What's a good 3-day itinerary for Austin?

Three days, three neighborhoods, early mornings to dodge the June heat. Day 1 runs along South Congress Avenue and into downtown. Start at Jo's Coffee at 1300 South Congress around 8am, when the air still has some coolness to it and the patio crowd is thin. Walk north on South Congress between Oltorf and Barton Springs Road. The stretch is about 1.5 kilometres of vintage shops, boot stores, and taco windows. By 11:30am, get in line at Terry Black's Barbecue on Barton Springs Road. The post oak smoke hits you from the parking lot, and the fatty brisket runs about $28 per pound. Get there before noon or you'll wait 45 minutes. After lunch, cross the river to the Texas State Capitol at 2pm. Free guided tours run every 30 to 45 minutes, and the air-conditioned interior is a relief. Between the Capitol and sunset, walk 2 kilometres along Lady Bird Lake to the Congress Avenue Bridge. By 8:15pm, roughly 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats spiral out from under the bridge. The colony emerges from March through October. Watch from the east side for the best angle.

Day 2 shifts north to the University of Texas campus, then east. The Harry Ransom Center opens at 10am, charges no admission, and holds a Gutenberg Bible and the oldest surviving photograph, Niépce's View from the Window at Le Gras from 1826. You might spend 90 minutes without noticing. The Blanton Museum of Art is a 5-minute walk south. Founded in 1963, the permanent collection runs to about 21,000 works, though the Ellsworth Kelly building behind it, a stone chapel finished in 2018 after Kelly's death, is the most-photographed piece on the grounds. Walk or rideshare to the LBJ Presidential Library on Red River Street, which opened in 1971. The replica Oval Office on the top floor still has LBJ's actual desk. Allow an hour. By 2:30pm, head to East 6th Street for a late lunch at Veracruz All Natural. The migas taco, $5, is eggs scrambled with tortilla strips, jalapeños, tomato, and cheese in a flour tortilla. It tends to sell out by 2pm on weekends. Dinner at Suerte on East 6th, where the suadero tacos run $16 to $22 and the dining room smells of charred corn and rendered fat.

Day 3 is the water day. Barton Springs Pool in Zilker Park opens at 5am, but 8am is early enough to get a patch of grass on the hillside. The spring-fed water holds steady at about 20°C year-round, which feels like a cold shock when the air is already 35°C by mid-morning. Admission is $9 for adults. The pool is about 275 metres long. After a couple of hours, dry off and walk 10 minutes south to the Zilker Botanical Garden ($12 entry) for the shade. Lunch at Odd Duck on South Lamar Boulevard around 1pm. Portions are meant for sharing, and the menu changes weekly, but the pork belly and the roasted beets tend to stay. Expect $50 to $70 for two people with a drink each. If you still have energy by 4pm, rent a kayak on Lady Bird Lake. The Rowing Dock near Zilker currently charges about $20 per hour, and the lake bans motorboats, so the water is flat and quiet. Dinner at Uchi on South Lamar, Tyson Cole's original location from 2003. The omakase runs about $125 per person.

About 22 kilometres of walking across the three days, with rideshares covering the campus-to-East-Austin and Zilker-to-South-Lamar gaps. Rideshares in Austin currently run $8 to $15 within the core. The heat is the main planning constraint in June. Temperatures reach 36 to 38°C most afternoons, and the humidity sits around 50 to 60 percent. Front-load outdoor time before 11am, schedule indoor stops like the Capitol, the museums, and the library for the 1pm to 4pm dead zone, and carry at least a litre of water. Austin's bus system, Capital Metro, costs $1.25 per ride but runs infrequently outside the 801 and 803 rapid routes. For the bat viewing on Day 1, the colony is weather-dependent. If a storm rolls through, the bats might not emerge. Clear nights like tonight, at 25°C with 78 percent humidity, are when the colony puts on the best show.