at Wildseed Farms, and enjoying some German tastiness at Otto’s German Bistro. If you feel like getting up early to make the drive, you can hit Otto’s for Sunday brunch and try out the Chicken Schnitzel, Heirloom Tomato Galette, or Charcuterie Breakfast Board.

 

Leave the townhomes in Austin behind and make the 45-minute drive to friendly college town San Marcos for a trip to the farmer’s market, some fun shopping, or just a lazy float down the river. Just like most of the trips on this list, San Marcos has some excellent breweries like Aquabrew and Roughhouse, and you can soak up the booze with a kolache from Dos Gatos Bakery. Another highlight of San Marcos is Silo Glass, an artisan gallery and studio that offers classes, a gallery featuring more than two dozen Texas artists, and plenty of shopping opportunities. The largest warm glass studio in Central Texas, Silo Glass, is built next to a grotto with waterfalls and is, by itself, worth the 45-minute trip.

 

 

Texas wildflowers and huge cypress trees abound when you take the short hour-long jaunt to Wimberley on your road trip. One of the best things to do in this town is to head out to Jacob’s Well Natural Area, a natural spring with 10-15 foot ledges to jump off of. All that adventure will likely make you work up an appetite (and thirst), which you can quell with some Tiki drinks from Cypress Creek Rum Distillery and a meal at The Leaning Pear. The restaurant focuses on locally sourced ingredients, and its menu features some fantastic wood-fired pizzas as well as American favorites like chicken & grits and good old mac & cheese.

 

Those who own Austin real estate know that the Texas Hill Country can get extremely hot. When the heat becomes too much, a day trip to refreshing Canyon Lake is just the solution. Located just a shade over an hour from Austin, the “water recreation capital of Texas” has plenty of water-based activities and more than 80 miles of shoreline that’s perfect for hiking, biking, or horse riding. Make a day trip here to do some boating or fishing, explore the Canyon Lake Gorge, or head to the Heritage Museum of the Texas Hill Country for a dose of history. Make sure to put Canyon Lake on your list for the holidays, too. There are tons of cool Christmas events in the area, including a North Pole village, a Christmas parade with Clydesdales, and a boat parade of lights.

 

Those who own houses or townhomes in Austin tend to love where they live, but they still want to get out and explore something new every once in a while! Taking a day trip is the perfect way to get a dose of adventure without breaking the bank. Not an Austin resident but thinking of relocating? Reach out to experienced Austin realtors like The Speed & Neuren Group to begin your search for the perfect Austin home.