Business Hours
ClosedMonday
9:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Sunday
9:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Liz Carpenter Splash Pad
About
1000 Barton Springs Rd, Austin, TX 78704, USA Get directions
Tucked into Butler Park just south of Lady Bird Lake, the Liz Carpenter Splash Pad is a free spray ground where kids dart through water jets on warm Austin afternoons, with the downtown skyline rising behind them. It's an easy add-on to a day at the park—bring towels and a change of clothes, since the surrounding hill and pond make it tempting to linger.
ParkFountainPlayground
More like this
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.
Swimming Pool
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.
Park
McKinney Falls State Park
Austin
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.
State Park
Get the inside scoop on Austin
Events, new openings, and seasonal guides — straight to your inbox, about once a month.