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The 100 Best Places to Drink and Stay in Austin
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The best places to drink and stay in Austin, according to the experts: AAA, Forbes Travel Guide, and Michelin Guide have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Fairmont Austin Gold Experience comes out on top.
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Four Seasons Hotel Austin and Nickel City hold the next two places. AAA shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with Michelin Guide next.
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Four private floors tucked inside the Fairmont Austin, the Gold Experience is essentially a hotel-within-a-hotel, with its own reception desk, its own lounge, and a quieter remove from the rest of the building's thousand-plus rooms. Guests still get access to the wood-fired Garrison and the other restaurants below. A Michelin Key and a Forbes Four Star suggest the upgrade is not purely theoretical. Downtown Austin sits just outside.
The awards
- AAA AAA: Four Diamonds
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Key
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Perched on Lady Bird Lake with the Congress Avenue Bridge just visible from the grounds, this Forbes Four Star hotel manages the rare trick of sitting in downtown Austin without feeling like it. A recent renovation refreshed the rooms and brought in a new restaurant and bar, both leaning into Texas-meets-Latin cooking. Visiting musicians and celebrities have long made it a preferred bolthole, which tells you something about the noise level in the lobby.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star
- AAA AAA: Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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Rank 3. Nickel City
Cocktail Bar
Nickel City is an East Austin neighborhood bar that has been pouring drinks on this corner since the 1930s and sees no reason to get fancy about it. The focus is cold beer, boilermakers, and draft Pimm's, with the occasional Aperol Spritz for anyone feeling continental. A food truck out back sells Detroit-style Coney dogs and wings, which is how a quick drink turns into a full afternoon.
The awards
- The 50 The 50: #96 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in Austin
- Spirited Awards Spirited Awards: 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best U.S. Bar Team
- The 50 #96 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Eater The Best Cocktail Bars in Austin
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best U.S. Bar Team
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Kelly Wearstler designed every inch of this 32-story hotel in the Second Street District, and it shows, in the best way and the slightly self-conscious one. Where most Austin hotels lean into their scuffed boots, the Proper is unapologetically urban, with locally inflected decor that never lets you forget someone very stylish made every decision. A Forbes Four Star and a Michelin Key back up the polish. Dining and cocktails keep it lively well past checkout hour.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Key
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A ten-acre Italianate estate in the middle of Austin, which is either an absurd premise or a great one depending on how you feel about Ken Fulk's maximalist touch. The mansion, satellite buildings, and formal gardens have been folded into an Auberge Collection hotel without scrubbing any of the old glamour out. The oval pool sits among manicured hedges, and the whole place operates like a country house that simply refuses to acknowledge the city outside. A Forbes Four Star and two Michelin Keys.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 2 Keys
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star
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- Bon Appétit America's Best New Bars
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
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Rank 4. Techo Mezcaleria & Agave Bar
Mexican Speakeasy
The awards
- Wildsam Wildsam: The 50 Most Essential Bars in America
- James Beard Awards James Beard Awards: 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
- Eater Eater: Best Speakeasies in Austin
- Wildsam The 50 Most Essential Bars in America
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
- Eater Best Speakeasies in Austin
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The building's previous life as a massage parlor is part of the lore here, and Midnight Cowboy leans into it: press the Harry Craddock buzzer at the unmarked Sixth Street door, then slip into a dark booth for cocktails built around a mystery and spirituality theme. It's a reservation-first speakeasy, intimate by design, with a menu deep enough to require genuine deliberation. Food & Wine named it one of the top bars in the US.
The awards
- Food & Wine Food & Wine: The 10 Top Bars in the US
- Eater Eater: Best Speakeasies in Austin
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Rows of reclaimed leather belts line the wall behind the front desk, which sets the tone for this 171-room boutique hotel in the Domain Northside shopping district. Hill Country rusticity runs through the whole property: cowhide chairs, blue velvet armchairs by a fireplace, and a neon phrase borrowed from a Texas Tornados song. It holds a Forbes Four Star rating, and sits close enough to the Austin tech campuses to pull a reliably well-dressed business crowd.
The awards
- AAA AAA: Four Diamonds
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star
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The awards
- AAA AAA: Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Key
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Rank 9. The Roosevelt Room
Cocktail Bar
The awards
- The Pinnacle Guide The Pinnacle Guide: 1 Pin
- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in Austin
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
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The awards
- AAA AAA: Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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Rank 12. Small Victory
Cocktail Bar
The awards
- Esquire Esquire: Small Victory Martini · The Best Martinis in America
- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in Austin
- Eater Eater: Best Speakeasies in Austin
- Esquire Small Victory Martini · The Best Martinis in America
- Eater The Best Cocktail Bars in Austin
- Eater Best Speakeasies in Austin
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Brutalist concrete and pecan wood beside a pool ringed by pecan trees, the Carpenter Hotel sits behind the old Carpenter's Union Hall on the south side of Lady Bird Lake, close enough to Zilker Park and Barton Springs that outdoor plans make themselves. Bunkhouse Hotels runs it, which explains the local instincts baked into a building that reads as a love letter to Austin without begging it for approval.
The awards
- AAA AAA: Three Diamonds
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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A mid-century chain hotel on Lady Bird Lake got the full renovation treatment, and the result is a boutique hotel that makes the retro bones look intentional. Architect Michael Hsu and designer Sean Knibb folded in industrial textures and quiet nods to Hill Country geology, so it reads as Austin rather than anywhere-with-a-lobby. The Michelin Guide selects it among its hotels, which is the kind of quiet endorsement that doesn't need a billboard.
The awards
- AAA AAA: Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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A 32-story tower designed by Chicago firm bKL, Thompson Austin cuts a noticeable line into the downtown skyline just off the East Sixth Street strip. The hotel occupies the lower floors, so you get the address without the altitude, which is fine given what's walkable. Sleek without being cold, it's the kind of place that suits Austin's current chapter better than its old "keep it weird" bumper sticker ever did.
The awards
- AAA AAA: Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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Rank 17. Daydreamer
Cocktail Bar
The awards
- Eater Eater: Best New Cocktail Bar
- Spirited Awards Spirited Awards: 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards Spirited Awards: 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central
- Eater Best New Cocktail Bar
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central
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Rank 17. papercut
Cocktail Bar
The cocktail menu changes every time the gallery does, which tells you most of what you need to know about Papercut. It's a minimalist East Austin cocktail bar where the drinks are keyed to whatever paintings are currently on the walls, so ordering becomes a little like picking a favorite piece. A back bar called Konbini serves Mexican-Japanese sushi when you need something to eat. The team came up from San Francisco, and the room feels it.
The awards
- The Pinnacle Guide The Pinnacle Guide: 2 Pins
- The Austin Chronicle The Austin Chronicle: 2026 · Best Bar That Treats Cocktails Like Art · Best of Austin
- Eater Eater: Best New Bar · The 2025 Eater Austin Award Winners
- The Pinnacle Guide 2 Pins
- The Austin Chronicle 2026 · Best Bar That Treats Cocktails Like Art · Best of Austin
- Eater Best New Bar · The 2025 Eater Austin Award Winners
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The awards
- AAA AAA: Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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Marriott's Autograph Collection landed in Austin not downtown but beside the UT campus, which tells you something about its vibe. The Otis leans hard into the city's live-music identity, weaving that thread through the room design and the details rather than just hanging a guitar on a wall. Rooms run luxe without going cold, and four on-site restaurants and bars cover everything from New American to tapas to a rooftop lounge.
The awards
- AAA AAA: Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in Austin
- Spirited Awards Spirited Awards: 2024 · Top 10 Nominee · U.S. Bartender of the Year · Caer Maiko Ferguson
- Spirited Awards Spirited Awards: 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
- Eater The Best Cocktail Bars in Austin
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Top 10 Nominee · U.S. Bartender of the Year · Caer Maiko Ferguson
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
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Rank 21. Holiday
Mexican Cocktail Bar
The awards
- Punch Frozen Mexican Martini · Our Favorite Cocktails
- Eater The Best Cocktail Bars in Austin
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar – U.S. Central
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The Greek Revival mansion a short walk from UT Austin has been a boutique hotel for a while now, but it has been many things longer. The original lady of the house, Ella Wooten, spent decades turning what was an ordinary estate into something considerably less ordinary, and the place has been coasting on her taste ever since. A calm, handsome stay in a neighborhood that doesn't always offer either.
The awards
- AAA AAA: Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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Rank 21. Le Calamar
French
Concrete floors and dark leather in a South Austin building that could pass for a tech lobby, except the menu is French and the martinis have made a small national name for themselves. Le Calamar is a neighborhood bistro where the food leans sharing plates, the wine list sneaks in some Texas pours, and the baked Alaska arrives with honey pecan dacquoise and torched meringue like it has something to prove.
The awards
- Esquire Esquire: Cornstar Martini · The Best Martinis in America
- The Austin Chronicle The Austin Chronicle: 2026 · Best Prix Fixe Dining Deal · Best of Austin
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Restaurant
- Esquire Cornstar Martini · The Best Martinis in America
- The Austin Chronicle 2026 · Best Prix Fixe Dining Deal · Best of Austin
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 25. Here Nor There
Cocktail Bar
You find it in a basement beneath an alleyway off 6th Street, which is all part of the point. Here Nor There is a speakeasy cocktail bar where the menu rotates around a high concept, past themes like color theory and global exploration, with drinks that take real kitchen-level prep to pull off. Exposed brick, dim lighting, and enough tucked-away corners to make the chaos of Dirty Sixth feel very far away.
The awards
- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in Austin
- Eater Eater: Best Speakeasies in Austin
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
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Rank 25. Uptown Sports Club
New Orleans-style Cajun & Creole
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- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Key
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- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Key
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Zombie Taco, the 24-hour taqueria downstairs, tells you most of what you need to know about the neighborhood this hotel occupies. Moxy Austin-University sits just north of the UT campus in the strip of bars, shops, and perpetual foot traffic that lines Guadalupe. Rooms run clean and modernist with leather furniture and Western wool blankets, and Bar Moxy's indoor-outdoor lounge doubles as a genuine local hangout, not just a hotel bar for guests with nowhere better to be.
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- AAA AAA: Approved
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Key
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A polished-concrete courtyard, warmed by mid-century Danish armchairs, sets the tone at this boutique hotel on East Cesar Chavez. The Heywood holds a Michelin Key, and what's quietly notable is how thoroughly Austin-rooted it is: the architects, designers, artists on the walls, and most of the supply chain are local, with women running the show from ownership down. Style with a conscience, and it doesn't feel the need to remind you constantly.
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- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Key
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- Eater The Best Cocktail Bars in Austin
- Spirited Awards 2023 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central
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