Indoors

Downtown Austin full of museums. Tastes tend to differ too much here, I'll let you decide which sound interesting.

You should check out Waterloo Records and Book People which are right next to each other west of downtown. They're also both by the original (and flagship) Whole Foods, if you're into that kind of thing.

The state capitol and University of Texas campus (38,000 undergras and 12,000 postgrads) are both interesting to see (and easy to find), but are a mix of indoor/outdoor.

The Alamo Drafthouse is an awesome local chain of theaters that serve food and alcohol to you while you watch. Not super unique these days, right? Well, check out their signature event list, first. They do quote-a-longs, sing-a-longs, shoot-a-longs (get a cap gun, help shoot bad guys), dance-a-longs, and more. Most events are adult only so you aren't surrounded by small children.

Outdoors

Texas is hot as shit in the summer. This shouldn't be news to you. There's a reason many outdoor activities revolve around water.

• Zilker Park: A huge park just Southwest of Downtown, lots of various activies and events depending on time of year.
• Barton Springs Pool: Located in Zilker Park, fed by spring water.
• Mount Bonnell: A short drive from downtown brings you up to a great view of downtown and the hill country.
• Kayaking on Lady Bird: There are many locations along the river that borders downtown where you can rent a kayak (or paddle boat, etc) to play with on the relatively still water.
• Tube San Marcos: This one is a bit of a drive, but you basically float a slow river (preferablly with your cooler floating next to you).
• See the Congress Bridge bats: In Summer a colony of bats live under the Congress Bridge (just South of downtown). People lay on the hill under the bridge and wait for them to fly out sundown.

Austin is located in Texas' Hill Country. There are many popular hiking and bike trails, but I'm not your man for information on either. A quick search should turn up lots of results.

Food

Austinites spend the most money dining out per capita. We're bound to have some good eats.

• Uchi: Some of the best Japanese / Sushi in the nation. Really. ($$$)
• Home Slice: The best NYC style pizza I've ever had (I've been to NYC four times, for what it's worth).
• Franklin Barbecue: It's Texas. This is the place (inside Austin) to go.
• Frank: Hot dogs, cold beer.
• Moonshine: Your typical "new twist" on American food, very good though. ($$)
• Magnolia Cafe: Local 24 hour diner with multiple locations. As seen on TV.
• Curra's Grill: Interior Mexican food, get some pork.
• Bouldin Creek: Vegan / Vegetarian cafe, all day breakfast.

There are many, many more. Yelp is a pretty good resource here. One thing I've mostly left out is Austin's huge trailer food "culture." Hit South Congress or East 6th for whole "trailer parks" full of amazing food. No joke.

We also have tons of great coffee shops, I could name a few but I don't drink the stuff.

Music and Nightlife

Austin is the self proclaimed "live music capital of the world". Did you roll your eyes? It's cool. But if we're far from it, I wonder why nobody else has taken the crown? If someone else is really #1, and we're #2 or #3 in the middle of Texas with a population of 800,000, so be it.

The point stands, though: we have lots of great live music.

Venues and shows change far too often to list here, check out Show List Austin.

As for non-music nightlife, you have to see 6th Street on a weekend night, preferably 10PM-2AM. It's one of the most densly packed areas of bars you'll ever find. The streets around 6th also have bars and are often better for actually lounging in with friends.

East 6th ("East" in Austin terms almost always means "cross under I-35") is also a fun place to go find a bar. It's much more quiet and much more hipster than downtown. You have to go to Rio Rita and have some habenero infused vodka.