Austin Weekend Guide: September 11-13

Texas hosts Ohio State at 6:30 p.m. Saturday on ABC, and College GameDay is broadcasting from campus, which means traffic and parking near downtown and UT are going to be ugly from late morning on. Levitation is also running its last two nights across half a dozen venues. Here is what is worth doing and how to time it so you are not sitting in a car.

Saturday Morning Pick

Get in the water at Barton Springs before the day gets away from you. Entry is free before 8 a.m., the pool sits at 68 to 70 degrees all year, and at 7:30 on a Saturday you are sharing it with lap swimmers and a few dogs on the Beach. Worth knowing: the Zilker Relays take over the park from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. that day, so the lots on Barton Springs Road will be gone by mid-morning. Go early, swim, get coffee, and be out before the park fills up.

Brunch Worth the Wait

Bouldin Creek Cafe on South First is the one to plan around. The El Tipico is the order, black beans and eggs and tofu scramble with corn tortillas, and the coffee is better than it needs to be. Show up before 9:30 or you are looking at 45 minutes on the sidewalk. If you want food without the standing around, Paperboy on East Cesar Chavez runs a walk-up window with breakfast tacos in the $5 range and a handful of picnic tables. Order the migas taco and the honey butter biscuit, eat outside, be done in twenty minutes.

Live Music This Weekend

Levitation is in its final stretch. Friday night Temples plays Mohawk with Friko, Poppy Jean Crawford and villagerrr, doors at 7. Saturday Mohawk swaps to sludge with Kylesa and Monolord plus REZN, also 7 p.m. Levitation sells tickets per show rather than as one festival pass, so the price moves with the bill. Also Friday: The Garden with Her New Knife at Stubb's indoors, and Bikini Kill with Melt-Banana, Die Spitz and Sweeping Promises out at the Far Out Lounge, which is the best bill of the weekend if you can get in. Saturday night NEEDTOBREATHE plays Moody Amphitheater with Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, though it goes head to head with kickoff, so expect the lawn to be half people watching the game on their phones.

ACL 2026: Where Tickets Actually Stand

Three weeks out from Weekend 1, here is the honest state of things. ACL turns 25 this year, back at Zilker Park, 2100 Barton Springs Rd, October 2 through 4 and October 9 through 11. Weekend 1 three-day GA is gone. Weekend 2 three-day GA is close behind but has not fully sold. Face value on the 3-day GA was $325, with GA+ at $700, VIP at $1,610 and Platinum at $5,150. Single-day tickets are out and started at $170, which is the better math if there is only one day you care about. Daily lineups are set: Friday is Charli XCX with Skrillex on Weekend 1 and Kings of Leon on Weekend 2, plus Lola Young and Young Miko. Saturday is RUFUS DU SOL and Lorde. Sunday closes with Twenty One Pilots and The xx, alongside Geese, SOFI TUKKER and The War On Drugs. Set times have been released, so you can build a real plan instead of guessing. Layaway is still an option on 3-day GA, GA+, VIP, Platinum and Bungalow if you would rather spread the hit out. On resale, be careful. The only two safe places are Front Gate Tickets and the Ticketmaster Verified Exchange. Wristbands bought on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, StubHub, Vivid Seats or SeatGeek are frequently already registered or outright fake, and once a wristband leaves the original buyer's hands the festival will not fix it for you. A removed wristband is a void wristband, and security checks for tampering at the gate. Because Weekend 1 sold out first, Weekend 1 resale is running well above Weekend 2, so if you are flexible on dates, the second weekend is the cheaper door.

Sunday Chill

The Umlauf Sculpture Garden is doing Family Day: Umlauf's Animals on Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and it is free. It is built around the animal sculptures on the grounds, with hands-on art activities and a walk through the garden. Even without kids, the Umlauf is one of the quieter places in town on a Sunday, all shade and live oaks, and it is at 605 Azie Morton Rd, a five-minute walk from Barton Springs if you want to stack the two.

Local Hidden Gem

Sam's Town Point, out at 2115 Allred Dr in far south Austin off Manchaca, is the honky-tonk most people in this city have still never been to. It is a low-slung building with a big oak-shaded yard, a real dance floor, and music most nights of the week, often for ten bucks or nothing at all. The crowd skews older and knows how to two-step, the beer is cheap, and nobody is filming. Check what is on the calendar before you drive out, because the bookings swing from western swing to psych rock depending on the night.

ATX Weekly App Tip

💡 ATX Weekly Tip: Turn on the traffic and closures layer on the events map this weekend. With GameDay on campus and the Zilker Relays running Saturday, the app flags which streets are shut and roughly when, so you can see before you leave whether your route is a problem. Save any Levitation show you are considering and the venue address and door time ride along with it.