5 Things to Do in Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas is often referred to as "The live music capital of the world," but there's so much more to this city than music and Indie films. If you're planning a trip to Austin, just plan on driving through or even if you're planning to move here, there's something to do for everyone. Whether you're a fan of live music or the great outdoors, I've complied a list of five things to do in Austin, Texas.

See/listen live music

There are dozens of bars and clubs in Austin and many of them have nights where there will be a live band playing. Check out places on sixth street, as well as coffee houses and Waterloo Records. You'll be able to find live music in a few hotels, parks like Zilker park and shopping centers like Southpark Meadows. If you're visiting Austin in mid-March you're in a for a treat because that's the time of year that Austin has it's music and film festival known as South by Southwest (SXSW). If you've never heard of SXSW you must either be from another country or living under a rock because SXSW is a huge festival that brings in hundreds of music and film artist from all over the world, both well known and some unknowns. To find listing of live music showings and venues check out www.austinlivemusic.com.

Visit a lake

If you're tired of the music and film scene check out one of Austin's lakes. Lake Travis is the one that gets a lot of traffic but there's also Lake Austin and Lady Bird Lake. There are activities that you can do on a lake like canoeing (my favorite), jet skiing, boating, fishing, kayaking and of course swimming.

Visit a park

If you don't want to get wet there are always parks to visit. Mount Bonnell park is a great place to visit if you want a bird's eye view of the hill country, bring a camera because the view is breathtaking. Mckinney Falls State Park is another great park to visit with it's caverns, historical markings, water sculpted rocks and flowing waters. Pedernales Falls State Park isn't exactly in Austin but it's within a close enough driving distance to be added to the list. This park has gorgeous views, wildlife, streaming waters and places to swim. There are many other parks in Austin but these three happen to be my favorites. They're great places to camp out, go for a hike or site seeing.

Shopping

Like many cities Austin has quite a few places too shop too. Aside from their regular malls like Barton Creek, Highland and the Hill Country Galleria there are unique boutiques and thrifts stores along one of Austin's famous shopping strip, South Congress Avenue. If you're looking for deals on designer duds there are three outlet malls that are very close to Austin. There's a Premium outlet mall in Round Rock, which is just north of Austin, and a Prime outlet and Tanger outlet mall in San Marcos, which is about 30 minutes south of Austin. The San Marcos outlets are located next to each other.

Rock climbing

For those that prefer to keep their feet off the ground there's always rock climbing. Sure, I've heard Austin isn't the best place for the most extreme and experience rock climbers but if you're not a rock climbing snob Austin has a few nice places to check out. There are a couple of indoor wall climbing places for really hot days (mostly summer, the rest of the year isn't so bad for a true Texan) like Austin Rock Gym, Inc. and Main Event Entertainment. Austin Rock Gym, Inc. is an indoor and outdoor company. Some places for outdoor climbing in or around Austin is Reimers Ranch, Pace Bend State Park, Austin's Greenbelt and Enchanted Rock, which is about an hour and half drive away.

What ever your mood there's bound to be something for you to do while in Austin, Texas.