Visiting Austin in two weeks...what is the best neighborhood

Hi- My husband and I are going to visit Austin for the first time the second week of June. Can you give me some suggestions on the best part of town to stay. Also, any suggestions on restaurants would be great as my husband and I love food! Is downtown the best option? We don%26#39;t want to rent a car, and we don%26#39;t mind walking. Thanks!

Visiting Austin in two weeks...what is the best neighborhood

If you don%26#39;t want to rent a car, staying downtown is really the only way to go. From most of the major hotels downtown, you can easily walk to the Capitol, museums, Lady Bird Lake, restaurants, and live music venues, and if walking is a bit much in the heat, you can take the %26#39;Dillo (a trolly-like bus that runs a couple of routes through downtown) or a bus pretty easily. Taxis are also much more readily available downtown.

If you%26#39;re going to be in town for more than a few days, however, I would recommend renting a car for a day or two so that you can venture out into the Hill Country.

Austin has some great restaurants. If you let us know what sort of food you%26#39;re interested in, we can narrow your choices a bit.

Visiting Austin in two weeks...what is the best neighborhood

I am interested in all kinds of food. Nothing is off limits!

BTW, any specific hotels you would suggest, or any specific street?

It%26#39;s hard to make a recommendation without knowing your price range, but here%26#39;s a general overview. Most of the major hotels have properties in downtown Austin. There%26#39;s a Hilton on 4th Street, an Omni on 7th Street, and a Radisson on Cesar Chavez. There is also a Courtyard by Marriott and a Hampton Inn and Suites in the downtown area. If you are interested in historic properties, the Driskill Hotel on 6th Street is wonderful and in a great location for sight seeing. If you want something a little more hip and funky, check out the Hotel San Jose on South Congress -- http://www.sanjosehotel.com/ . It%26#39;s not right downtown, but in a great location with lots of restaurants, bars and shops around.

There are lots of posts on this forum with restaurant recommendations, so it may be helpful to do a search using the search box at the top of the forum. Some places to check out in the downtown area include Moonshine, Fonda San Miguel (Interior Mexican), Ironworks for BBQ, The Roaring Fork (at the bar for happy hour), Vespaio (Italian) on South Congress, and if you want to take a taxi one afternoon or evening, try one of the Tex-Mex places on the east side of Austin. Neuvo Leon is very popular.