Austin Visitor Center

This place was within walking distance from my hotel, and I thought that since it has glowing reviews and I was in need of suggestions, this would be a great place. I was correct. The lady who helped me was very informative. I even learned that some of the local tours leave from here. I decided on the Duck/​boat tour, but I wouldn’t do that tour over again.
They also have ATX souvenirs. I walked away with a t-​shirt and a bat night light… because you can’t leave Austin without seeing the bats under Congress Bridge and you shouldn’t leave Austin without some sort of bat memorabilia.
Since I walked from the hotel, I can’t comment on the parking. The train station was almost directly across the street though. They even gave me a map that listed the train stops. The nice lady who assisted me with purchasing my duck tour ticket even gave me suggestions on which train station stop to get off at. Overall, it was a good visitor’s center, that did a great job of representing Austin.

Lacking customer service. I entered the Austin Visitor Center and was greeted immediately by someone without any ID or name tag asking to help me. I asked about the Duck tour, to which he responded that they take reservations only and they are full. He did not provide an alternative tour option and he did not point me to a brochure of another tour.
I returned later after researching a different tour on my phone, and I had to purchase tickets (which is actually just a receipt) at the AVC. At this time, the same employee suggested I go on stand-​by for the Duck tour, to which I refused. The cashier, a female, recorded my phone number and name on a tablet before giving me my receipt. She did not mention what she was doing it for, but I assume it was the online ticket reservation system.
I suggest that visitors research their trip online instead of visiting the AVC, which basically sells Austin souvenirs.

You can buy reservations for duck tours here1 Its a cute little shop, you can get info on things to do and find little touristy things. Staff was very friendly and the duck tour was fun. If you are a student make sure to ask for the discount.

The people are rude and incompetent. They gave our tickets to the wrong people, then talked down to us and acted like we were being morons. That was after having to wait for ten minutes for someone to realize I needed help and want just standing at the counter for fun, which was after they failed to give me the proper information. It wasn’t even peak tourist season, so I don’t know what they do then because I can hardly believe any seasonal workers are the good ones when they’re being trained by these clowns.

While I didn’t use any of their services, the ladies working here were all super friendly. I just love the manners and hospitality of everyone in Austin!
The gift part of the center was unique compared to the other generic souvenir stores that neighbor the center, but the prices were also a little higher.
They have a bathroom woot woot :) And a wall full of pamphlets and deals going on in the city. I did notice a group of folks getting ready to go on a tour, and they were picked up a nice blacked out van… much better than the ghetto buses I see in SF!

While looking up for things to do in Austin I stumbled on the Austin Visitor Center website and signed up for the free history tour (Congress Ave/​9 block 6^th St) and free Victorian-​era high society tour (Bremond Block)…tips are accepted. You don’t receive email confirmations or anything just show up at the south entrance of the Capitol building. Our guide Elizabeth was wonderful in her story deliveries (content/​volume) and walking pace. The tours were about an hour each and if you wear gym shoes doing the two back to back was not too tiring although I also came on a weekend with awesome not too hot weather! This was a great way to start the weekend.

This stop has some good cheap tours and souvenirs. Actually was cheaper than the other shops in the area for t-​shirts and hats.
You can take tours from here including the Duck truck tour. Check Groupon before you go as their is usually a 2 for one and will save you $ 25!

They have a bunch of pamphlets at the end of the center where you can check out information about the various things you can do. The people there are also very helpful with the tours and places to check out while your in Austin.
I recommend the tour of downtown and especially recommend Harrison David Eppright who is very knowledgeable of the Austin sites. It starts off at the capitol building and then works your way down south congress st and ends up at the Visitor Center. It is also free! And they do not accept any tips which is preposterous because Harrison did such an amazing job keeping me informative and entertained as we walked through all the historic buildings and sites.
The goods in the store are also pretty neat. They have everything that represents the «Austonite» (which the local Austin dwellers are called which I learned from Harrison) culture and heritage.

Great place information center was very helpful. I was going to try the Duck tour but was on waiting list. When worker at information center saw I had a bad knee she suggested I see if Austin Overtures tour had any seats available. It was done in an air-​conditioned van and covered more area. She also pointed me in the right direction with Bat cruise tour. I went with Lone Star tour and was very pleased

Great information and good tours. We had a bad experience here with a very rude and unhappy cashier managing the duck tours. It’s a shame that such a great city has such a bitter woman welcoming city guest.

We stopped in here to start our Duck Tour, no, I did not bring a red and gray pistol with me, and no laughing dogs poked fun at me. :) Will say I have never been in here, in all my 28 years of life and living in Austin. They did have some pretty cool knick knacks that were very Austinish. I even found out there is a steam train in Cedar Park! Def next on the list. Anyways, the staff was friendly and helpful, would recommend anyone from out of town coming by.

A visitors’ center is always the first place to go in any city. You will find information and brochures and a wealth of collected information in the heads of the volunteers.
There are two *free* walking tours given and you can find out all the details about them right here:
I went on the one that started at the Capitol. It was super informative and really covered a decent swath of the downtown area. We even had a chance to walk inside the historic Driskill hotel.
PS As an aside my guide gave a decidedly «Yankee» slant to the Texas history part of the tour. I found it to be a humorous bit of revision, given that Yankee soldiers cut down some old beautiful trees here in Austin when they occupied it, just to be malicious, to say nothing of the normal looting and pillage that almost all Yankee soldiers did to all Southern cities. Those Confederate monuments on the Capitol grounds are memorials of brave men who died fighting for their country and way of life. The slaves who enlisted — and fought for — the Confederacy from almost Day 1 were doing that too. Blacks weren’t allowed to enlist in the Union Army until 1862, and even then, they were used for work detail. Racists? Read your history.

Staff was rude and short with every customer. Clearly they were overloaded and fed up with the folks using the Duck Tour Groupon. Still, not professional at all. The only redeeming thing is the public restroom they have in the back.

The Austin Visitor Center is right in the heart of Austin on 6^th Street where all the action is located. The visitor center has all kinds of information on what to see and do in the area. When I was there a lot of older people were waiting for a tour, so there must be tours that start at the VC. The whole back half of the store is a gift shop that has all of the Austin souvenirs that you could desire. The prices are decent and there is a large selection.
This should be your first stop when visiting Austin.

If you are exhausted of walking in the streets and trying to figure out where all the fun is, then just walk into this place and they would give you bunch of information for free.
They also have the duck tour which takes you around the capitol and moves towards the hilly area and the bus gets converted into motor boat as it approaches the colarado river and you get to see all the fancy West lake million dollar homes and other people going crazy in the water like mermaids.
This is a 1 hour tour and is pretty informative and relaxing, but yes there is an annoying part to this. They give you a Quack whistle and if you have kids in your tour then you might lose your ear drums as they keep blowing the whistle and makes the tour very nerve wrecking.
Overall it’s a nice short tour and the place gives you other suggestions of what you could in Austin. A place for the lost ones in this small city, ok! They don’t give you shelter but just information! :)
–Smriti

I decided to take a day trip down to Austin from Dallas, with little to no planning. If you see my talk thread in Austin, you’ll see I had people suggest places for me to go and I would go around Austin as I got this suggestions. It was like a real time simulation game. Just in case that didn’t pan out, I came to the Austin Visitor Center first.
They open and 9 AM, and they have the cutest, more informative ladies ever! I knew a little bit about Austin from sifting through the various talk threads, but I wanted to know the exact nuances of each neighborhood within Austin. They were right on the money about a lot of things. They said the newly rich were in the West End, to the west of University of Texas is where most of the college kids go (but not much is there), they suggested I go to South Congress for some indie boutique, art and food, and they also suggested I check out the Capital building and the waterfronts. They were right on the money about a lot of things and their suggestions combined with the Unilocal community’s suggestions allowed me to have a ridiculous amount of fun.
They have walking guides and touring guides as well. I believe the walking guides are free, but the touring guides range depending on the which kind you want to go on. They have a «Ride the Ducks» kind of bus/​boat tour as well.
This place is located on a strip of bars, so you’ll know you’re heading the right way if you begin to run into semi-​drunken, but painfully nice people. It’s not really in an area where you would expect the city’s visitor’s information center to be, but somehow for Austin it just works.