Welcome to Austin! DjangoCon is nestled at in the middle of the City. The conference site is at the AT&T Center, on the main University of Texas campus (well, technically not because of legal shenanigans, but effectively on campus). You’re surrounded by the amenities you’d expect for a campus of over 51,000 students. But wait, there’s more! Austin is also the capital of Texas, which certainly makes it the best city in the best state in the Union. A quick mile south from campus will take you to the heart of downtown Austin, where you’ll find more restaurants, live music, and bars than you’ll be able to visit in a year.
Getting between the airport and the AT&T Conference center:
- Capital Metro 100 Airport Flyer ($1.25-$1.75) takes about 30 minutes and runs every 30 minutes or every hour depending on the time of day.
- Uber/Lyft (about $15-$25 to/from the airport)
- Taxi
- If you have a Car2Go membership, you can take it from the airport. Tip: don’t depend on this if you land in Austin in the evening/night, the cars go quickly.
Getting to/from downtown, and around:
- The AT&T conference center is on the main North/South bus corridor. You can take almost any bus that passes to get downtown and back. Cost: $1.25 one way, $2.50 for a day pass. There’s an official Capital Metro app that will let you purchase and pay for trips. The Transit app is better for just locating a bus.
- If a bus has a number in the 600’s, it’s a UT shuttle bus and free. The E-Bus specializes in going between UT and Downtown ($1).
- Car2go - Requires a membership in advance
- bcycle - Can purchase at the kiosk. Cost: $8 for 24 hours or $15 for 3 days.
Finding stuff to do around Austin:
- A paper copy of the Austin Chronicle can be found many places. Their online events calendar is also handy.
- Food guide
- Live music
- Comprehensive guide for all around Austin. Worth checking out if you’ll have a car.
Bucketlist
- BBQ
- Share a box of cookies from Tiff’s Treats
- Eat the fire in the hole wings from Plucker’s
- Mexican Martini from Trudy’s (21+)
- Watch bats from the Congress bridge
- Take a dip in Barton Springs pool
- Visit the Capitol grounds
- Visit South Congress on the first Thursday of the month
- Eat tacos from Taco Deli and Torchy’s in one day (Taco Deli closes at 3pm and requires driving)
- Partake of the local food trailer scene
- Visit Dirty Sixth during a weekend night (I personally don’t recommend doing this, but it’s very popular and I suppose it’s worth spectating once in your life)
Lay of the land
DjangoCon is at the AT&T Center. To the north is the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. A block to the west is “The Drag”, and behind that is West Campus. To the south is the Capitol, and past that is the central part of downtown Austin. Each neighborhood around the conference has something to offer:
- The Drag and West Campus: Filled with cheap eats and some bars.
- The Capitol: Not much here actually, mostly government buildings.
- Dirty sixth: college bars
- West sixth: yuppie bars
- East sixth: hipster bars
- Warehouse District: what? more bars?
- 2nd street: wine bars
- Rainey street: yuppie bars
- Red River: more bars and live music
- Manor: variety of eats and bars
Food
There’s so many options for so many tastes it’s hard to list!
The Drag
- Dobie Mall - food court inside, kinda sad though
- Pizza Hut
- Dominos
- Papa Johns
- East Side Kings
- Coco’s
- Tapioca House
- Torchy’s Tacos
- Madam Mam’s
- Teji - Indian
- Chipotle
- Verts
- Daito
- Trudy’s (tex mex)
- Fukuya ramen
- ~20 more
West Campus
- Plucker’s
- Subway
- Food trailers at Rio & 25th
- Chilantro trailer
Lavaca St/Guadalupe
- El Mercado
- Lavaca Teppan
- Sushi Junai (they have an all you can eat offering)
- Chicken Bowl (lunch only)
- ThunderCloud Subs (lunch only)
- Arturo’s Cafe (nice quiet brunch spot)
- Clay Pit (ok Indian food)
- Texas Chili Parlor (frequented by many politicians)
MLK
- McDonald’s
- Tiff’s Treats (cookies!!!)
- Chick-Fil-A
- Taco Cabana
Nicer places
- Hotel Ella
- Sagra
- Olamaie (~$50)
- The Carillon (hotel restaurant)
- Austin Land and Cattle (~15 minute walk SW)
Vegan options
- Clay Pit
- Texas Chili Parlor
- Kismet
- Which Wich
- Noodles & Co.
- Conscious Cravings (inside Dobie Mall)
BBQ
- Freedman’s
- Black’s
- Franklin
- La Barbeque
- Mickelwait
- Terry Black’s
- J Mueller
- Ruby’s
- Rudy’s
- Lambert’s
- Kerlin BBQ
Tacos
- Torchy’s
- Veracruz All Natural
- Taco Deli
Late night eats
- Pluckers (closes at 2am)
- Taco cabana (24h)
- East Side Kings
- Tapioca House (closes at midnight)
- Kerbey lane (24h)
- Fast food places on MLK
Coffee
- Cafe Medici
Bars
There are close to 300 places within two miles of the venue that have a liquor license. Here are just a few:
Close
- Dive bar (~ 5 minute walk)
- Hole in the wall (~ 10 minute walk)
- Hotel bar (Gabriel’s Cafe,~ 1 minute walk)
- Cain & Abel’s (~ 10 minute walk)
- Freedman’s
Tech hangouts
- Ginger Man (~ 25 minute walk)
- Buffalo Billiards (~ 25 minute walk)
Notable
- Draughthouse
Gastropubs
- Freedman’s
- Hopfields
Museums (overlap with UT Campus)
- Blanton - Art
- Bob Bullock (has an IMAX) - Texas History, IMAX schedule
- Texas Memorial Museum (has dinosaurs)
- Museum of Natural and Artificial Ephemerata
Music (and bars that have live music)
- Bass Concert Hall schedule
- Hole in the Wall
- Dive Bar
UT Campus
- Tower (tours available, must schedule in advance)
- Turtle pond (north of the Tower)
- Littlefield Fountain (down the street from the conference center in front of the Tower)
- South/Main Mall, have a picnic
- Turrell skyscape (try to go during sunrise or sunset)
- Many libraries
- Harry Ransom Center
- Blanton Art
- Texas Memorial Museum
Exercise
- Town lake running trail
- Kayak town lake
- Run the ramps of the stadium
- Jog around campus
Here's also a map of things around downtown for you.