Austin, Texas
Austin self-guided walking tour: a free downtown loop.
A free, original walking tour of downtown Austin: the Texas State Capitol, a moonlight tower, the Auction Oaks in Republic Square, the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue on Lady Bird Lake, the Congress Avenue Bridge bat colony, Sixth Street, the Driskill and the Paramount Theatre. Read the stops here, then open the mapped route on your iPhone.
Start at the Texas State Capitol
Begin on Congress Avenue at 11th Street, at the south gate of the Texas State Capitol. The loop heads west to a moonlight tower, south through Republic Square to Lady Bird Lake, crosses to the south shore for the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue and the bat bridge, then returns up Congress Avenue past Sixth Street, the Driskill and the Paramount. Austin is hot for much of the year and the lakeside stretch has little shade, so carry water and avoid the midday heat in summer. Every stop is seen from public sidewalks, plazas and trail. The route follows mapped pedestrian paths, but it has not been walked on site by Daily Wander.
- On iPhone, get Daily Wander if you do not have it.
- Return to this page and tap Open the tour in Daily Wander. Check the preview, then choose Open in Daily Wander.
- In the app, review the route and choose Start this route or Save route. Keep this guide handy for the stop notes.
Museum visits, tickets and meals are separate and are not included in the walking time. Follow local signs, closures and diversions.
Eight stops, in walking order
The route uses public viewpoints. Check the linked sources for current access before planning a visit inside.
Stop 1
Texas State Capitol
Begin on the Congress Avenue sidewalk at 11th Street, facing the south gate and the Great Walk to the Capitol. Texas needed a new statehouse after the old limestone Capitol burned on November 9, 1881. The state paid for this one with 3 million acres of Panhandle land, which became the XIT Ranch, and Detroit architect Elijah E. Myers designed it. Owners of Granite Mountain in Burnet County donated the Texas Sunset Red Granite, and the building was dedicated on May 16, 1888. Look up to the Goddess of Liberty on top of the dome.
Stop 2
Moonlight Tower at Ninth and Guadalupe
Walk west along 11th Street to Guadalupe Street, then two blocks south to the corner of Ninth Street. The tall lattice tower here is one of the 31 moonlight towers Austin put up in 1894 and 1895. Each stands 165 feet and was made by the Fort Wayne Electric Company and shipped to Austin in pieces. Carbon-arc lamps gave way to incandescent lamps in 1925 and mercury-vapor lamps in 1936. In the early 1990s the city took each tower down, repaired and repainted it, and put it back. Look for the guy wires bracing the truss.
Stop 3
Republic Square and the Auction Oaks
Continue south on Guadalupe Street for four blocks to Fifth Street, where Republic Square fills the block on your right. Austin’s original 306 town lots were sold at auction in 1839 under the live oaks in this square, which is why they are known as the Auction Oaks. The Austin Parks Foundation led a 2016–2017 redevelopment of the park, and the Downtown Austin Alliance now runs it, with the city’s parks department overseeing the partnership. Walk in among the oaks and look at their wide, low branches.
Austin Parks Foundation: Republic Square Park in the Heart of Downtown
Stop 4
Stevie Ray Vaughan statue
Head south to Cesar Chavez Street, cross Lady Bird Lake on the South First Street bridge sidewalk, and drop down to the Butler Trail on the south shore, turning right to Auditorium Shores. The bronze figure of the Texas blues guitarist stands beside the trail. Sculptor Ralph Helmick made it in 1993, working with landscape architect Tom Randall; the figure is 94 inches tall. Look at the ground behind the statue for its long bronze shadow, which shows Vaughan playing guitar.
Stop 5
Congress Avenue Bridge bat viewing area
Follow the Butler Trail east along the south shore, under the South First Street bridge, to the grassy viewing area just past the Congress Avenue Bridge. Between 750,000 and 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats roost in crevices under the bridge, the largest urban bat colony in the world. They moved in after a major renovation of the bridge in the 1980s, and in 1986 conservationist Merlin Tuttle brought his organization to Austin to counter fear of them. Look at the underside of the bridge for the narrow slots where they roost.
Stop 6
Sixth Street historic district
Climb to the bridge’s east sidewalk and walk north on Congress Avenue across the lake and up to Sixth Street, then turn right. Edwin Waller’s 1839 plan for Austin named this Pecan Street. It was a farm-to-market road into town from the east and a stagecoach route, with a stage stop at the Bullock Hotel on the corner of Congress Avenue, and it was renamed Sixth Street in 1884. Look for the Texas Historical Commission marker on the south side of the block, then up at the Victorian commercial fronts around it.
Stop 7
The Driskill
Cross to the north side of Sixth Street and walk to the corner of Brazos Street along the hotel’s front. Cattle-drive pioneer Jesse Lincoln Driskill bought this half block in 1884, and Austin architects Jasper N. Preston and Sons designed the hotel, which opened on December 20, 1886. It is built of cream-colored brick and limestone, and a taller annex to the north was finished in 1930. In 1970 the Heritage Society of Austin ran a campaign that drew private investors to save it. Look up at the two-story porches with Romanesque Revival columns.
Stop 8
Paramount Theatre
Walk north on Brazos Street to Seventh Street, turn left to Congress Avenue, then right to number 713. Chicago architect John Eberson designed the theater in the Neoclassical Revival style, and it opened as the Majestic on October 11, 1915. Karl Hoblitzelle bought it in 1930 and renamed it the Paramount. Early acts included the Marx Brothers, and Harry Houdini later played here. Look up at the vertical Paramount sign, first hung in 1930 and relit in 2015. To finish, walk north on Congress Avenue to 11th Street and the Capitol gate.
Keep the route with you
The tour link opens a route preview with an iPhone handoff. You can also download the GPX and open it from Files → Share → Daily Wander. The app shows the route; this page supplies the stop descriptions.
Austin walking-tour questions
How long is this Austin walking tour?
The mapped loop is about 2.9 miles (4.7 km). That is roughly 60 minutes of moving time at 3 mph; allow 2–3 hours with stops.
When can you see the bats at the Congress Avenue Bridge?
Bat Conservation International says the Mexican free-tailed bats arrive at the bridge in late March and stay through early fall, leaving at sunset to feed, and suggests arriving at least half an hour before sunset. The Trail Conservancy says they usually emerge 20 to 50 minutes after sunset, that viewing is best from March to early May and late July to mid-September, and that most of the colony migrates to Mexico around October or November. Keep white lights and phones off while they fly.
Are tours of the Texas State Capitol free?
Yes. The Texas State Preservation Board says Capitol tours are free. Its website lists guided tours of about 40 minutes leaving from the South Foyer every 15 to 30 minutes, from 9 a.m. Monday to Saturday and from noon on Sunday, with the last tour at 4:15 p.m. Self-guided visits of the Capitol and grounds are allowed daily. The Capitol is closed on Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
Can I follow the route on my iPhone?
Yes. Tap Open the tour in Daily Wander, check the route preview and choose Open in Daily Wander. If you need the app, install it first and return to this page. The page supplies the stop notes; the app shows the walking route.
Does the walk return to the start?
Yes. The loop starts and finishes at the Texas State Capitol’s south gate at Congress Avenue and 11th Street.
Can I download the GPX instead?
Yes. Download the GPX from this page, save it in Files on iPhone and share it to Daily Wander. The route geometry is available under the Open Database License.
Make another walk from your hotel
For a different distance or a loop from another starting point, use the US walking-route planner. Daily Wander can suggest a separate loop from the location you choose.
More self-guided tours: Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans French Quarter, New Orleans Garden District, Nashville, Washington DC, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston Freedom Trail, St. Augustine, San Diego, Seattle, Key West, Portland, Oregon, Denver, Las Vegas Strip and Amsterdam.
Original itinerary by VANTH Studio. Reviewed October 20, 2026. Route geometry from OpenStreetMap via the FOSSGIS pedestrian router; distance measured along the track. Actual time depends on your pace, stops and diversions. Access to venues is controlled by their operators.