There’s no denying that an Austin tech scene, which has been simmering for decades, has reached a boiling point in the past few years. As of 2023, tech jobs accounted for 16 percent of all jobs in Austin—almost double the national average, according to the Austin Chamber of Commerce. Tech giants like Apple, Google, and Oracle all have a presence in the Texas capital, and startups like Mio, Closinglock, and MadeIn are garnering hype and VC funding. The Wall Street Journal may be hedging its bets on the hype it previously bestowed upon the city in the wake of the pandemic, but Austin persists as a kind of Babylon for burned-out techies who are tired of the Silicon Valley rat race.
The scrappy “Keep Austin Weird” era is on the wane, but there’s still plenty that feels authentic and lovable in this once-sleepy college town that was content with doing its own thing in the shadows of nearby metropolises like Dallas and Houston. If your heart isn’t dead-set on reliving the hazy glory days of the city portrayed in Richard Linklater’s classic 1993 film Dazed and Confused, you’re all but guaranteed to have a blast while bar-hopping, basking in the sun, and stuffing your face with some of the best barbecue in the world. And of course there’s live music. So, so much live music.
Where to Stay
Video: Pete Cottell
Austin’s tech scene initially caught a spark in the sprawling hills west of the city—hence the “Silicon Hills” tag—but the influx of Gen X and millennial workers has created an explosion of incubators, coworking spaces, and urban lifestyle hubs that are more centrally located than the environs preferred by the suburbanized old guard that came before them. Whether you prefer a quick drive to the office park or a quick walk to your new “coffice” for the day, our picks have you covered.
1901 San Antonio St., (512) 473-8900
Situated near the Texas State Capitol on the Southwest corner of the University of Texas at Austin, the Otis is a comfortable middle ground between a boutique hotel and an international chain operation. It’s far enough from the commotion of both downtown and campus to feel calm, yet just a stone’s throw from both. The rooftop pool is clutch for winding down with a Lone Star after a long day of meetings, which can be conveniently hosted onsite at one of the six event spaces, and Acre 41 is the kind of multiuse restaurant that’s great for checking emails over coffee in the morning and brokering big deals over a Texas ribeye at night.
700 San Jacinto St., (512) 476-3700
Austin is growing upward at an unprecedented clip, but until it starts putting up New York–style pencil skyscrapers, the Omni Hotel stands out as one of the most iconic pieces of its skyline. This glistening 20-story marvel is just a few blocks from the core of Austin’s entertainment district on West 6th Street, though you wouldn’t be faulted for hardly leaving the property if a bar crawl on “Dirty 6th” isn’t your thing. The rooftop pool offers stunning views of the city and beyond, and the three onsite restaurants provide an array of dining options suitable for all occasions.
1108 E 6th St., (737) 205-8888
Many maverick tech workers are in the sole proprietor/bootstraps phase of their career, which means cutting costs while still feeling luxe (or at least presenting as such) is important. East Austin Hotel offers traditional rooms for a slight upgrade, or you can save some serious cash by booking a “cabin” room with a suite of shared private bathrooms in the middle of the floor. You’ll still have access to the pool in the middle of the property, and the hotel’s proximity to the laid-back, neighborhood-y vibe of East 6th Street makes it a great pick for aspiring professionals who would prefer to commingle with locals rather than pound the pavement with office drones.
Photograph: Sarah Kerver/Getty Images
605 Davis St., (512) 542-5300
Rainey Street ain’t what it used to be, but this charming enclave of bungalows turned bars still packs more character into a tiny city block than most midsize cities can muster in their entire downtown footprint. It’s a solid all-purpose pick for moderate luxury in the middle of one of Austin’s most charming and memorable downtown-adjacent neighborhoods.
10901 Domain St., (855) 596-3398
Most out-of-towners would be quite bummed to find out their work trip in Austin is centered around a lifestyle mall that’s a 45-minute drive from downtown, but The Domain is actually a pretty great place to spend a few days if duty calls. It’s a simulacrum of a walkable city right near blue-chip operations like Apple and Chase, so you might as well lean into the whole thing and shack up at a cool hotel that doesn’t feel like a suburban motor inn off the freeway. Lone Star Court is fashioned in the likeness of a hill country lodge, with a pair of conjoined courtyards that center around a teal oval-shaped pool with its own bar and lounge.
7415 Southwest Pkwy., Building 8, Suite 100, (512) 551-4009
Nestled atop a main thoroughfare in the “Silicon Hills” of West Austin is a shiny new AC Hotel that checks all the boxes a techy business traveler might have. It’s a short drive to heavyweights like AMD and Dell, and a handful of VCs like LiveOak and Cavvy dot the rolling hills that are on stunning display from the pool and the rooftop bar. The adjacent strip mall offers handy essentials like a local market that serves coffee and sandwiches all day, an upscale Mexican spot with great happy hour specials, and a movie theater with a bar that’s a great place to kill a few hours between meetings.
Where to Work
Photograph: Pete Cottell
Whether you’re looking for a quiet desk for the day or a parachute into a bustling tech-y social scene, the variety of coworking options available in Austin is staggering and has something for everyone. Before you walk in off the street, we strongly suggest checking their website for availability and pricing, and while you’re surfing the web, you might as well check out Austin Coworking and Deskpass, as they’re excellent resources for updates on events, newcomers to the scene, and deals on participating offices.
310 Comal St., Floor 2, (512) 399-6320
Bond Collective is a solid choice for the post-hipster techies who prefer the laid-back vibe of East Austin over the corporate thrum of downtown or the West Austin hills. Day passes start at $35 for quick drop-ins, and monthly memberships offer access to almost all Bond Collective locations in the US—with many locations in New York, Philly, and the DC area—along with 24/7 access and ad hoc conference rooms if needed.
701 Brazos St., (512) 548-9675
This startup social hall functions more so as an IRL hub for meetups and events for the entrepreneur set, but it also offers quite a few open coworking events throughout the week if you prefer a more lively and interactive environment while you tap away at your laptop. You might meet your next full-stack developer here, or (more realistically) you might swill some beers and play pop-a-shot with some dudes who ditched California for the booming startup scene the Texas capital has been riding high on for several years now.
1700 S Lamar Blvd., #338, (512) 596-2683
Tucked in the back of a new build in the cozy Zilker/South Lamar neighborhood is Fibercove, a bright and buzzy coworking space that boasts off-street parking, a Google Fiber-powered network, a cafe, and a podcast studio where you and your best buds can chat about food and politics with the hopes of going viral. Local favorites like Odd Duck, Tiki Tatsu-Ya, and an Alamo Drafthouse outpost are within a short walk, and the space shares walls with a location of the boozy brunch chain Snooze if mimosas and chilaquiles are in order.
Where to Get Your Coffee
Courtesy of Radio Coffee and Beer
1115 E 11th St.
Austin is home to a staggering number of excellent coffee shops that focus solely on brewing great coffee. It’s also chock-full of multiuse all-day drinking spots where the hours melt away and your taste for a cortado in the morning and a cafe de cachapa in the afternoon is joyously accommodated. Radio Rosewood falls in the latter camp. Coffee (and coffee cocktails, no judgment) start flowing at 7 am daily, and the Shortwave Diner truck parked outside slings a variety of diner staples like smash burgers, hot dogs, and breakfast sandwiches throughout most of Radio Rosewood’s generous hours of operation.
Multiple locations
Figure 8 is one of the most popular purveyors for cafés that don’t roast their own beans, which makes it easy to find just about anywhere, but the opportunity to try its outstanding espresso and drip coffee right at the source is one you must enjoy if possible. This low-slung rectangle of a building sits on the edge of a quiet residential area, but the inside is always buzzing gently with activity and caffeination. Order a shot made from African or Central American beans if possible, and keep an eye out for a bin of fresh breakfast tacos near the register if you need a snack.
Multiple locations
With a decade-plus of explosive growth in their rear view, it’s fair to say Houndstooth is akin to third-wave roasters like Stumptown, Blue Bottle, and Intelligentsia, all of which are synonymous with their respective cities. Their downtown location lives in the lobby of an office tower right smack in the middle of Austin’s business district, which makes it a great place to sip a cortado between meetings or escape the grind of the workday with a cold brew and a croissant.
1505 Town Creek Dr.
Nature is healing, and one of Austin’s most beloved all-night hangs has finally resumed its 24/7 schedule. As its name denotes, The Buzz Mill is a lumber mill–themed coffee bar that’s great for late-night study sessions, marathon coding sprints, work drinks with the crew, or a mellow place to sip on a drink or two while you wait for whatever it is you were doing all day to flush out of your system.
Where to Eat
Photograph: Pete Cottell
1201 S Lamar Blvd.
This South Lamar bistro casts a wide net in terms of influence, with contemporary riffs on Texan comfort classics serving as the backbone of the dozen-or-so items that populate its menu. Look no further than the climax of their current dinner offerings—a wagyu strip steak that’s plated with tater tots and masa queso—for a cheeky tell of what to expect from their delightfully low-brow iterations on high-minded chefiness.
1900 S 1st St.
Austin is located in Texas, and people in Texas love animal products. On the other hand, Austin is also a hot spot for well-heeled progressives, which means the vegetarian and vegan food is on point if you know where to look. Bouldin Creek Cafe is a funky and colorful mainstay for eco-friendly fare that’s elegant enough for a dinner date yet also crunchy enough to please a table of hungover hippies who went a bit too hard at the day rave that dragged on until 4 in the morning.
2330 W N Loop Blvd.
For 50 years this North Austin cochina has gifted Texans with upscale Mexican cuisine that joyfully transcends what your average taqueria-goer imagines when food from south of the border comes to mind. Here you’ll find stunning platters of wagyu tacos, tangy ceviches, and decadent mole that converge in a way that suggests what might happen when Mexico City answers the question of what a brasserie might look like in a hyper-modern American metropolis.
2305 E 7th St.
Founded by Joe Avila in 1962, this humble East Austin diner infuses hearty brunch fare with stately Mexican tradition. The proper move here is a breakfast plate that typically includes eggs, beans, potatoes, tortillas, and your choice of protein. Their signature dish—the Joey Rocha Plate—is centered around a rich pork guisada and sausage or bacon and is easily one of the most crave-worthy and iconic breakfast dishes in all of Austin. Smaller appetites are accommodated by a full lineup of tacos, including a handful of breakfast tacos alongside more traditional two-biters like barbacoa, chicharrone, and migas.
4710 E 5th St.
Justine’s is an Austin-ified update of the French brasserie model of casual indulgence. Its kitchen serves up decadence until midnight on weekends, offering the pre- or post-party set decadent burgers, frites, seafood dishes, and a few stunning salad options that pair wonderfully with an expansive list of cocktails, aperitifs, and wines from all over the price spectrum.
Best Barbecue
Photograph: Pete Cottell
Anointing one barbecue spot out of the hundreds in the area as “the best” is a fool’s errand, so a quick-and-dirty list of knockouts that suit a variety of needs is more appropriate. Know that most have a line well before they open, brisket sells out quickly, and very few are open more than three or four days a week. Terry Black’s is an exception to all of these rules, with generous hours, a massive seating area, and an industrious pit that makes it easy to score award-winning brisket for the entire crew at 7 pm on a Monday. La Barbecue is a consensus favorite among chefs and influencers, earning high marks for its outstanding sausage and brisket, along with its approachability—online ordering is clutch when you don’t have the time or patience for the line. KG BBQ has the most unique story on this list, with a charismatic Egyptian pitmaster who adds a Middle Eastern spin to familiar Texas staples in the form of sumac rice bowls topped with brisket, barbecue lamb pitas, and cardamom and pistachio rice pudding for dessert.
Best Breakfast Tacos
Similar to barbecue, there is no best breakfast taco spot in Austin. Most locals choose based on proximity and reliability, while natural selection weeds out the bad ones in short order. That said, the handful of locations in the Veracruz All Natural empire offer something for everyone all over town, and most of them are situated in a truck park that usually has coffee, pastries, and other local goodies on offer courtesy of the other vendors. Vaquero Taquero is a solid pick for folks situated near UT or downtown, and the Bouldin Creek location of El Tacorrido slings breakfast tacos (and other styles) out of a walk-up/drive-thru window every day from 7am to midnight.
Bars and Breweries
Photograph: Pete Cottell
1133 E 11th St.
This cheeky East Austin post-dive ingests the memories of every Midwestern transplant’s favorite windowless dump and polishes them up real nice like, in a convivial nod to the great American institution that is the neighborhood watering hole. Ice cold lager and top-tier boozy slushies wash down satisfying pub grub courtesy of the Delray Cafe truck outside, which slings smash burgers, Detroit-style coneys, and all manner of fried fare until the wee hours of the evening.
406 Walsh St.
Better Half is a great place to start the morning with a breakfast sandwich and a coffee, put your head down, and grind away on your laptop for hours, then celebrate a job well done with a draft cocktail and another sandwich. Its light and airy aesthetic, plus its massive outdoor footprint, make this Old West Austin bar/café hybrid an inviting hub for productivity, lounging our outright shenanigans if the mood strikes.
3901 Promontory Point Dr.
While Austin has seen no shortage of IPA factories come to fruition in the past decade, it’s fitting that its most significant opening rolled into town by way of the OP beer scene in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 2019 by a pair of Breakside veterans, the expansive, quasi-suburban footprint of Meanwhile brewing manages to be peak Austin in its amenities, with an massive outdoor space that boasts a stage, picnic tables galore, a kids play area, and a fleet of food trucks that puts many stand-alone truck parks to shame. The beer is also excellent, with a strong focus on crushable lagers, hazies, and the particular brand of West Coast IPAs that Breakside has brewed for award-winning results since the early 2010’s.
Photograph: Pete Cottell
440 E St. Elmo Rd., G-2
Not unlike Southern California, which happens to be the origin of many recent Austin transplants, you’ll find most of the good breweries in an industrial park on the outskirts of the city proper. St. Elmo is such a place, though the plethora of eateries and pickleball courts that share the laneway mean you’re not exactly departing to a remote desert of a place when a craving for a crushable kolsch and a massive chicken sandwich hits. Unlike many new school lager factories, St. Elmo commands a diverse range of styles that err on the crispy side but still check a variety of unique boxes. The aforementioned Kolsch, simply named Carl, is the obvious pick for your first pint, but your second could be anything from a Mexican Lager to a Dubai chocolate–inspired pastry stout.
1300 S Lamar Blvd.
Tiki Tatsu-Ya is a colorful and elaborate fever dream of all things tiki. Kitsch is balanced carefully with playfulness and refinement, yielding a fanciful experience that’s punctuated by stiff drinks that aren’t for the faint of heart. There are few better places to take a small group of friends who are in dire need of a boozy kick in the pants courtesy of a cocktail menu that balances tradition and innovation, with classics like Painkillers and Jungle Birds dancing alongside new-school shareables like the Daruma or the Aku Aku.
1704 E 5th St.
These days it feels like everyone’s favorite neighborhood dive is on the verge of ruin, but the Yellow Jacket soldiers on as one of the last grungy gathering places in Austin where chain smoking and kvetching about condos is not only accepted but encouraged. The local-centric scene here is cordial enough to tolerate tourists and newcomers, provided you mind your manners by being chill and not ordering espresso martinis from the bar.
Where to Catch Live Music
Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images
500 Comal St.
No trip to Texas is complete without a night of drunken line dancing, and The White Horse is the preeminent spot for just that. Its proximity to the hipster scene of East 6th means the rough edges that accentuate more suburban line dancing joints are sanded down ever so slightly, making it an approachable option for normies to kick up their boots with minimal jeering from dudes who have two first names and a well-stocked gun rack in the back window of their F-350.
1502 E 6th St.
This dusty saloon is the beating heart of the East 6th music scene, with a robust calendar that’s always diverse but generally hems closer to locals and up-and-coming national acts from the blogosphere of Pitchfork, Stereogum, and the like. The vibrant back patio provides an unbeatable vantage point of a typical night out in Austin, complete with carousing youngsters, aging indie hipsters, honky tonk bros, and just about everything in between.
Photograph: Lorne Thomson/Getty Images
900 Red River St.
This rawkus downtown venue has been rumored to be on the brink of extinction for years, so it’s a better time than any to assemble your crew and cut a rug at one of the preeminent LGBTQ-ish clubs before the slow, violent churn of gentrification claims yet another real one. The cramped quarter of the indoor dance floor maximize the party vibes even on weekends, and the outdoor space—which butts up against a massive limestone rock wall to dramatic effect—is a great place to rip a few shots and get down until denizens of the adjacent hotels and apartments call in yet another noise complains.
801 Red River St.
Only in Austin does one of the preeminent midsize outdoor music venues double as a legendary barbecue joint that has its own sauce you’ve probably seen at your local Kroger or Target. These days the barbecue at Stubb’s is a serviceable afterthought to the heavyweight touring acts that grace its stage on a weekly basis, and it’s a serious hub of SXSW activity when the music industry’s favorite trade show turns the entire city into an ad hoc indie rock boomtown for a week every March.
2015 E Riverside Dr.
Though this legendary indie club opened a few years after the term “emo-core” was coined, its status as a must-play venue during the salad days of the burgeoning punk offshoot was cemented long before emo was we know it became a mainstream genre. In 2011 it moved from its original downtown location to its current spot just south of downtown in the Riverside neighborhood, and a quick scan of its calendar reveals that its bookings are as crucial as ever. It’s the platonic ideal of a mid-size venue with excellent sight lines, efficient bar service, and a penchant for booking bands that are often too big for the space by the time their gig comes around.
While the author Pete Cottell isn’t local to Austin, his fierce devotion to finding the best live music, barbecue, and dialed-in urbanity has brought him to the shores of the Colorado River more times than he can count. It took a few trips for him to figure out that they’re food trucks (not carts, as in his former home of Portland) and that you probably should not trust any barbecue spot with no line and a pile of brisket left around dinnertime. He’s deeply concerned about the condo plague that’s stricken the beloved East 6th corridor, and he would rather rub elbows with weird uncles from Iowa and Oklahoma in the hours-long Franklin Barbecue queue than get within 20 feet of the Comedy Mothership, or anywhere on “Dirty 6th,” for that matter.
