Downtown
Downtown Austin, unlike other American downtowns, is rather lively and friendly. During the day, you can visit the main tourist attractions; at night, you can enjoy the bars. Several districts make up the heart of Austin, each cultivating its own unique atmosphere. That's what makes downtown so diverse.
Congress Avenue runs through the center of Downtown, marking the north-south divide between the city's eastern and western districts. It's Downtown's main avenue, with its many restaurants and stores. It's also the administrative heart of the city, climbing all the way to the Capitol.
Red River District, to the east, between 12th and 7th Streets, is the city's rockin', wild concert district.
6th Street, south of Red River, is a neighborhood east of Downtown between Congress Avenue and Interstate 35, where the nightlife is at its peak, with an ever-growing number of bars.
Warehouse District, more chic than East Austin, but just as lively. By day, it's the place to store in designer boutiques. By night, clubbing, of course!
Other districts
The University of Texas is a huge area north of Downtown. It's the largest campus in the state: students from all over Texas and beyond come here to spend their formative years. For the visitor, it's a pleasant, green neighborhood, offering a good taste of an American-style campus and a number of interesting museums.
SoCo is short for South Congress. The long avenue that divides Downtown north of the river becomes South Congress on the other side of the bridge. This is where Austin's alternative identity originally developed. No chain restaurants or hotels, just independents at heart and in spirit. A favorite hangout for students and artists for years, SoCo has become more mainstream today. That means more settled, and also more touristy. Along South Congress, restaurants, café terraces, thrift shops and food trucks line up. It's the visible, more festive and less authentic side of the neighborhood. To rediscover that little je-ne-sais-quoi that made the neighborhood what it is, lose yourself in the surrounding streets: this is the hidden, residential and, for all intents and purposes, still alternative side of the neighborhood. This is where you'll have the best chance of meeting the locals.
East Austin. For a long time, East Austin was considered a poor and somewhat dangerous neighborhood, cut off from Downtown by Interstate 35. A historic center for Austin's African-Americans during segregation, and a popular melting pot that later welcomed the Hispanic community, it's now the up-and-coming neighborhood. Pretty houses (including many shotgun houses typical of the old black neighborhoods of the American South), gardens and leafy streets make East Austin one of the most pleasant places to live near the city center, where many artists have come to live. Today, concert halls, bars, cafés and food trucks are setting up shop to take advantage of the area's relaxed lifestyle. But if hipsters are on the scene, the neighborhood still retains its historic mix. Austin the alternative? This is where you'll find it!
