Austin is Texas’s most creative city – and now it’s even easier to visit

Crowds are milling around in the still-warm summer air, music drifts out of doorways and the general vibe is party central. My mates and I start queuing to get into a venue called the Cedar Room but change tack when we spot a man wearing a T-shirt proclaiming ‘Dirty Bills: The worst gay bar in Austin’.

He tells us that the joke is because it’s not a gay bar at all but our interest is piqued anyway and we head there for $8 margaritas and a 1980s soundtrack that somehow means we stay up, dancing, until the small hours.

Aside from the live music available 
on what seems like every street corner, Austin plays host to cool annual events such as SXSW, a film, music and tech festival, and Austin City Limits, another music festival. It also hosts Formula 1.

So it’s no wonder Virgin Atlantic chose the city as the place to launch its first new American route for five years.

The demand has been so high that it has already decided to increase flight availability from four days a week to daily from next spring.

Another part of Austin’s charm is the food scene. Everyone’s heard of Texas barbecue (grilled and smoked meats, from beef to brisket) and, from the heady aromas floating across the street every morning from Iron Works BBQ next to my hotel, to Terry Black’s BBQ, which boasts an industrial-sized smoking room, grease is the word. One of the most popular is Franklin’s, where people will happily wait in line for ribs, pulled pork and more, for nearly three hours.

‘People come here at 8 or 9am – it doesn’t open till 10.30am – with deck chairs and a six pack, just to ensure they get their fix,’ says Joel from AO Tours, who takes me on a whistlestop bus tour of the city (£34).

Within the next three hours, he points out some of the most interesting sights, including the Congress Avenue Bridge, from which flocks of the bats who live under it emerge at dusk in spectacular, and photogenic, fashion.

There’s the statue of Willie Nelson, who is largely credited with putting Austin on the music map; the Capitol building, whose dome stands taller than the one in DC; and a plethora of speakeasies that have played host to musical icons such as Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings.

Three more Austin top spots

Barton Springs

Barton Springs is a set of four natural springs found at Barton Creek inside Zilker Park. Austin-dwellers make a beeline here on hot days for swims, picnics and beer blasts.

State Capitol

With a dome taller than the one in Washington DC, the State Capitol building is situated among 22 acres of parkland and, by square footage, is the largest in the US.

Mount Bonnell

One of the highest points in the city, Mount Bonnell, in Covert Park, stands at 781ft. Once you get to the top, you’re rewarded with views of downtown and the Percy V Pennybacker Jr Bridge.

But you can’t forget Austin’s cowboy culture. I spend a happy afternoon at the Lone Star Ranch, just 20 minutes outside the city centre, where I ride a not-so-lonesome trail through a nature reserve on a good-natured steed named Smokey (from £70).

I fall in love with ranch owner Tina’s beautiful turquoise cowboy boots, and she dispatches me to Allen’s Boots, on South Congress Avenue, where every self-respecting cowboy and cowgirl gets kitted out.

Their range of boots is legendary – they come in every colour, with intricate embroidery – and I say a hearty yee-haw to both them, and to Austin itself.

Return flights from London to Austin start from £519 via Virgin Atlantic; rooms at Fairmont Austin from £145pn. For more information visit austintexas.org.

Do you have a story to share?

Get in touch by emailing [email protected].

MORE : 72 hours in Megève – What to do on a long weekend in all seasons in the ski resort beloved by the Rothschilds