Nobody knows Austin better than the locals. Here are some tips from Refresh Austin to help you enjoy our fair city to the fullest.
WiFi
To the delight of geeks hailing from accross the world, Austin is pretty much saturated with free wireless Internet. The convention center offers free wifi so you’ll be able to live-blog and check out what’s going on outside of the conference walls. Just know that the network can become bogged down at points during the conference.
Check out the Austin Wireless City Project’s website or visit any of the following local establishments:
- Little City coffee house - 916 Congress Ave
- The Hideout Coffee bar & Theatre - 617 Congress Ave
- Jo’s Coffee - 242 W. 2nd St. and 1300 S. Congress Ave
Getting Around Town
Luckily, Austin has a relatively easy, grid-based downtown (the same cannot be said for the rest of the city though) and you’ll be visiting places which are all nearby for the most part. You should be able to walk, catch a ‘Dillo, or taxicab easily. The ‘Dillos are free and serve downtown, UT, and South Congress, among other destinations. There’s also a Downtown Austin website.
- Capital Metro - 512.474.1200
- Google Transit - Google maps plus public transit!!!
- Yellow Cab - 512.452.9999
- Lonestar Cab - 512.836.4900
Dining
- Casino El Camino - Best burgers in town? Almost definitely. - 517 E. 6th (2 blocks from the convention center)
- Torchy’s Damn Good Tacos - Fan Site - Locations on South First, West 6th, and East 6th (next to Casino el Camino)
Nightlife & Libations
- The Gingerman - With around 150 beers on tap, you should be able to find a few you like
What would you recommend to out-of-towners visiting Austin for SXSW? Add your suggestions for dining, activities, and night-life in the comments below.
Tags: Austin, dining, SXSW, sxswi
5 Comments, Comment or Ping
justin
Coffee wifi places:
+ Green Muse (S. 1st & Oltorf): great place to drink coffee/beer and get work done
+ Bouldin Creek Cafe (Elizabeth & S. 1st, near Torchy’s): excellent vegetarian/vegan food, good coffee, cheap beer, spotty wifi
Dining:
+ Home Slice Pizza (Elizabeth & Congress): best pizza ever. subs are also highly, highly recommended. can get extremely crowded, don’t miss this back patio as it’s usually pretty quiet
+ The Woodland (Milton & Congress): great food, great ambiance, tree-themed beers, stiff drinks, delicious desserts
+ Magnolia (Mary & Congress): 24-hour diner with decent food choices for all, tasty desserts, I recommend the brownie a la mode
Breakfast:
+ Las Manitas (2nd & Congress): best breakfast near the convention center
+ The Driskill Hotel (6th and Brazos): best brunch
… there is so much more :)
Feb 5th, 2008
Michelle Greer
McCormick and Schmidt’s (Frost Tower) has a crazy good Happy Hour, especially on Monday. $2 cheeseburger with fries and $4 calamari. Honestly, who does that?
For breakfast tacos, I tend to hit Taco Shack (also in the Frost Tower). They have good salsa and are quite fast.
I also like ZTejas (on 6th down the street from Whole Foods) for brunch, although I’ve only really ordered their migas. They make these delicious apple muffins from scratch there and their fruit and coffee are quite good.
The best coffee in town is at Cafe Medici at West Lynn between 9th and 10th. Free wifi is available. They make their coffee with a french press. After drinking their coffee, you will feel a certain sadness and disgust anytime you step into a Starbucks.
Want some healthier options? Try the Whole Foods downtown. It has its own parking garage and is ginormous. You are bound to find something to help you keep your girlish figure ;).
For going out, you can’t go wrong by the Alamo Drafthouse, or just check out one of the 5 million SxSW parties.
Feb 5th, 2008
D. Hayes
Breakfast-taco-wise, don’t forget Mi Madre’s on Manor just east of I-35. Damn good tacos.
Hoover’s, right across the street from Mi Madre’s (with another location up near McNeil and 183) is fantastic country cooking with cobbler to die for.
Opal Divine’s, on 6th and Rio Grande has a great patio, great service, and a good selection of beer — not 150 on tap, but good enough. ( =
Feb 7th, 2008
Sam Foster
For wireless, teleworking happiness I’m a big fan of Genuine Joes (Anderson Lane) and just about the broadest demographic I’ve ever seen in a coffee house (and I dont mean weird and weirder, I mean soccer moms and rabbis and geeks and financial advisors and artists etc.)
Feb 7th, 2008
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