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Lake Life

Austin has two lakes within close proximity that secure us the designation as a Lake Town. Lake Austin is just to the west of town and is a constant level lake. You can rent boats and you’ll see lots of people on the water any day of the week.  Lake Travis is about 25 miles Northwest.  It’s a bigger lake that facilitates all sorts of boats, including sailboats and scuba divers.  Both are great for water sports and even fishing.

Lady Bird Lake is actually the river that runs through Austin just south of Downtown. It’s great for paddle boarding and hoping on a river cruise to see the Mexican free-tailed bats leave their colony under the Congress Avenue bridge every night in the summer months. It doesn’t allow motorized boats, so grab a paddle board and enjoy the scenery!

Factoid of the day: All of these lakes are actually reservoirs created by dams along the Lower Colorado river.

Reach out to Deanna for boat and paddle board rental suggestions.

Bat Watching on Lady Bird Lake

Austin is home to the largest urban colony of Mexican free-tailed bats. There are about 1.5 million of them that call the underside of Congress Ave bridge home from around March-October. Every night when they awaken from their slumber, they fly out to go batting overnight. They are not threatening to humans, just to insects. Watching them all leave at one time is a sight to see!
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Lady Bird Lake River Cruises

Take a river cruise on Lady Bird Lake to get a different vantage point of the evolving Austin skyline as well as the best view of the bats.
Lone Star River Cruises

Lake Austin

Lake Austin is just to the west of town and is easily accessible. It's a constant level lake which makes it accessible by boat ramp year round. There are lots of boat rental companies that make it so easy to jump on and enjoy your day. Reach out to Deanna and she'd love to help you with that.
Boat Ramps

Lake Travis

Lake Travis is about 40 minutes west of Austin. It has lots of access points throughout. It is not a constant level lake, so launching your own boat isn't an option for years of drought. However, there are plenty of boat rental companies that are already on the water and are happy to help! Deanna can point you in the right direction there.
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