Austin has become one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States, as well as being a hot tourist destination. If you’re anything like me, or most other kids in Austin, you’ve been with your friends trying to find something to do when you google “Things to do in Austin” and everything that comes up are tourist attractions you’ve seen 100 times or cost more money then you would like to spend on a day out with your friends. As an Austin teenager who has tried to scour this city for things to do, here is my list of things for teenagers to do in Austin.
Many teenagers now aren’t really keen on hiking, but if you get a few friends together and find a good trail, it can be really fun. During the summer months when it’s hot out, try the Barton Creek greenbelt. The entrance is right by the Barton Creek mall, and if you take the short hike down then you’ll find a creek that you can find many people swimming at during the summer months. It’s completely free to go, a decently easy hike, and is an amazing place to go with your friends for a summer day.
Another hiking trail that you can hike for most of the day is the Violet Crown hiking trail. Violet Crown is a hiking trail that goes from South Austin to Zilker Park. It’s a full-day activity, but if you’re not interested for hiking for a long time then there’s plenty of other entrances to get to Zilker and go swimming at the end. The trail is long, but you don’t have to hike the whole thing. It’s a good option for an all-day activity if you want to go downtown, but necessarily don’t want to pay for parking downtown.
Speaking of downtown, one place to go hang out with your friends is the Austin Public Library downtown. Open to the public, with 6 floors with different books, seating, and other cool things to look at the Austin Public Library is a good place to just go sit and talk to your friends for a couple of hours without worrying about loitering. Not only do they have plenty of space to hang out inside the library, there are plenty of natural walkways outside, and it’s right by another hiking trail that you might like to go on. If you’re looking for a day downtown, the library is a good place to start, because not only does it give you a relaxing starting off place, it has plenty of parking via its parking garage, but the parking is also significantly cheaper than other parking garages in downtown Austin.
Maybe you want a day indoors, and don’t mind spending a little bit of money, well there are plenty of arcades in Austin that might be a perfect fit for you. One of the most popular is Dave and Busters. Dave and Busters is a fun place for teenagers who might want to spend a fun day out, and have a little bit more money to spend for the day. They have a restaurant inside with great food and drinks, as well as a large variety of games and prizes to win.
Another arcade that’s popular and might be a little bit cheaper is Pinballz. Pinballz is smaller and might have less game variety than Dave and Busters, but it’s possible to have just as much fun for a couple of hours for less money. Pinballz also has a restaurant inside, as well as prizes to win. What they’re most known for however is, of course, their large variety of pinball machines. Pinballz is a good option if you and your friends only have a couple of hours to kill, but still want to spend it having a good time.
One arcade is an all-day activity that will keep you entertained for hours, and that of course is Main Event. Along with their restaurant, and large selection of arcade games to play, Main Event also has other games like bowling, laser tag, and rock-climbing. Main Event certainly earned it’s title, as it’s easy to go in and spend all day there without running out of fun things to do. If you and your friends want to spend all day somewhere having fun, Main Event is a good option.
One arcade that’s an Austin Classic is of course Blazer Tag. One of the only arcades that still uses tokens, Blazer tag is lots of fun with it’s variety of arcade games and obstacle course floating above. However what sets Blazer tag apart from the rest is their top-notch laser tag game. The course is 2 stories, and quiet large, which only leads to competitive gameplay between you and your friends.
However, sometimes going out to different establishments might hurt your bank account without something meaningful to make up for it, and you might not be interested in spending a bunch of money at an arcade when you have nothing to show for it. Well, one activity that many local Austin teens take part in that will definitely give you some bang for your buck is thrifting. Alongside chain thrift stores across Austin like Platos Closet and Goodwill, there are plenty of local thrift stores across Austin such as Pavement, Uptown Cheapskate, and Monkies Vintage. Alongside the thrifting, many of these stores are also near other local shops that have interesting things inside that might also be worth taking a look at.
Being a teenager in Austin can feel incredibly boring when every fun activity seems to be geared to either children, or adults, and whenever you google fun things to do there’s little to do that are nearby, you haven’t already done, or aren’t plainly for tourist that don’t pique your interest. However, if you’re a little creative, you can always find something interesting to do in Austin as a teenager.
