Lake Austin
Parks & Gardens
About
Coldwater Canyon Dr, Austin, TX 78746, USA Get directions
Lake Austin is a calm stretch of the Colorado River winding between the Tom Miller and Mansfield dams, its banks lined with limestone bluffs, cypress trees, and hillside homes. It's a favorite for kayaking, paddleboarding, and pontoon outings, and the spot off Coldwater Canyon Drive gives you a quiet vantage on the water away from the busier downtown lakefront.
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Barton Springs Pool
Austin
Barton Springs Pool is a three-acre spring-fed swimming hole in Zilker Park, where water bubbles up from the Edwards Aquifer to hold a steady 68–70°F year-round, cold enough to take your breath in summer and oddly tolerable in winter. Watch for the Barton Springs salamander, an endangered species found nowhere else, which is part of why the limestone-lined pool is managed as carefully as it is.
Zilker Metropolitan Park
Austin
Zilker Metropolitan Park sprawls across more than 300 acres along the Colorado River just southwest of downtown Austin, and it's the gateway to Barton Springs Pool, a spring-fed swimming hole that hovers around 68 degrees year-round. You'll find people picnicking on the Great Lawn, paddling Lady Bird Lake, and walking the trails here, and it's also home to the Zilker Botanical Garden and the annual Austin City Limits festival.
McKinney Falls State Park
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McKinney Falls sits where Onion Creek spills over wide limestone ledges on the southeast edge of Austin, forming the upper and lower falls that give the park its name and its swimming holes. Beyond the water, you'll find hike-and-bike trails through Hill Country woods, the ruins of an early stone homestead, and a bald cypress estimated to be centuries old—all within about a 15-minute drive of downtown.
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