Do You Need A Car When You Visit Austin? A Mom’s Honest Take

By Kelsey Kennedy | September 19, 2025

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Wondering if you need a car when you visit Austin? Ok, hi! Sure! I’ll answer that. As a local Austin resident and someone who is constantly hopping around ATX to eat and explore, I have a feel for where to stay when you visit Austin and how you should plan to get around.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kelsey Kennedy is a native Texan and a local Austin author, photographer, and blogger with a serious obsession for all things Austin. As the creator of four Texas-focused travel websites, her work has reached over 12 million readers in 38 countries, all searching for the coolest things to do in the hottest cities in Texas. For more insider tips on the capital city, check out her bestselling travel book, Austin Food Crawls: Touring the Neighborhoods One Bite and Libation at a Time.

Do you need a car when you visit Austin?

My short answer is this: if you're visiting Austin with kids, a rental car will make your life SO much easier.

We don't have great public transportation here in Texas.

Most people drive everywhere, so you can typically find parking wherever you go.

If you're visiting Austin without kids, you can easily just Uber everywhere.

How To visit Austin Without A Rental Car

For starters, you’ll need a way to get from the airport to your overnight accommodations.

The distance from the Austin Bergstrom International Airport to downtown Austin is 16 miles, which is around 20-25 minutes. Price surges change, but it's usually around $35 to get an Uber from the Austin airport to downtown Austin.

Want to save money? There’s always the CapMetro bus ride that goes from the airport (here's a link with info) to Lavaca/10th St in downtown Austin for $1.25. It will take a bit longer than catching a Lyft or Uber, but it’s a solid option.

So no, you don’t need to rent a car in Austin to get to/from the airport. But if you're traveling with kids, it will make your life a lot easier to be able to have a rental car to put your carseats instead of having to install them into every Uber.

Do you need a car to get around Austin while you're visiting?

While you’re in Austin, you can mostly walk everywhere.

Downtown, SOCO, and east downtown are very walkable neighborhoods (hence the cost $$$$ of real estate in those areas.)

So if you’re staying in one of those neighborhoods, you could technically get by without a car!

Like I shared in this guide to the best places to stay in Austin with kids, I recommend booking a VRBO in Zilker, Travis Heights, or Dawson for the most family-friendly vibes in Austin.

If you're traveling without kids and you're staying in downtown Austin or Rainey, you can walk most places and then catch an occasional Uber or Lyft.

Do you need a car to live in Austin?

Yes. Full stop. I've never met someone who lives in Austin and doesn't own a car.

Short answer: do you need a car when you visit Austin?

No. If you enjoy walking and you plan to catch 3 or 4 ride shares for the long distances (like to/from the airport), you can enjoy a great trip to Austin with no car.

If you want to stay in Austin for a long trip and do ALL of the things, like visit Mount Bonnell (pretty far west) and eat tons of barbecue (located all over the city) and go visit some amazing Dripping Springs breweries, AND you have an easy place to park your car (like if you’re staying at an airbnb in a neighborhood), renting a car is a good idea.

And if you live in Austin, you need a car.

One more thing to note: if you’re coming from a city that has great public transportation, like NYC, Chicago, or a European city with an amazing underground system, you’ll be sorely disappointed with Austin’s public transit.

Project Connect is underway and will introduce a new light rail, an underground subway, and an improved bus system …but that’s going to take several years.

For now, we have buses that can get you around. Here’s the a map of the bus system, if you’d like to see. There’s also a MetroRail, but it’s pretty small right now. You’d have to specifically plan your trip and airbnb right by it in order to utilize it because it doesn’t go to most parts of the city.

Ride shares are abundant in Austin, so catching a Lyft or Uber is typically no big deal.

Also, keep in mind that if you’re visiting during one of the big events in Austin, like SXSW (March) or Austin City Limits (October), ride share rates are going to be much higher than average.

A few more guides to visiting Austin with kids you might enjoy:

If you're deciding where to book a hotel or airbnb, read where to stay in Austin with kids. I outline a few of my favorite kid-friendly neighborhoods for visitors.
This guide to the best things to do in Austin with kids is full of my actual favorite kid-friendly activities here in Austin!
Don't waste your money at fast food spots when we have so many good kid-friendly restaurants in Austin. Lots of these have playgrounds!