Austin Guide

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This past weekend was my best friend’s wedding (which was so magical!). Since my fiancé had never been to Austin, we decided to make a trip out of it and be total tourists. Let me tell you, Austin did not disappoint!

I wanted to put together an “Austin Guide” of things we enjoyed while we were in town. By no means is this a list of the very best of Austin, rather a list of awesome things we did while we were in town. Hope you enjoy!

Things We Did in Austin

The Salt Lick BBQ

We’ve heard so many great things about Salt Lick BBQ, and we knew we had to go. On Thursday, literally upon landing, we dropped our bags off at our hotel and jetted with friends to Driftwood (about 30 minutes outside of Austin).

To be completely honest, I am not a huge BBQ fan, however I am very much into wine! The coolest part about Salt Lick BBQ, is that they also have a winery. Clearly it didn’t take much to convince me that this was our first destination.

The vibe is very Texas, and the restaurant was huge. Luckily, since it was Thursday afternoon, the place was not busy. Although, we have heard that on weekends the wait can be hours long. We didn’t wait at all!

The tables are old school picnic tables and benches, and the meats are hanging…. literally so cool! Check out the pic below:

As I said, I’m not a huge BBQ person, so I played it safe and ordered the brisket and sausage. I also told myself I had to taste their BBQ sauce (even though I loath the taste). It was actually amazing, not super sweet, and for those of you who dig spicy, they have a spicy sauce.

The food came out and was legit mouthwatering! For someone who is not a BBQ person, I actually loved it.

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Graffiti Park 

Our Uber driver recommended we stop here, and I was slightly apprehensive. To be honest, the main draw for me, was taking cute pictures (I know! Life of a blogger….). However, I was surprised at how incredible this place is!

If you aren’t into tagging, you can really spend like 5-10 minutes and that’s all you need. 

If you are into tagging grab yourself a spray paint can and go to town! It’s totally legal, and so cool to be a part of the wall.

The Domain

We stayed at the Hampton Inn, across the street from the Domain. We got a killer deal on the hotel, considering we booked this super last minute (like 3 days before we arrived). However, we ended up spending a ton of money in Uber fare, so I recommend either staying on the Domain property or renting a car if you’re visiting.

Our friends stayed at the Lone Star Court (which was sold out by the time we went to book). The hotel was so cute! It has a rustic, Texas motel feel. I wish I had booked this earlier! Would have been the perfect place to stay. They had awesome food, and complimentary breakfast. We spent a lot of time over there, since our friends (and the bride/groom) were booked there.

jeans/top (similar)/duster (similar)/booties (similar)/sunglasses

If you’re from Arizona, the Domain reminded me a lot of Scottsdale Quarter and Kierland. There’s tons of shopping, restaurants, bars, and specialty gyms (like Flywheel and CorePower Yoga). It’s brand new, and super misleading on how big the place is. It’s like a compound!

A few of us went to Flywheel the morning of the wedding, which was so fun! I also tested out OrangeTheory, but I’m just not a runner, so this isn’t my favorite class. 

We ate at Punch Bowl Social for dinner on Friday night, which was fantastic for a group of friends. The food is American, which was honestly more like upgraded bar food. Don’t necessarily go here for the food, but the atmosphere is great! They have a full game room with old school Mario Kart, and Skeet Ball, and a full virtual reality game room. Super cool and entertained all of our guys.

Basically the Domain has everything! You can stay here and not leave the entire time, which is so awesome. It’s about 20-30 minutes  from downtown (about a $30 Uber ride). Make sure you check Uber vs. Lyft, because we found the price to be different depending on the time of day. Sometimes Lyft was cheaper, other times Uber was the way to go.

I definitely recommend staying at the Domain if you’re in town!

South Congress

On our last day, we had a bunch of time to kill, so we decided to start on South Congress. 

We ate breakfast at Torchy’s (we kept trying to find the ultimate breakfast tacos), which was to die for! I had two tacos, each was just $3.50, and I was stuffed. Our entire bill for 4 tacos and and iced coffee was only $17. You cannot beat It! No to mention the food was amazing.

Once we finished our breakfast, we wanted to walk around South Congress. There’s a ton of cute shops and restaurants, but it seems to be a very touristy area. 

We checked out Joe’s Coffee (checked out their I love you so much wall), went into the candy store debated whether or not to get Amy’s ice cream (we were so full, but I have been here before, and it’s amazing!! Just super sweet, so you better come ready with your sweet tooth!). 

Other places to go! 

1. Rainey Street
2. 6th Ave 
3. The Capital Building
4. VooDoo Donuts

Anyways, definitely check out Austin if you haven’t been. Let me know if you head to any of the places we went!

xo//meliss

 

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