Austin Travel Forum

I will be in Austin for 24 hours in a couple of weeks and was curious about a few things. Is there a bus from the airport to downtown. How far is it? How long does it take? Is Congress street downtown? Has anyone stayed at The San Jose Hotel? What's it like?

Can anyone recommend a nice hotel, but reasonably priced downtown.

Thanks,

Bill

There is a bus from the airport, the bus from the airport to downtown is called the Airport Flyer, go to http://www.capmetro.org for schedule information. It is about a 20 minute drive from the airport to downtown, it might be slightly longer then that on a bus.

Congress street is downtown. 6th and Congress is the *heart* of the downtown area. The San Jose Hotel is on South Congress. It is about 1 mile away from the true part of downtown. However, there is a free bus service called the Dillo that runs from downtown to south congress and beyond. Go to http://www.capmetro.org/riding/routes_400.asp for free dillo schedules.

The San Jose Hotel is an awesome, cool hotel. If you can afford it, it would be a perfect place to stay in Austin. In fact, in my opinion, it is one of the best places to stay in all of Austin. They have a cool patio for a glass of wine and people watching and everything is walking distance from there. It's also right next door to a fun coffee shop called Jo's coffee.

For a less expensive hotel with Austin charm, you can stay right next door the San Jose Hotel for $65 and up at the Austin Motel, check this link for info.
http://www.austinmotel.com/rooms_pages/rates.html

If I can help you with any other info. please let me know.

Cheers!

Kym, you took the words right out of my mouth. That is exactly what I was going to say.
The Airport Flyer is about$.50 and is well worth it. I've only heard one bad comment about San Jose. The suites near the patio are very loud at night and they allow people to let their dogs swim in the pool. Other than that, the place is great. If you are here on the first Thursday of the month, expect Congress Ave. to be very crowded with shoppers. The majority of the local shops stay open late, tons of street vendors and local artist along with quite a few bands playing up and down the street.

Thanks for all your help. I appreciate the tips. The Austin Motel looks good.
By chance is there a little Italy section in the city.
Ciao, Bill

I don't think we have a little Italy, but we do have a little Tex-Mex section of town. I know of only about a hand full of Italian food resturants and half of them are chain resturants.

Yes, Tex-Mex seems to be the thing here...I don't know of a little Italy either...with 24 hours on South Congress you will have plenty to do!

Thanks for all your help. I am looking forward to my trip.

Ciao,

Bill