Austin Texas

Many of the tourists that visit Austin come for its vibrant nightlife; however, there are many other attractions in Austin, including the Texas Memorial Museum, the Blanton Museum of Art (opened in 2006), the galleries at the Harry Ransom Center, and the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum across the street (which opened in 2000). The Texas State Capitol itself is also a major tourist attraction. The Driskill Hotel built in 1886, located at 6th and Brazos, was finished just before the construction of the Capitol building. Sixth Street is a musical hub for the city but also includes annual festivals such as the Pecan Street Festival and Halloween night. A very strange and eccentric, unique Austin haven for weird arts such as fire-dancing and circus-like-acts is the Enchanted Forest, which hosts many outdoor art and performance events.

The Austin City Limits Music Festival also brings many tourists from around the nation.

The Congress Avenue Bridge houses the world's largest urban population of Mexican free-tailed bats. Starting in late February, up to 1.5 million bats take up residence inside the bridge's expansion and contraction zones as well as in long horizontal grooves running the length of the bridge's underside, an environment ideally suited for raising their young. Every evening around sunset, the bats emerge in search of insects, an exit visible on weather radar. Watching the bat emergence is an event that is popular with locals and tourists, with more than 100,000 viewers per year. The bats migrate to Mexico each winter.

Considering Austin's "Earth-friendly" persona, it is appropriate that the Austin Zoo, located in the Oak Hill neighborhood just north of U.S. 290, is a rescue zoo that provides sanctuary to displaced animals from a variety of unfortunate and often neglectful situations.

Austin also has several well-known swimming locations. These include Deep Eddy Pool, Texas' oldest man-made swimming pool, and Barton Springs Pool, the nation's largest natural swimming pool in an urban area. Both are spring-fed and maintain a constant temperature of 69 degrees year-round -- swimming in Barton Springs at Christmas is an annual tradition for many Austinites. Hippie Hollow, a county park situated along Lake Travis, is the only clothing-optional public park in Texas. Activities include rockclimbing, kayaking, swimming, exploring, and hiking along the greenbelt, a green, lush, long-spanning area that runs through the city. Hamilton Pool is a gorgeous and cool (temperature-wise) pool and wildlife park located about 30 minutes from the city and is strongly recommended by many locals.

Farmers markets are popular attractions, provided a variety of locally grown and often organic goods.