Austin, Texas: The College Town That Became a Metropolis but Kept Its Soul

When it was completed in 1937, the 307-foot-tall University of Texas Tower became the tallest building in Austin, and so it remained for the next 35 years. Though the central Texas city was the state’s capital and home to its second-largest university, for decades it remained a sleepy place best known for the slackers portrayed by Richard Linklater and influential local musicians like Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan. “When I was at UT in the 1990s, we called Austin the Velvet Coffin, since it was comfortable to stay here and not have much ambition,” says Austin author and journalist Chris Tomlinson. “But in the early 2000s, it started to become a tech hub and a real city.”

The city gets its name from Stephen F. Austin, the Virginia-born “Father of Texas,” who brought the first Anglo-American settlers to what was then Mexico in 1825. In 1845, the city became the capital of the new state of Texas. Its first capitol building was a two-room log cabin, but the current, circa-1888 edifice is a far grander affair—a pink-granite edifice with a 302-foot-tall dome. Since its founding in 1883, the University of Texas at Austin has shaped the city’s culture and history.

As Austin became a government and education hub, a live music scene bubbled up, beginning with the choral and European folk music performed in the late 1800s at German American beer gardens. For much of the 20th century it was an important stop on the R&B and rock circuit, with numerous Mexican bands helping shape the local sound, but what really helped Austin become the self-proclaimed “Live Music Capital of the World” was the arrival in 1972 of native Texan Willie Nelson after an unsuccessful stint in Nashville. Two years later, the pioneering PBS show Austin City Limits began taping (the spin-off live music festival launched in 2002) and in 1987 the music conference South by Southwest debuted, later diversifying into film and tech.

Today Austin is a modern metropolis of a million-plus people with towering skyscrapers—including the 1,034-foot-tall Waterline, which became the city’s tallest building when it topped out in 2025—that dwarf the UT Tower and the capitol dome. One thing hasn't changed, though: Whenever the University of Texas Longhorns football team wins a game, the top of the UT Tower is still illuminated in the school’s trademark burnt orange.

Top Things to Do

Dive into Texas history by taking one of the free daily tours at the Capitol Building, which highlight details like an early 20th-century terrazzo floor with images of significant battles (including the Alamo) and a quirky room devoted to state agriculture. Go deeper at the Bullock State History Museum, which offers significant insight into Austin itself. Afterward, head over to the modernist building on the nearby UT campus housing the LBJ Presidential Library, where photos, artifacts, and interactive exhibits pay tribute to the 36th president, who was born in nearby Hill Country. Also on campus is the Blanton Art Museum, whose collection of 22,000 works includes contemporary American paintings, Latin American sculptures, and the site-specific Austin by Ellsworth Kelly, a chapel-like structure that’s calm and cool even on a sweltering summer day.

Even outside of SXSW (held in March all over town) and Austin City Limits (held in October in Zilker Park), the city is alive with music. Country and rock intermingle at long-running clubs such as the Continental Club, founded in 1955 on buzzy South Congress Avenue, and the Broken Spoke, a honky-tonk dance hall open since 1964. You can also catch local and international acts at venues like ACL Live at the Moody Theater (where the Austin City Limits show is filmed) and the blues focused Antone’s.

Go clothing shopping, too. Austin has plenty of cowboy boot stores, like Allens Boots on South Congress, and dozens of vintage shops, like Devil’s Details Boutique, a jewelry and accessories boutique snuggled into a stone bungalow. According to owner Rebekka Adams, “College students are buying 1950s and 1960s watches like grandmas used to wear.” Use the online Vintage Around Town Guide to find stores selling everything from Western wear to mid-century furniture.

Austin is also famed for its natural beauty. “Access to water is everywhere in Austin,” says Kaz Edwards, a UT alum and the chef de cuisine at celebrated Japanese restaurant Uchi. “In college, we’d gravitate to the outdoor Barton Springs Pool—which stays chilly year-round—and go swimming before class.” Be sure to visit Lady Bird Lake, a man-made oasis named for the former First Lady, where ten miles of paved trails backed by the downtown skyline draw bikers, runners, and walkers. Say howdy to the life-sized bronze statue of Stevie Ray Vaughn near the South First Street Bridge and from spring to fall watch Mexican freetail bats emerge each evening at dusk from beneath the Congress Avenue Bridge.

And, between August and November, you must attend a Longhorns game. “Our football home games are so full of tradition at Texas Memorial Stadium,” says UT alum Tessie Watson Crow, owner of the collegiate clothing boutique Longhorn Fashions. “Over 100,000 people can fit into that stadium, and it becomes a sea of orange with fireworks and drone shows.”

Where to Eat and Drink

Barbecue lovers have long made the pilgrimage to Austin. “The Texas Trinity is brisket, sausage, and ribs,” Tomlison says. “Of course, Franklin Barbecue is the best, but you have to stand in line and it sells out by 11 a.m. The other place I’d check out is Terry Black’s, which is kind of old school. You can stretch out at a picnic table with a beer and watch the world go by.”

The city is also ground zero for great Tex-Mex, and no restaurant is more essential than Matt’s El Rancho, famed for its eye-wateringly strong margaritas and Bob Armstrong Dip, a medley of queso, beef taco meat, and guacamole. For something more elevated, try the nontraditional Japanese with a Texas twist at Uchi.

The changing city has brought a host of smart cocktail lounges like the Powder Room, but campus adjacent dives like the Hole in the Wall, which has been slinging shots (and hosting up-and-coming musicians) since 1974 and is still doing its best to “Keep Austin Weird,” as the bumper sticker says. For a truly old-school experience, raise a mug at Scholz Garten, which has been serving beer and hosting performances in a redbrick building and live oak-shaded garden near the Capitol since 1866.

Where to Stay

Open since 1886 and fresh off a major renovation completed in 2026, the 60-room Driskill Hotel occupies a grand Romanesque Revival brick-and-limestone building downtown with Western touches like stone steer head ornament on its façade. Near the UT campus, Hotel Ella offers 47 rooms behind the columned porch of a circa-1900 mansion built by one of the founders of the university. Famed Texas hotelier Liz Lambert helped launch the chic motor court trend with the 40-room boutique Hotel San José on South Congress. And her fellow woman hotelier Kelly Wearstler is behind the homey luxury of the 238-room Austin Proper Hotel, across from Lady Bird Lake.

Best Time to Visit

Austin gets hot in summer, y’all. (Highs can reach the upper 90s). Visit between October through March for the mildest temperatures—and the bustle of UT classes in session. Homecoming Weekend, typically in September or October, brings tailgating and a big football game. Commencement Weekend in May sees thousands of students in caps and gowns in the football stadium, plus grads posing for selfies behind the 12-foot-tall fiberglass longhorn statue positioned behind the student Co-Op.

Getting There

The Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is just a 15-minute drive or ride from downtown. CapMetro, the city’s public transportation system, operates the Route 20 bus from the airport into the city.