<p>Hi guys, I'm wondering if you can tell your story about what you prefer to do at weekends. </p>
<p>Do you study? Party? Hang out? Eat at your favourite restaurant? Have special activity?</p>
<p>It'd be awesome to have some tips on where to grab a great dinner, fun hangout places or activities, weekend study groups, etc! Thanks a bunch :)</p>
<p>Longhorn Sports. Football, Basketball and Baseball.</p>
<p>I used to go downtown quite a bit. When I was getting my MBA at UT we had parties every thursday night at a predetermined bar to kick off the weekend. Now, when I’m staying in Austin, I usually wake up early on Saturday mornings and run between 7-10 miles with one of the big running groups on the lake. Then go have brunch at one of the Mexican restaurants and chill for the day.</p>
<p>The Hike and Bike Trail on Lake Austin (renamed Lady Bird Lake) is a great place to go for a walk or run. You can also hang out at Barton Springs and swim when it’s warm enough, or rent canoes for the day. The Zilker Park Gardens are nice, too.</p>
<p>(I figure you’ll get enough advice about partying from current students, so I thought I would point out something different!)</p>
<p>Nice advice - gotta do more sports for my health. How far is Lake Austin from the dorm area?</p>
<p>It actually used to be called Town Lake 
Lake Austin is to the west of the city and is connected to Lady Bird Lake by a dam that you can drive over to get to West Lake Dr.</p>
<p>Ladybird Lake is about a 5 minute drive from the south side of campus. Probably will take you more time to get a parking space when it is busy than actually driving there. If you have a bike you can ride it down there. There’s 3, 4, 5, 7 and 10 mile loops around the lake with all of the bridges.</p>
<p>BTW Lake Austin is around 10 minutes from the west side of campus. It has a few cool restaurants and bars to chillax at. I like Hula Hut on a Friday or Saturday afternoon. Abel’s on the Lake (owned by the same guy who runs Cain & Abel’s in West Campus) is also a pretty good location.</p>
<p>Oh, duh! I knew it was Town Lake. Brain freeze, I guess. My folks live just a few minutes from there. My husband proposed to me when we were canoeing on Town Lake!</p>
<p>ladybird Lake is about a 5 minute drive? How long if I walk there? I don’t think I’ll buy any car XD</p>
<p>one more question, what kind of food is served on hula hut or abel’s? whats your rec?</p>
<p>You can go jogging along the lake or go boating/jetsking on Lake Travis. Try world-famous BBQ around the towns near Austin. 6th Street is overrated IMO so I don’t go their. You can go to Mt. Bonnel (I heard its a nice scenic area).</p>
<p>@MainLonghorn, thats cool that you were proposed to on a Town Lake. I love that place. I was going to propose to my girlfriend at the fountain in front of the Tower, but things didn’t work out which is a totally different story :)</p>
<p>@eclipze</p>
<p>Lady Bird Lake would require you walk through downtown. It would probably take you about thirty minutes to do it. You might also be able to take a “Dillo” if this still have them. Its a trolly style bus that runs up and down downtown. If you just want to go running or go out into a park thats a little closer to campus, I would recommend going to Pease Park and the Shoal Creek greenbelt which runs parallel to Lamar between 15th street all the way to 29th street. I used to go running every day there when I was in college. I lived in West Campus at the time though. Its about a 10 to 15 minute walk west of campus.</p>
<p>Hula Hut is owned by the same owners as Chuy’s. Its a mix if Tikki style tropical food and Mexican food if you could picture that mix. The chips and salsa are pretty good. The campus area offers a lot of great food options, so if you don’t have a car its no big deal. I wouldn’t try to walk to Hula Hut. Its a bit far for walking. Best to go with a friend who has a car.</p>
<p>Abel’s is more of a social place, but I think they have food there too. If you are a guy, you will like it because there are a lot of good looking girls there. But then again, its Austin. There are good looking girls everywhere.</p>
<p>Yes, Route 2222 and Mount Bonnell are two places I take visitors who think that Texas is all flat!</p>
<p>You can’t avoid going to 6th Street as a college student at UT. If you like to drink and party at bars, its where everyone who is young goes. When you start getting older, people start moving to other places downtown and to other parts of Austin.</p>
<p>When you get a chance, like Maine said, check out Barton Springs. Its a natural pool that accomodates swimmers. It is very cold, and very refreshing on a hot day in Austin.</p>
<p>I found when I first moved to Austin that one of the best resources for the city the Austin Chronicle. Its a free newspaper that gives you an idea of whats happening in Austin for the week. It tells a lot about live music, all of Austin’s great restaurants and pretty much all entertainment related stuff. They usually have it located by the door at a number of establishments on the drag.</p>
<p>There’s so much to do in Austin there’s no way we can really begin to give you the full picture - you’ll just have to get here and start to explore. =) But some things to get you started:</p>
<p>In the fall, I’m at DKR from sun-up to sun-down for home games, and when it’s not football season I tend to spend more time at home.</p>
<p>I too love Hula Hut out at Oyster Landing, and we usually walk down to Mozart’s after eating at the Hut for some awesome deserts. Sometimes we (my daughter and me) come up to Town Lake to walk and run, but we live closer to the Greenbelt and prefer the mini-hike and waterfalls there. Mt. Bonnell is very pretty and a great place to watch the sunset, as is the Oasis out on Lake Travis. There are buses that run to the area - pretty much anywhere in town you want to go you will probably be able to take the bus, it just may not be convenient or quick for you.</p>
<p>If you’re in the mood for steak I recommend Sullivan’s downtown, but also love Cool River and Fogo de Chao - expensive, but oh so good. I have yet to find really great Mexican food (most here is Tex Mex) - I’m from Cali so I was probably spoiled being so close to Baja, and I still struggle to find really great pizza. </p>
<p>As BK mentioned the Chronicle is a good source, it’s also online, as is Austin360. </p>
<p>Generic guide to downtown - 6th street is frequented primarily by college co-eds (and sometimes those wishing they were) unless you are on West 6th which is a bit older and not part of the area they block off for events. As you move south the crowds get older, i.e 5th and 4th. 2nd street and South Congress are also often older crowds and tend to be where I go when I want to eat and drink, not just club it up. There is an entertainment bus from campus that goes downtown if you want to grab some drinks or just people watch, so if you don’t have a car don’t worry. There are also bars closer to campus - the original Cain and Abel’s, Dog N Duck, and Schulz’s are a few that spring to mind.</p>
<p>You can see live music literally every day of the week at practically any hour - a lot of those venues are downtown and on Red River. And SXSW and ACL are just…well they’re crazy and awesome at the same time.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for all of the info! Quite surprised at how fun Austin seems to be. Now I can’t wait to visit those places in person :)</p>
<p>btw, I’m coming for overseas, so can I hear more about what good mexican food is like?</p>
<p>Good question - what are the best Tex-Mex restaurants in town now? I’ll be back in Austin in June. I can’t wait! Hard to find any Tex-Mex in Maine, lol.</p>
<p>Chuy’s in my opinion</p>
<p>MaineLonghorn, please disregard Chuy’s as an example of acceptable Mexican cuisine. Trudy’s, on West 30th street, four blocks north of campus, is really good. If you are more adventuresome, try Maudies on South Lamar. </p>
<p>[Trudys</a> Tex-Mex Restaurant and Bar | Austin, Texas | Homepage](<a href=“http://www.trudys.com/]Trudys”>http://www.trudys.com/)</p>
<p>[url=<a href="http://www.maudies.com/]Maudie’s[/url">http://www.maudies.com/]Maudie’s[/url</a>]</p>
<p>never met a person who didnt like Chuy’s</p>
<p>Sorry for saying this, but frankly I’m not familiar at all with mexican food. What is fajitas, guacamole, Enchiladas, Chipotle, Flaquita? I’ve eaten buritto at least, and I like it =)</p>
<p>fajitas are great (tortilla with chopped beef, or steak or chicken/ similar to a chicken taco but way better) </p>
<p>guacamole is just a green dipping sauce(great wit nachos)</p>
<p>enchiladas are greattttttttttt(mini tortilla type things, with beef/cheese/beans in the inside)</p>
<p>not sure about the other 2, but burritos are my favorite </p>
<p>go eat some fajitas</p>