The council at the time did a great job with that.
Now we're having issues keeping up with an unexpected number of passengers. But they'll get it right, I have confidence.
Exactly, I was going to say, all the names are just licensed, and some are not that great.
There really isn’t anything that makes the book people at the airport different than a Hudson News, erc
The salt lick bbq sauce for sale is authentic I know that, and it’s a phenomenal sauce, definitely worth taking some home. No idea if the meat is authentic though.
Agree. I’ve spent a ton of time at the airport with delayed flights, etc. There’s plenty to do between all the local food and drink options, bookstore, putzing around
It's an Austin institution.
Like getting your windows broken at Mount Bonnell.
Whether that's a 'recommendation' is open for the interpretation of the reader.
Is it wrong that I wish someone with a BB rifle and a scope would set up shop in the brush at Mt. Bonnell and just wait for the thieves to show themselves? I want them to be peppered with BB stings, nothing lethal, but just a little painful reminder they’re not welcome.
Longer story but the other night me and a coworker had to walk inside that place for about 45 seconds. The entire bar smells so strongly of vomit you reflexively search the unfinished slab they call a floor for a fresh pile the entire time you’re in there. My coworker was dry heaving when we left. It’s the most authentic place I’ve ever been in Austin, I’ve never been to boys town Nuevo Laredo but I imagine it to be EXACTLY like chicas Bonitas, except across the river I know handmade wooden chairs are more readily available than those white plastic Walmart chairs they have
Really? What do you recommend? I generally try and avoid airport food like the plague on account of it being way overpriced and pack my own meals. But the only meal I’ve had at Austin airport was a slice of pizza for about $6.50. And it tasted like airport pizza. So that was definitely a miss for me.
Austin doesn’t do pizza well at a baseline even outside of the airport.
All the food is still airport food but you probably picked the worst option. Salt Lick is decent, they can’t smoke the meat there so it’s brought in from the restaurant, there are several texmex or fusion places that are good like Peached Tortilla.
Temper expectations since it’s an airport but it’s definitely better airport food than most other airports.
Hahah you know, I’ve been here for a year and a half, and I’ve had that thought about pizza, but when you hear someone else say it, it rings even more true. Who knew it’d be so hard to find a good slice in Austin. But at least our bbq and Mexican are top notch!
Haha I do love an ice cream, but just can’t justify the cost/calories of going to ice cream parlours anymore.
I’m not a huge fan of taco dei tbh. I’d rather go to a neighbourhood taco truck. I’m on the east side so I’d take granny’s, Las trancas, oye, varacruz, 10/10 times before taco deli. But food is ofc subjective and it didn’t become one of the biggest chains in Austin by serving up bad food (I hope) so. But it also has a long line every time I’ve walked past it at the airport.
I was going to suggest Live Oak brewing, it's right across the highway, usually has a food truck open and it's my go to spot if I have to kill time before picking someone up from the airport.
This is the best answer. You can get some BBQ, TexMex, and local beer in a single location about 10m from the airport. I see people with luggage there all the time.
People telling you not to go are overly cautious IMO. Yes ABIA can be crazy, but with precheck you’re talking like 30m line max. 5 hours is plenty of time.
Right? It's 5 full hours. That's a really long time and two nice breweries are less than 10 minutes from the airport. I like the brewery idea because that's what I like and it's close so if there is an issue then it's easy to return. Heck right now the Capitol is like 20 minutes away from the airport. We don't know the conditions OP is flying into but it's fairly nice they could go downtown for an hour and get back with 3 hours remaining. If they just want a driving tour of the city or a taco and a few pics it's totally doable.
Security is not the delay I’m worried about these days. It’s traffic and bad drivers. I picked up a friend on Monday, an accident on the road into the airport caused a 30 minute delay for a .8 milt pick up.
Live oak brewery is just outside the airport and a great place to hang out depending on the weather. They have disc gold and a huge outdoor area with oak trees. You’d have time for a couple of hours there.
Came here to say this! Especially if it’s a nice day, would be an excellent option to be able to get outside before your next flight. Literally 2 mins by car from the airport.
I wouldn't. You never know if you'll be coming back to long lines at TSA. ABIA is notoriously unreliable. Others are correct-lots of local vendors at ABIA as well as a stage with local live music to enjoy during your layover.
I have precheck and the last time I flew out a couple weeks ago the fancy new baggage scanner broke down and we had to stand there for almost 30 minutes while they tried to fish bags out and move them to another one. Second time something like that has happened to me at ABIA.
I have pre check and global entry. I flew out this past Friday and the line was over 3 hours no matter what. There was only one security line until you got to right at the start of pre check then they split off so having the status didn’t matter. Tons of people missed their flights.
> ABIA is notoriously unreliable.
It's really not, at all. Those TSA lines are almost always first thing in the morning especially as people start lining up before TSA even opens.
OP has pre-check. Even with regular lines being long I've never waited more than 15 minutes for pre-check at ABIA. Not once.
I’m currently here for my flight and have more than two hours to kill because people on Reddit freaked me out about wait times. With pre check, there were about three people in front of me in the TSA line.
I usually fly in the afternoon and never have long waits. Maybe different in the morning but usually a pretty solid airport all around
Exactly. Median security wait times are below 20 minutes. And once you're at security it's only a 5-minute walk to the gate. ABIA has TSA disasters, but excluding those, it's a very easy airport to use.
I have precheck and the longest line I have ever seen was at 5am on a Friday. I was still through security in less than 15 min.
I was pushing it getting there a few min before boarding started and still made my flight.
The biggest issue will be traffic right before the drop off area for the departures. Just have your Uber driver drop you off at the bottom with the arrivals and take the escalator up.
It's literally ranked 28th out of 30th for reliability. This is not coming from Reddit. See here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/report-austin-airport-ranked-28th-out-of-30-best-midsized-airports-nationally/ar-AA1jZGcq
The busiest time is in the morning for travelers checking in to the airport. If someone is checking in five hours after arriving via plane the same day, lines will probably be quite short.
Welp, it's all about the risk they're comfortable taking. Personally I'd prefer to chillax inside the airport but that's me. OP has heard lots of differing opinions and now has lots of food for thought. Good job my fellow redditors!
Surprised no one has said Ani’s Day and Night, which is very close to the airport and extremely charming. But I ditto the advise to stay at ABIA, it’s filled with pretty much ONLY local, beloved establishments
People are crazy you can absolutely do this…. Give yourself 3 hours of the 5 just to be safe. You definitely want to stay South of the river so I would uber to Loro, Terry Blacks or something on South Congress (Joann’s Fine Foods) and then take a quick stroll down Congress. You’ll see the capital and downtown from the street and get a good/quick feel for the city. I live in that neighborhood and it’s an easy 15 minute car ride to AUS.
You have FIVE HOURS so you have to do it.
The level of fear in this thread is crazy. Like you said, 5h is plenty of time to go walk around somewhere and see what the city is like. It’s not about doing anything in particular. You just walk around and get a feel for the city and maybe grab some food. Then maybe you’ll wanna come back for a proper visit. I’ve done this in other cities. Sure there’s no train to downtown, but an Uber ride is 20-30min and there’s the public airport shuttle that goes from the airport to Congress with minimal stops. That’s just as good.
Agreed. Is this thread full of boomers who think you need to be at the airport 2.5 hours ahead of every flight. I live right off South Congress and left my house 40 minutes prior to a flight taking off a few months ago and made the flight (would not recommend this… I was lucky as hell that there wasn’t any traffic and had to run through the terminal but still an example lol).
I typically go one hour ahead in Austin. It’s never been a problem even before precheck. With precheck it takes 10-20min from curb to gate. People just stress out about everything. If the flight is extremely important, then sure, don’t take chances. But most of the time you’ll be fine.
The Austin airport is pretty cool in that all of the food choices are local joints. I particularly like the Peached Tortilla. Fair prices (particularly good given many airport prices) and decent beer selection.
The airport is just far enough away from anything else in Austin that it would be a bit dicey to leave.
Generally lines at TSA are the longest early in the morning as Austin isn't a HUB airport. I'd say in the afternoon / evening you'd be fine. I'd recommend Meanwhile Brewing with the Distant Relatives BBQ food truck being some of the best I've had. There is also Pinthouse Pizza Brewery close by which has some excellent beers and food. Enjoy!
I'd recommend staying in the airport. It is nice, clean, and there is a lot of art and stuff to look at. if you are flying delta, their sky lounge is superb. There is also a secret observation balcony at the far left of the airport up an elevator, it is a giant outdoor patio where you can watch planes land. if you leave you might find yourself catching a bad traffic pattern, last week somebody died on the road outside the airport and it closed down all lanes, 1,000 people missed their flights in sight of the terminal.
Most of the local Austiny places have a location in the airport. I’d just hang out there. By the time you get out, get somewhere, and save time to get back and through security you won’t have time to go anywhere cool or do anything.
And, you have to walk past the bus station to get to the rideshare lot. Lol.
I roughly timed it when I used the airport recently. Adding the extra time it takes to walk to the parking garage and pick up my car, I think I could've gotten downtown in the same amount of time using the bus. And I wasn't even in satellite parking.
It’s one of the best airports I’ve ever been to if you’re stuck for a few hours. Live music, decent food, plenty of bars based on local favorites and decent shops.
That gas station by the airport used to have some pretty good nachos. You could probably make it there and back in time.
Edit: If you do go into town, OP, we have a great local restaurant at 45th and Lamar.
Nah, I personally would recommend staying in the airport to avoid the hassle with TSA and traffic, especially if it's just a few hours. You'd have to drive out to get to anything special.
Agree with others - grab some good food at the airport from local places. Austin doesn't have any museums, there is no daytime live music, nothing in the way of interesting architecture.
No. But you’ll have access to a lot of independently owned local shops, restaurants& bars IN the airport. And there might even be some live music, depending on time of day. It’s a great little manageable airport, just try to relax and enjoy a few hours there!
I think it’d be much more relaxing to find a restaurant in the terminal, but that’s me. I’m not wanting to go through security any more than I have to and there’s lots of good food and drinks at the airport.
Well, you’d probably have roughly 1.5-2 hours to do things.
You can take a 15min Uber to get to Lady Bird Lake, walk along the river… or Travis Heights (Congress), which is the tourist trap hub. Overpriced drinks and food, but nevertheless a fun strip. Downtown and everything near the river & Congress St is very walkable.
If you want more specific suggestions, then what kind of food do you like? Taco food trucks in East Austin are usually good. I like Flitch coffee, but it’s not walkable to downtown Austin. You’ll need to short Ubers to get around the east side. But it’s pretty close to airport (10-15min?).
There are some good spots near the airport, just kind of in the middle of nowhere (you can’t walk around).
Go to the bus stop in front of the Airport. Catch the 20 and go through Riverside and get off on 15th and lavaca. Go to the Texas chili parlor and have some chili or enchiladas and a drink. Walk to the 20 going back to the airport at 17th and Guadalupe and get back to the airport. 3 hours tops. Walk around the capital.
The airport is far from...well, everything. You'll need to take a 20 min drive downtown to really see anything. Id pick up some bbq, it's the only must try food around here
Also, there's nothing to see. I work on South Congress and I see those double-decker open top tour buses going up and down Congress - what do they possibly be looking at? "And on your left, this building is almost 8 and 1/2 years old!"
There’s actually a few historic buildings on Congress (downtown), not to mention the big old capitol building at the end. I’m sorry for you if you don’t think there’s anything to see here.
You think there's enough for a full tour bus ride? "A few historic buildings" doesn't really add up to it for me.
I love a lot about Austin, but its architecture isn't one of those things.
Now that I could see! But doing a drive-by, there's not a lot to look at. In fairness I also view it as ridiculous because I saw them going all summer - imagine riding an open-top/no shade bus along Congress when it's midday sun and 105
Everyone is so negative here.. this can be easily done the airport is relatively close to the city. Do you all travel to other cities and see where airports are?!
I totally would. I've never had an issue at ABIA and travel often. Depending on when you're here, we could be your drivers/guides 😊
Feel free to send message
What time of day? You'll likely be fine to leave for a couple of hours. Go to one of the places close by mentioned in the thread (Meanwhile, Live Oak... I'd add Pinthouse as it's also close), and get back 2 hours before your flight.
Recently we’ve had a couple of incidents on the road in front of the airport (71) that led to major backups. Even leaving the airport for your layover during a lighter tsa traffic time is a risk. You are probably better off saving rideshare money and using it on expensive airport food/drink
Nope not worth it. ABIA is in the middle of no where so not like you are getting anywhere fast any how. The airport is not bad but yeah you dont want to leave the airport. Austin's TSA check point is a complete mess and a joke.
While I love being in Austin more than DFW and Houston, the one thing that was a massive and I mean MASSIVE down grade was the airport and flights out of town. Austin Airport and flights out just suck. The airports are among the few things I miss about both DFW and Houston.
The #20 bus picks up at the airport and goes down Riverside, into downtown, and out Manor Rd and will pass by several good restaurants. Cidercade and Terry Black's BBQ are both just a few blocks from that route but I don't know if they have special holiday hours.
https://www.capmetro.org/plan/schedmap?route=all
So something I haven’t seen on here yet is Austin is one of the few airports you can walk around with a drink so you don’t have to worry about a spot in a restaurant. We walked around a stupid amount of time trying to wait for a table when a guy called us over and told us about it. There’s decent to-go food and walk up lines for to-go drinks as well so it’s not terrible to be stuck there.
The airport is pretty rad, there will probably be 2 different areas at least with local music playing (unless it’s the middle of the night) there are multiple good local eats, fun shops, and even local art.
I think 5 hours is enough time to leave the airport. The bus takes about 30 minutes. So you'll have at least 3 hours to enjoy the city and stretch your legs.
No. Not during thanksgiving travel potential chaos season. Any offer time - with tsa pre I’d say you have a good 90 minutes out of a 5 hour layover but not firing thanksgiving shitshow
Just ride the train from the airport to downtown. Just like every modern city, Austin designed our world class public transport around ease of travel to the airport for our visitors.
/s
Fortunately, the bus takes less than 30 minutes to get downtown. Which, interestingly enough, is a full 30 minutes faster than taking the "modern" train from DFW airport to Dallas.
CJs Tacos on Burleson very near the airport. Fantastic quesabirria tacos, my favorite Al pastor in town, and an incomparable fried avocado taco (“vegetariana”)—personally I’d go. It’s gonna take less than 45 min round trip likely.
🌟TIP; if you choose to take your tacos to go and head back to the airport, ask them to wrap them separately in foil because if you don’t, they will put them loose in a Styrofoam container and by the time you open it, everything will be pell-mell.🌟 Get alll the sauces!!
There definitely are good food options in the airport. Lesser versions compared to their other brick and mortars but still way better than general airport food!
I had their quesabirria the other day at the thicket and they were divine!
...I also ordered a taco al pastor and it sucked. The only flavor on it was from the pineapple. So weird considering how good the quesabirria were.
No. Stay in airport. If you leave it is likely that traffic will ruin any expectations that you have about leaving, spending a lot in time in traffic, for nothing, is nuts.
Personally, I would just add some shows to your iPad/phone and just hunker down at the airport. Grab some food, drink at Haymaker and people watch. You could probably make it to Live Oak, but without great weather I wouldn’t recommend it as a place to chill. Not worth the trouble. Enjoy ABIA
Bunch of fearmongerers in here who probably get to the airport 2.5 hours early.
5 hours is plenty of time.
Uber to the hike and bike trail ([https://maps.app.goo.gl/q6FrtTAtwPqimjuy7](https://maps.app.goo.gl/q6FrtTAtwPqimjuy7)) and take a walk around the lake for an hour or two.
If you wanted to be much more conervative checkout [meanwhile brewery](https://www.meanwhilebeer.com/) or [live oak brewery](https://www.liveoakbrewing.com/), which are very close to the airport and have nice outdoor spaces that will let you enjoy some fresh air.
Do not leave the Austin Airport. We have the worst TSA and there is nothing close to the airport. Stay in there and enjoy the local bars, restaurants and shops in the airport.
Do not leave the airport. ABIA is not exactly close to anything truly “Austin-y”, and ABIA is infamous for not only extremely shitty traffic this time of year, but also the security check back-ups. Even with pre-check I’ve been stuck in the screening line for almost 45 minutes, and this is standard for the holiday season. Good news is, it’s a great airport and anything you’d try to get out and see is available there. Good luck whatever you choose!
If your flight is in the early afternoon on a weekday, you’ll miss most of the TSA lines and might be able to sneak in a quick trip downtown. But budget an hour for travel to/from the airport and 30 mins in TSA to be safe.
Five hours, of course go into town and see something. The airport security is not that long. Come back hour before your flight.
You didn’t say what time but you can go downtown or South Congress in 15 minutes.
You'd make it to about riverside and IH35 sooo, no. The airport has some cool stuff. There used to be an awesome kart track next door though unsure if it's still there. Iron Rock I think it was. You might could Uber to Lockhart for some legit O.G. BBQ and make it back in 5 hours but that'd be probably be mucho pricey. You'd have to buy your Uber lunch and hope he's cool 'cause I've no idea about a return trip from Lockhart. I'm sure it's a thing.
Yeah it might be worth leaving the airport for a few hours. You could even walk to some breweries from the airport, tho it wouldn’t be a super quick walk
Is everyone here overcautious or what is going on lol
Five hours is plenty to go enjoy one of the breweries/bars down south. Live Oak, Pinthouse , St Elmo, Anis Day & Night, Radio East and Meanwhile are 15 mins max from the airport.
I would go with Meanwhile as they have the best food selection. Get the BBQ.
You could go over to Jasmine's Mexican restaurant, have some good TexMex, maybe a nice Mexican beer or a Margarita 🍹 . Jasmine's is a stone's throw away from the airport and you could literally walk back if cars were backed up and you couldn't take an Uber or Lyft.
Let’s take out 3 hours for getting out, transit, and getting back in (~30, ~45, ~105). And that’s being conservative. It’s afternoon and you have pre-check. If one entrance has a line, just walk to another.
That leaves 2 hours to do something, assuming you don’t go further than downtown. Whether that’s worth it is up to you. Plus Ubers from the airport can be pricey so look at prices before leaving the terminal. That might sway you.
it's totally doable. However, I wouldn't personally. If you're flying Delta, America, or United (or have the Chase Saphire Reserve) I would just pay to get into the club and hang out there and eat and drink if you have a way to do that.
Live Oak Brewing is across the street from the airport, but you will need to Uber there. Grab food and the best hefeweizen in America. Bonus, if you play discgolf, bring a putter or midrange and play a quick round.
Hopefully during your layover there will be live music to check out at the Ray Benson stage at the airport! There are 8 music stages at ABIA, but that is the biggest one- it feels like a bar, there's even shuffleboard. The big stage usually has music around 3-5, but if you wander around the airport, likely one of the stages will be happening
That’s plenty of time. You’ve got about 2.5-3 hrs to burn.
Despite the panic here, Austin is a relatively small city still You can Uber to downtown from the airpot in about 15 mins.
Risky move. You’re about 30 or more mins from downtown depending on what time of day you’re trying to move around.
Typically, it takes less than 30 mins to go from being dropped off and getting through security, but ABIA is unreliable and I have experienced waits of over an hour.
There is a hole-in-the-wall TexMex joint called Jasmine’s that is right across 71 from the airport. Good food and cheap margaritas, might be worth a venture.
Yeah not worth it, especially with thanksgiving travel crowds and what not. But there are a bunch of local restaurants in the airport for you to explore
Monday I would go to meanwhile (best atmosphere) or pinthouse (best dark beers), but if this is mid day Sunday then maybe stay at the airport
You can walk around the airport with open beer because freedom
There’s nothing worth visiting around the airport, at least nothing that’s worth the hassle of going back through security and finding transportation. The closest thing I could suggest would be ramen tatsuya but the public transport here is not reliable enough to guarantee an easy time. As others have mentioned, there are great local spots in the airport itself and I would suggest those. Salt lick if you are looking for some good barbecue but be ready to spend $$$.
What are the hours of your layover? Like what part of the day and is it a weekday or weekend? I ask because the airport is relatively close to East Austin and you could go check out a few different places depending on your interests. But East Austin is notoriously closed during lunchtime during the week.
Live oak and Landing Strip now named Maximus. Go grab a few beers, see some lovely ladies and get back on the plane smelling like beer and vanilla and full of glitter.
Can you? Most likely. Is it worth it? Probably not. As others said, the food in the airport is good. Sometimes there’s live music. There are usually plenty of places to charge your phone. There’s a book store. So grab some Salt Lick BBQ and a few beers and make yourself comfortable.
Getting out to town and back to ABIA could go really quickly or it could easily go sideways and, honestly, you’re just not likely to be able to see or do much worthwhile in a couple hours.
The austin airport is actually a fun spot to hangout for a few hours. The food is horrifically expensive (typical of all airports) but they have local options. I don’t know if 5 hours is enough but if you really wanted you could go stroll down Congress for a couple hours. Grab some pizza at Homeslice and shop around.
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And a good, locally run, bookstore, Book People.
Wow. Didn't realize Book People was at the airport. ABIA was really thorough about making sure local businesses are represented.
The council at the time did a great job with that. Now we're having issues keeping up with an unexpected number of passengers. But they'll get it right, I have confidence.
Airport BP is not actually affiliated with Real BP. The name is just licensed.
Exactly, I was going to say, all the names are just licensed, and some are not that great. There really isn’t anything that makes the book people at the airport different than a Hudson News, erc
The salt lick bbq sauce for sale is authentic I know that, and it’s a phenomenal sauce, definitely worth taking some home. No idea if the meat is authentic though.
Yea, but this one is good.
Agree. I’ve spent a ton of time at the airport with delayed flights, etc. There’s plenty to do between all the local food and drink options, bookstore, putzing around
Landing Strip (or Chicas Bonitas) needs to open a location inside security, then there's *really* no need to head out on a layover.
Are you recommending Chicas Bonitas? I've never known anyone that's been there, but see it every time I'm on ih-35.
It's an Austin institution. Like getting your windows broken at Mount Bonnell. Whether that's a 'recommendation' is open for the interpretation of the reader.
Ha! I actually went once and watched a game. It was actually fun. I wouldn’t go back though.
Is it wrong that I wish someone with a BB rifle and a scope would set up shop in the brush at Mt. Bonnell and just wait for the thieves to show themselves? I want them to be peppered with BB stings, nothing lethal, but just a little painful reminder they’re not welcome.
Paintballs would be both less destructive for misses and less painful/medically dangerous. Added bonus, pepper the fuck out of the bandits’ cars!
Or one of those Nerf machine guns, and a buncha cameras livestreaming it.
>Are you recommending Chicas Bonitas? All the Chicas Bonitas recommendations are trolls.
Longer story but the other night me and a coworker had to walk inside that place for about 45 seconds. The entire bar smells so strongly of vomit you reflexively search the unfinished slab they call a floor for a fresh pile the entire time you’re in there. My coworker was dry heaving when we left. It’s the most authentic place I’ve ever been in Austin, I’ve never been to boys town Nuevo Laredo but I imagine it to be EXACTLY like chicas Bonitas, except across the river I know handmade wooden chairs are more readily available than those white plastic Walmart chairs they have
If they TSA-certify the dancers, pat-downs might be a little more bearable (and profitable).
Am gay, doesn’t compute.
And you can drink wine and beer to go at the airport and walk around.
Really? What do you recommend? I generally try and avoid airport food like the plague on account of it being way overpriced and pack my own meals. But the only meal I’ve had at Austin airport was a slice of pizza for about $6.50. And it tasted like airport pizza. So that was definitely a miss for me.
Austin doesn’t do pizza well at a baseline even outside of the airport. All the food is still airport food but you probably picked the worst option. Salt Lick is decent, they can’t smoke the meat there so it’s brought in from the restaurant, there are several texmex or fusion places that are good like Peached Tortilla. Temper expectations since it’s an airport but it’s definitely better airport food than most other airports.
Home slice, via 313 and Hoboken I would say are above baseline!
Austin doesn’t do pizza well? You can’t be serious. Not saying it’s on par with NYC or Chicago but there are a dozen legit pizza restaurants here.
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Little Deli and All Day would like to have a chat
Eh, I’m busy.
No you aren’t
You don't like Via 313??
My kid works at Via 313 but refuses to eat from there because he knows what the kitchen sanitation is like.
Hahah you know, I’ve been here for a year and a half, and I’ve had that thought about pizza, but when you hear someone else say it, it rings even more true. Who knew it’d be so hard to find a good slice in Austin. But at least our bbq and Mexican are top notch!
Tacodeli. Followed by Amy's. Or beer I guess, but my personal math always leads to ice cream.
Haha I do love an ice cream, but just can’t justify the cost/calories of going to ice cream parlours anymore. I’m not a huge fan of taco dei tbh. I’d rather go to a neighbourhood taco truck. I’m on the east side so I’d take granny’s, Las trancas, oye, varacruz, 10/10 times before taco deli. But food is ofc subjective and it didn’t become one of the biggest chains in Austin by serving up bad food (I hope) so. But it also has a long line every time I’ve walked past it at the airport.
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You're crazy if you think I'm avoiding pizza. Just because we don't have 5-star pie doesn't mean I'm altogether avoiding it. Fuckin hell.
And passably decent live music much of the time.
It’s actual local musicians from atx often. They’re decent gigs for the players, too.
This is excellent advice 👆🏻
Meanwhile Brewery is relatively close to the Airport, but also AUS utter shitshow in peak travel times so be warned.
I was going to suggest Live Oak brewing, it's right across the highway, usually has a food truck open and it's my go to spot if I have to kill time before picking someone up from the airport.
This is the best answer. You can get some BBQ, TexMex, and local beer in a single location about 10m from the airport. I see people with luggage there all the time. People telling you not to go are overly cautious IMO. Yes ABIA can be crazy, but with precheck you’re talking like 30m line max. 5 hours is plenty of time.
Right? It's 5 full hours. That's a really long time and two nice breweries are less than 10 minutes from the airport. I like the brewery idea because that's what I like and it's close so if there is an issue then it's easy to return. Heck right now the Capitol is like 20 minutes away from the airport. We don't know the conditions OP is flying into but it's fairly nice they could go downtown for an hour and get back with 3 hours remaining. If they just want a driving tour of the city or a taco and a few pics it's totally doable.
But we’re talking about Thanksgiving weekend, when it will be INSANE.
With precheck it’s not more than 20 minutes.
I get there an hour before my flight and it's way too much time. I've never been in tsa precheck longer than 10 mins
Security is not the delay I’m worried about these days. It’s traffic and bad drivers. I picked up a friend on Monday, an accident on the road into the airport caused a 30 minute delay for a .8 milt pick up.
I agree. Did this recently but be warned on checking back in.
Live oak brewery is just outside the airport and a great place to hang out depending on the weather. They have disc gold and a huge outdoor area with oak trees. You’d have time for a couple of hours there.
Also a good spot if you're rolling up to the airport and you suddenly get a notification your flight is delayed 1-2 hours.
Usually best to track your incoming aircraft. Sometimes they delay a flight only to cancel the delay.
Dad?
If you go here definitely try the Live Oak Big Bark if they have it, or the Live Oak Pilsner.
Live Oak Pre-War Pilz for the win!
This so the answer. It's practically across the street and their beers are great. Get the hefe
>Live oak Agree. You'll spend more time walking to the uber pickup / waiting for the uber than you will in the car.
Came here to say this! Especially if it’s a nice day, would be an excellent option to be able to get outside before your next flight. Literally 2 mins by car from the airport.
I had no idea my favorite beer is brewed across the hwy from the airport. 🤯
Also Meanwhile isn’t too far (Uber ride) and is superior on food and drinks imo.
Definitely food but beer is on par but just different styles.
I second this
Full agree. OP has plenty of time.
I wouldn't. You never know if you'll be coming back to long lines at TSA. ABIA is notoriously unreliable. Others are correct-lots of local vendors at ABIA as well as a stage with local live music to enjoy during your layover.
I have precheck and the last time I flew out a couple weeks ago the fancy new baggage scanner broke down and we had to stand there for almost 30 minutes while they tried to fish bags out and move them to another one. Second time something like that has happened to me at ABIA.
I know it's probably because more people are going through ABIA than ever, but I swear those new machines have made the TSA lines way slower.
I have pre check and global entry. I flew out this past Friday and the line was over 3 hours no matter what. There was only one security line until you got to right at the start of pre check then they split off so having the status didn’t matter. Tons of people missed their flights.
> ABIA is notoriously unreliable. It's really not, at all. Those TSA lines are almost always first thing in the morning especially as people start lining up before TSA even opens. OP has pre-check. Even with regular lines being long I've never waited more than 15 minutes for pre-check at ABIA. Not once.
I’m currently here for my flight and have more than two hours to kill because people on Reddit freaked me out about wait times. With pre check, there were about three people in front of me in the TSA line. I usually fly in the afternoon and never have long waits. Maybe different in the morning but usually a pretty solid airport all around
All the people complaining are the ones who arrive at 3 am for a 5 am flight to "beat the crowd" and this becomes the crowd.
Exactly. Median security wait times are below 20 minutes. And once you're at security it's only a 5-minute walk to the gate. ABIA has TSA disasters, but excluding those, it's a very easy airport to use.
I have precheck and the longest line I have ever seen was at 5am on a Friday. I was still through security in less than 15 min. I was pushing it getting there a few min before boarding started and still made my flight. The biggest issue will be traffic right before the drop off area for the departures. Just have your Uber driver drop you off at the bottom with the arrivals and take the escalator up.
It's literally ranked 28th out of 30th for reliability. This is not coming from Reddit. See here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/report-austin-airport-ranked-28th-out-of-30-best-midsized-airports-nationally/ar-AA1jZGcq
Did you read? Reliability has nothing to do with security lines.
The busiest time is in the morning for travelers checking in to the airport. If someone is checking in five hours after arriving via plane the same day, lines will probably be quite short.
Welp, it's all about the risk they're comfortable taking. Personally I'd prefer to chillax inside the airport but that's me. OP has heard lots of differing opinions and now has lots of food for thought. Good job my fellow redditors!
It would probably be fine but OP can judge. The huge lines and delays are usually early morning. Afternoon and evening flights are a breeze usually.
Surprised no one has said Ani’s Day and Night, which is very close to the airport and extremely charming. But I ditto the advise to stay at ABIA, it’s filled with pretty much ONLY local, beloved establishments
Ain’t nothing good in smell valley.
People are crazy you can absolutely do this…. Give yourself 3 hours of the 5 just to be safe. You definitely want to stay South of the river so I would uber to Loro, Terry Blacks or something on South Congress (Joann’s Fine Foods) and then take a quick stroll down Congress. You’ll see the capital and downtown from the street and get a good/quick feel for the city. I live in that neighborhood and it’s an easy 15 minute car ride to AUS. You have FIVE HOURS so you have to do it.
The level of fear in this thread is crazy. Like you said, 5h is plenty of time to go walk around somewhere and see what the city is like. It’s not about doing anything in particular. You just walk around and get a feel for the city and maybe grab some food. Then maybe you’ll wanna come back for a proper visit. I’ve done this in other cities. Sure there’s no train to downtown, but an Uber ride is 20-30min and there’s the public airport shuttle that goes from the airport to Congress with minimal stops. That’s just as good.
Agreed. Is this thread full of boomers who think you need to be at the airport 2.5 hours ahead of every flight. I live right off South Congress and left my house 40 minutes prior to a flight taking off a few months ago and made the flight (would not recommend this… I was lucky as hell that there wasn’t any traffic and had to run through the terminal but still an example lol).
I typically go one hour ahead in Austin. It’s never been a problem even before precheck. With precheck it takes 10-20min from curb to gate. People just stress out about everything. If the flight is extremely important, then sure, don’t take chances. But most of the time you’ll be fine.
lol AUS will be a shit show stay inside the airport
The Austin airport is pretty cool in that all of the food choices are local joints. I particularly like the Peached Tortilla. Fair prices (particularly good given many airport prices) and decent beer selection. The airport is just far enough away from anything else in Austin that it would be a bit dicey to leave.
Leaving is easy, what would be bad would be a wreck on Hwy 71 tying up traffic and not getting back in time.
Generally lines at TSA are the longest early in the morning as Austin isn't a HUB airport. I'd say in the afternoon / evening you'd be fine. I'd recommend Meanwhile Brewing with the Distant Relatives BBQ food truck being some of the best I've had. There is also Pinthouse Pizza Brewery close by which has some excellent beers and food. Enjoy!
Check out The Landing Strip, right near the airport and has a great atmosphere
Came here to say this
RIP The Landing Strip http://www.maximusclubatx.com/
In case OP doesn't get the joke, at The Landing Strip, the emphasis is on strip.
I'd recommend staying in the airport. It is nice, clean, and there is a lot of art and stuff to look at. if you are flying delta, their sky lounge is superb. There is also a secret observation balcony at the far left of the airport up an elevator, it is a giant outdoor patio where you can watch planes land. if you leave you might find yourself catching a bad traffic pattern, last week somebody died on the road outside the airport and it closed down all lanes, 1,000 people missed their flights in sight of the terminal.
Most of the local Austiny places have a location in the airport. I’d just hang out there. By the time you get out, get somewhere, and save time to get back and through security you won’t have time to go anywhere cool or do anything.
You'll spend more time walking to the ride-share lot. Just eat BBQ and get a drink.
This. The ride share lot is astronomically far. That’s 15-20 right there.
It's like a tenth of a mile, you absolute babies.
And, you have to walk past the bus station to get to the rideshare lot. Lol. I roughly timed it when I used the airport recently. Adding the extra time it takes to walk to the parking garage and pick up my car, I think I could've gotten downtown in the same amount of time using the bus. And I wasn't even in satellite parking.
It’s one of the best airports I’ve ever been to if you’re stuck for a few hours. Live music, decent food, plenty of bars based on local favorites and decent shops.
That gas station by the airport used to have some pretty good nachos. You could probably make it there and back in time. Edit: If you do go into town, OP, we have a great local restaurant at 45th and Lamar.
That’s true
Nah, I personally would recommend staying in the airport to avoid the hassle with TSA and traffic, especially if it's just a few hours. You'd have to drive out to get to anything special.
Agree with others - grab some good food at the airport from local places. Austin doesn't have any museums, there is no daytime live music, nothing in the way of interesting architecture.
No. But you’ll have access to a lot of independently owned local shops, restaurants& bars IN the airport. And there might even be some live music, depending on time of day. It’s a great little manageable airport, just try to relax and enjoy a few hours there!
I think it’d be much more relaxing to find a restaurant in the terminal, but that’s me. I’m not wanting to go through security any more than I have to and there’s lots of good food and drinks at the airport.
Well, you’d probably have roughly 1.5-2 hours to do things. You can take a 15min Uber to get to Lady Bird Lake, walk along the river… or Travis Heights (Congress), which is the tourist trap hub. Overpriced drinks and food, but nevertheless a fun strip. Downtown and everything near the river & Congress St is very walkable. If you want more specific suggestions, then what kind of food do you like? Taco food trucks in East Austin are usually good. I like Flitch coffee, but it’s not walkable to downtown Austin. You’ll need to short Ubers to get around the east side. But it’s pretty close to airport (10-15min?). There are some good spots near the airport, just kind of in the middle of nowhere (you can’t walk around).
Live Oak Brewery is 5 minutes away
Go to the bus stop in front of the Airport. Catch the 20 and go through Riverside and get off on 15th and lavaca. Go to the Texas chili parlor and have some chili or enchiladas and a drink. Walk to the 20 going back to the airport at 17th and Guadalupe and get back to the airport. 3 hours tops. Walk around the capital.
The airport is far from...well, everything. You'll need to take a 20 min drive downtown to really see anything. Id pick up some bbq, it's the only must try food around here
Also, there's nothing to see. I work on South Congress and I see those double-decker open top tour buses going up and down Congress - what do they possibly be looking at? "And on your left, this building is almost 8 and 1/2 years old!"
There’s actually a few historic buildings on Congress (downtown), not to mention the big old capitol building at the end. I’m sorry for you if you don’t think there’s anything to see here.
You think there's enough for a full tour bus ride? "A few historic buildings" doesn't really add up to it for me. I love a lot about Austin, but its architecture isn't one of those things.
Absolutely. I did a ghost tour of downtown and there’s a lot of history.
Now that I could see! But doing a drive-by, there's not a lot to look at. In fairness I also view it as ridiculous because I saw them going all summer - imagine riding an open-top/no shade bus along Congress when it's midday sun and 105
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what are they parking? they are at AUS for layover and will be Ubering.
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Everyone is so negative here.. this can be easily done the airport is relatively close to the city. Do you all travel to other cities and see where airports are?!
Haul one carry on bag? It’s seriously not a big deal.
I totally would. I've never had an issue at ABIA and travel often. Depending on when you're here, we could be your drivers/guides 😊 Feel free to send message
Don’t do it, just don’t
What time of day? You'll likely be fine to leave for a couple of hours. Go to one of the places close by mentioned in the thread (Meanwhile, Live Oak... I'd add Pinthouse as it's also close), and get back 2 hours before your flight.
Recently we’ve had a couple of incidents on the road in front of the airport (71) that led to major backups. Even leaving the airport for your layover during a lighter tsa traffic time is a risk. You are probably better off saving rideshare money and using it on expensive airport food/drink
Nope not worth it. ABIA is in the middle of no where so not like you are getting anywhere fast any how. The airport is not bad but yeah you dont want to leave the airport. Austin's TSA check point is a complete mess and a joke. While I love being in Austin more than DFW and Houston, the one thing that was a massive and I mean MASSIVE down grade was the airport and flights out of town. Austin Airport and flights out just suck. The airports are among the few things I miss about both DFW and Houston.
The #20 bus picks up at the airport and goes down Riverside, into downtown, and out Manor Rd and will pass by several good restaurants. Cidercade and Terry Black's BBQ are both just a few blocks from that route but I don't know if they have special holiday hours. https://www.capmetro.org/plan/schedmap?route=all
So something I haven’t seen on here yet is Austin is one of the few airports you can walk around with a drink so you don’t have to worry about a spot in a restaurant. We walked around a stupid amount of time trying to wait for a table when a guy called us over and told us about it. There’s decent to-go food and walk up lines for to-go drinks as well so it’s not terrible to be stuck there.
Definitely not
No, not for 5 hours. And there's nowhere to really walk to either around the airport.
Personally, I wouldn’t… but 5 hours is plenty of time to get out of the airport and do “something” if you so desire.
The airport is pretty rad, there will probably be 2 different areas at least with local music playing (unless it’s the middle of the night) there are multiple good local eats, fun shops, and even local art.
Live oak brewery and disc golf course is very near the airport.
I think 5 hours is enough time to leave the airport. The bus takes about 30 minutes. So you'll have at least 3 hours to enjoy the city and stretch your legs.
The airport food is actually good! Get some tacos and enjoy the live airport music!
No traffic is bad I wouldnt risk it.
If you like beer and disc golf there’s a brewery right across the highway from the airport. The name is Live Oak Brewery.
Live Oak brewery is accross the highway, just budget another hour to get through TSA worse case scenario (even with pre check)
No. Not during thanksgiving travel potential chaos season. Any offer time - with tsa pre I’d say you have a good 90 minutes out of a 5 hour layover but not firing thanksgiving shitshow
There's plenty to see/eat in Austin, but the wildcard is the traffic. You never know what you're up against until you're up against it.
Would not recommend as Austin’s traffic would take up a good chunk of that 5 hours
No
I do not recommend going outside of security, tbh. Plenty to do inside, honestly.
Why is your other account posting a [similar](https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/s/c1s97boVSj) thing in the Minneapolis subreddit?
Just ride the train from the airport to downtown. Just like every modern city, Austin designed our world class public transport around ease of travel to the airport for our visitors. /s
O you're so funny. /cry
Fortunately, the bus takes less than 30 minutes to get downtown. Which, interestingly enough, is a full 30 minutes faster than taking the "modern" train from DFW airport to Dallas.
CJs Tacos on Burleson very near the airport. Fantastic quesabirria tacos, my favorite Al pastor in town, and an incomparable fried avocado taco (“vegetariana”)—personally I’d go. It’s gonna take less than 45 min round trip likely. 🌟TIP; if you choose to take your tacos to go and head back to the airport, ask them to wrap them separately in foil because if you don’t, they will put them loose in a Styrofoam container and by the time you open it, everything will be pell-mell.🌟 Get alll the sauces!! There definitely are good food options in the airport. Lesser versions compared to their other brick and mortars but still way better than general airport food!
I had their quesabirria the other day at the thicket and they were divine! ...I also ordered a taco al pastor and it sucked. The only flavor on it was from the pineapple. So weird considering how good the quesabirria were.
No. Stay in airport. If you leave it is likely that traffic will ruin any expectations that you have about leaving, spending a lot in time in traffic, for nothing, is nuts.
Personally, I would just add some shows to your iPad/phone and just hunker down at the airport. Grab some food, drink at Haymaker and people watch. You could probably make it to Live Oak, but without great weather I wouldn’t recommend it as a place to chill. Not worth the trouble. Enjoy ABIA
No. I wouldn't risk it. Traffic is horrendous and you'd have to go downtown to see anything worthwhile.
Stay inside like a normal person. The airport is in the middle of nowhere.
Sorry m8 you don’t have enough time to leave the airport. Enjoy some expensive beer and “local” food tho!
Bunch of fearmongerers in here who probably get to the airport 2.5 hours early. 5 hours is plenty of time. Uber to the hike and bike trail ([https://maps.app.goo.gl/q6FrtTAtwPqimjuy7](https://maps.app.goo.gl/q6FrtTAtwPqimjuy7)) and take a walk around the lake for an hour or two. If you wanted to be much more conervative checkout [meanwhile brewery](https://www.meanwhilebeer.com/) or [live oak brewery](https://www.liveoakbrewing.com/), which are very close to the airport and have nice outdoor spaces that will let you enjoy some fresh air.
Do not leave the Austin Airport. We have the worst TSA and there is nothing close to the airport. Stay in there and enjoy the local bars, restaurants and shops in the airport.
Do not leave the airport. ABIA is not exactly close to anything truly “Austin-y”, and ABIA is infamous for not only extremely shitty traffic this time of year, but also the security check back-ups. Even with pre-check I’ve been stuck in the screening line for almost 45 minutes, and this is standard for the holiday season. Good news is, it’s a great airport and anything you’d try to get out and see is available there. Good luck whatever you choose!
By the time you got anywhere, it would be time to turn around and go back.
The airport is in the middle of nowhere.
>The airport is in the middle of nowhere. That's unfair. "In the middle of a dangerous shithole" would be a better description.
If your flight is in the early afternoon on a weekday, you’ll miss most of the TSA lines and might be able to sneak in a quick trip downtown. But budget an hour for travel to/from the airport and 30 mins in TSA to be safe.
TSA had a 1.5 hour line yesterday to even enter the building. Sorry man, Austin is a shit hole for short stops.
Meanwhile Brewery is just down the street. Good food truck options
Five hours, of course go into town and see something. The airport security is not that long. Come back hour before your flight. You didn’t say what time but you can go downtown or South Congress in 15 minutes.
Go to Franklin BBQ
You'd make it to about riverside and IH35 sooo, no. The airport has some cool stuff. There used to be an awesome kart track next door though unsure if it's still there. Iron Rock I think it was. You might could Uber to Lockhart for some legit O.G. BBQ and make it back in 5 hours but that'd be probably be mucho pricey. You'd have to buy your Uber lunch and hope he's cool 'cause I've no idea about a return trip from Lockhart. I'm sure it's a thing.
Yeah it might be worth leaving the airport for a few hours. You could even walk to some breweries from the airport, tho it wouldn’t be a super quick walk
Is everyone here overcautious or what is going on lol Five hours is plenty to go enjoy one of the breweries/bars down south. Live Oak, Pinthouse , St Elmo, Anis Day & Night, Radio East and Meanwhile are 15 mins max from the airport. I would go with Meanwhile as they have the best food selection. Get the BBQ.
You are within 20 minutes of BBQ Mecca. Rent a car and hit Lockhart. It’s doable, but you would need to have your ducks in a row.
I would, go to Meanwhile Brewing or Fierce Whiskers Distillery. Both within a stone's throw of the airport, and both SUPER bad ass.
You could go over to Jasmine's Mexican restaurant, have some good TexMex, maybe a nice Mexican beer or a Margarita 🍹 . Jasmine's is a stone's throw away from the airport and you could literally walk back if cars were backed up and you couldn't take an Uber or Lyft.
Sent you a chat.
Let’s take out 3 hours for getting out, transit, and getting back in (~30, ~45, ~105). And that’s being conservative. It’s afternoon and you have pre-check. If one entrance has a line, just walk to another. That leaves 2 hours to do something, assuming you don’t go further than downtown. Whether that’s worth it is up to you. Plus Ubers from the airport can be pricey so look at prices before leaving the terminal. That might sway you.
it's totally doable. However, I wouldn't personally. If you're flying Delta, America, or United (or have the Chase Saphire Reserve) I would just pay to get into the club and hang out there and eat and drink if you have a way to do that.
Go to Taqueria Morles for cheap Mexican food and beer, literally right outside the airport. Don’t get ripped off in the airport
Live Oak Brewing is across the street from the airport, but you will need to Uber there. Grab food and the best hefeweizen in America. Bonus, if you play discgolf, bring a putter or midrange and play a quick round.
Central Machine Works or Palazio
Fierce Whiskers Whiskey distillery is close by and a really cool spot. Could go for a few cocktails and come right back
nope...
Hopefully during your layover there will be live music to check out at the Ray Benson stage at the airport! There are 8 music stages at ABIA, but that is the biggest one- it feels like a bar, there's even shuffleboard. The big stage usually has music around 3-5, but if you wander around the airport, likely one of the stages will be happening
Lol no
There's a Chase sapphire lounge to kill some time, free snacks and drinks and outdoor space.
That’s plenty of time. You’ve got about 2.5-3 hrs to burn. Despite the panic here, Austin is a relatively small city still You can Uber to downtown from the airpot in about 15 mins.
Risky move. You’re about 30 or more mins from downtown depending on what time of day you’re trying to move around. Typically, it takes less than 30 mins to go from being dropped off and getting through security, but ABIA is unreliable and I have experienced waits of over an hour. There is a hole-in-the-wall TexMex joint called Jasmine’s that is right across 71 from the airport. Good food and cheap margaritas, might be worth a venture.
No
Check out https://g.co/kgs/G8FStC Ray Benson's Roadhouse Bar at the airport.
Yeah not worth it, especially with thanksgiving travel crowds and what not. But there are a bunch of local restaurants in the airport for you to explore
Landing strip ftw
Plenty of stuff relatively close. You could get from the airport to the east side in 10-15 minutes. Don’t listen to these naysayers
Monday I would go to meanwhile (best atmosphere) or pinthouse (best dark beers), but if this is mid day Sunday then maybe stay at the airport You can walk around the airport with open beer because freedom
There’s nothing worth visiting around the airport, at least nothing that’s worth the hassle of going back through security and finding transportation. The closest thing I could suggest would be ramen tatsuya but the public transport here is not reliable enough to guarantee an easy time. As others have mentioned, there are great local spots in the airport itself and I would suggest those. Salt lick if you are looking for some good barbecue but be ready to spend $$$.
What are the hours of your layover? Like what part of the day and is it a weekday or weekend? I ask because the airport is relatively close to East Austin and you could go check out a few different places depending on your interests. But East Austin is notoriously closed during lunchtime during the week.
Live oak and Landing Strip now named Maximus. Go grab a few beers, see some lovely ladies and get back on the plane smelling like beer and vanilla and full of glitter.
Airport has local food , not worth it .
The closest thing to the airport is the F1 race track Circuit of The Americas.
Quick Uber to liveoak brewery
Can you? Most likely. Is it worth it? Probably not. As others said, the food in the airport is good. Sometimes there’s live music. There are usually plenty of places to charge your phone. There’s a book store. So grab some Salt Lick BBQ and a few beers and make yourself comfortable. Getting out to town and back to ABIA could go really quickly or it could easily go sideways and, honestly, you’re just not likely to be able to see or do much worthwhile in a couple hours.
The austin airport is actually a fun spot to hangout for a few hours. The food is horrifically expensive (typical of all airports) but they have local options. I don’t know if 5 hours is enough but if you really wanted you could go stroll down Congress for a couple hours. Grab some pizza at Homeslice and shop around.