Downtown Austin

Named the Live Music Capital of the World, Austin is not only famous for BBQ and southwestern hospitality, but for a city that strives to live up to this name with music festivals, large and small concerts, and music venues offering every type of music.

The stretch of 6th Street downtown Austin, between IH 35 and Congress Avenue, is the place to be in downtown Austin, and no visit should go without a leisurely examination of this famous road after dark. Formerly known as Pecan Street, 6th Street is home to such famous events as the Spam Festival, Eeyore’s Birthday Festival, the Austin Reggae Festival, and perhaps most famously SXSW (South by Southwest) Music Festival.

Even when the city is not celebrating a specific festival, the 6th Street corridor is flush with people, natives and tourists alike, and when the lights come on downtown Austin is transformed. With sounds of live music of every description thrumming from the back rooms of pubs and bars, the smell of street and restaurant food alike, and the energy of life pulsing with every step taken, the city is truly in a class all it’s own.

Austin’s slogan, “Keep Austin Weird”, is clearly evident along 6th Street in that there is something for everybody, and it’s not unusual to find both the young and the elderly as well as famous faces strolling the walk in downtown Austin after dark.