Austin power: Take a trip downtown on your Barton Creek golf vacation.
The Barton Creek Resort in Austin, Texas might not be on your short list of “golf vacations to take”, but perhaps it should be. It has four worthy golf courses, golf-friendly and dependable weather, and it’s nearby; Texas (by air) is about four hours or less from just about everywhere else in the United States. Another major draw is its proximity to downtown Austin.
Many folks from the metro area go to the four-course Barton Creek Resort to escape the city, but that’s not the mindset you should have on your Barton Creek golf vacation.
Texas’ capital city of Austin, just 20 minutes east of Barton Creek Resort, is a veritable cornucopia of culture for out-of-state travelers. For one thing, Austin shatters Texas’ conservative stereotypes, bringing a diverse mix of people together with festivals that celebrate art, music, movies…and even everyone’s favorite meat-like product, Spam.
The downtown area, known as “the live music capital of the United States,” stays buzzing until the wee hours of the morning, especially on 6th Street — the closest thing in Texas to Bourbon Street in New Orleans. There’s also an array of good restaurants, parks, lakes, the nearby University of Texas, and, if you’re into seeing natural phenomena, a nearly million-strong colony of bats that emerge en masse each night from a bridge overpass. Yes, there’s a “Batfest” to celebrate that, too.
We’re all for taking Barton Creek golf vacations to “get away from it all,” but doing so without budgeting some time to visit the city of Austin would be a mistake.
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Of course, not every golf destination warrants time for off-course pursuits; at some places, you’re better off just playing as much golf as you possibly can. That’s why each report we publish in Golf Odyssey includes a section on “non-golf activities,” a short list of experiences you absolutely must not miss, and, at times, advice on bypassing overrated tourist traps. If you’d like to know what we recommend at thousands of golf vacation destinations worldwide, take a free trial to Golf Odyssey. In addition to instant access to our entire, online archive of tips and advice, I’ll send you the current issue, all at no risk or obligation.
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