Aubrey and I got to spend an extra windy weekend in Austin, and we had a blast! We had one major event planned, which turned into 2, and then were go with the flow for the rest of our time. I’ve never spent any real time in Texas, but after this weekend I know we’ll be back to visit again soon! Check out the details from our weekend in Austin here!
Why Austin?
Similar to Europe, we booked this weekend around a Formula 1 race. There are only 2 USA F1 races each year right now, but next year there will be 3! The original US race is at the Circuit of the Americas (aka COTA) in Austin. Aubrey has been to this particular race before, but my first Formula 1 experience was during our trip to Europe. With this race being based in America, we got to have a totally different view of an F1 race.
Where We Stayed
We stayed at The Hilton Austin in the downtown area. According to Aubrey, that’s the only place to be during an F1 race weekend. We were centrally located to tons of bars and restaurants, and once we parked the car on arrival we didn’t get back in it until check out. We walked almost everywhere besides to the race and concert, and really enjoyed the area. Here are a couple of pictures from the hotel, the room, and around the neighborhood where we stayed.
There are also tons of other downtown Austin hotel options if The Hilton happens to be full that are all just as centrally located! Just be sure to check and make sure you’re decently close to 6th street, and you’ll be good to go.
Post Malone
Aubrey surprised me by getting suite tickets to see Post Malone in concert on Saturday! Aubrey is not really a big concert fan, but he knows I love concerts AND Post Malone. We got there in time to see Roddy Ricch as the opening act, and really enjoyed him! They did have disclaimers up for the use of pyrotechnics and lasers, which should be taken seriously because there was a lot of that involved in the shows. Post Malone put on an AWESOME show and I would highly recommend going to see him to anyone who might even think they would enjoy it! This was definitely a highlight of the weekend for me.
The Race
Race weekends are really a Friday-Sunday event, but we only chose to go to the big Sunday race. When we arrived on Saturday, we watched Qualifying at a bar downtown with a ton of other Formula 1 fans. After qualifying, we spent the rest of the evening downtown on 6th street hopping from bar to bar and meeting lots of international and national F1 fans!
On Sunday, we left the hotel mid-morning and landed at the race around 1 o’clock. The race started at 2, so we had about an hour to walk around the track, find our seats, and get ready for lights out! We had really great seats in turn 12 of the track, which ended up being where a lot of the action took place. One of the best parts of a F1 race is that you’re surrounded by people from different places supporting different teams in an electric environment! The race was 56 laps, with no long yellow or red flags to delay, and we left a bit early to try to get out in front of traffic.
One of the biggest differences between Silverstone and COTA is the logistics of getting to and from the race. At COTA this year they had a really clear cut Uber and bussing system to get fans to and from the track. At Silverstone, we took a train in closer to the track and then were much more on our own to figure out an Uber or taxi to and from. However, at Silverstone you can basically pull up to the front door of the track. At COTA, once you’re dropped off you still have a bit of a walk to get to the gate.
Here are a few pictures from our race experience!
The Bars
Anytime we visit a new place, one of our favorite things to do is bar hop. You get to meet locals and see how different areas do things. The major strip of bars in downtown Austin is on 6th street, so that’s where we spent our time! We visited a handful of places, and I went ahead and ranked them for you down below in case you plan to visit Austin. There are also a couple of pictures below the rankings so you can get the vibe of some of the bars listed.
- The Blind Pig – has a great rooftop and tons of bar space
- Jackalope – has a big time party atmosphere on the weekends
- Pour Choices – has beer pong and other arcade games set up
- BBG’s – this is where we watched qualifying, and it’s more of a daytime sports bar than a nighttime bare
- Shakespeare’s – has a rooftop, but we had a poor experience with the bartending staff in general
