Does Austin really live up to the hype? (Houston, Dallas: rental car, for sale)

[imaterry78259]

Several quotes:

Austin has some really good music, but that's about it. Everyone there thinks that it is the best city in the world and it really isn't. All that Austin has to offer can be done in about a day and a half. It is a college city and nothing else. There are no real attractions to speak of and the food/enterainment (besides music) isn't that good. If you're going to go to Texas, save your money and go to Houston or San Antonio, which are both great cities. If your 18 and don't care about anything but doing nothing all day than give it a try.

from SF:
Austin seems to t hink it is some sort of amazing city but in truth it is not a city at all it is just a college town. That has some scenery but the nightlife is a huge mistake and the so called 6th street is a joke to all people who have actually been in a city worth a damn, I have no idea why people spend so much time worshiping this city. I spent money to come and visit the city because of all the rave reviews but in truth i was not impressed.

Central-Cali
I love Austin! I am going to be moving there in three months. My visit to Texas was an all around wonderful experiance, and the people, food and weather only bettered my overall experiance!

from Houston:
Beautiful city set on the edge of Texas hill country. I always enjoy visiting, hanging out downtown, then heading out west to the lake or other recreational areas.

Lots of new retail development/residential development downtown. Many 20+ story tower's planned in next couple of years including the next tallest building in austin.

UT campus is beautiful along with the people, and the atmosphere is great, truly one of america's unique cities with a certain flavor that is Austin. A must see!!!

Oh, and you wont find a better city for live music performances!!!

From Chicgaoland
I was very dissapointed by Austin. It was a big college town with nothing much to do. Just a lot of little drunken college kids running around. There is no culture, no history, and no nightlife. I just cannot understand why this city has been getting so much attention. It is really nothing special. Oh and downtown consists of about 4 buildings, yippee!

[artsyguy]

I agree. Austin is a college town. But if you thought Austin was bad check out Denton. There is literally NO CULTURE in Denton. It is god awful there. Being there for several years has made me really appreciate Austin

Originally Posted by imaterry78259

Several quotes:

Austin has some really good music, but that's about it. Everyone there thinks that it is the best city in the world and it really isn't. All that Austin has to offer can be done in about a day and a half. It is a college city and nothing else. There are no real attractions to speak of and the food/enterainment (besides music) isn't that good. If you're going to go to Texas, save your money and go to Houston or San Antonio, which are both great cities. If your 18 and don't care about anything but doing nothing all day than give it a try.

from SF:
Austin seems to t hink it is some sort of amazing city but in truth it is not a city at all it is just a college town. That has some scenery but the nightlife is a huge mistake and the so called 6th street is a joke to all people who have actually been in a city worth a damn, I have no idea why people spend so much time worshiping this city. I spent money to come and visit the city because of all the rave reviews but in truth i was not impressed.

Central-Cali
I love Austin! I am going to be moving there in three months. My visit to Texas was an all around wonderful experiance, and the people, food and weather only bettered my overall experiance!

from Houston:
Beautiful city set on the edge of Texas hill country. I always enjoy visiting, hanging out downtown, then heading out west to the lake or other recreational areas.

Lots of new retail development/residential development downtown. Many 20+ story tower's planned in next couple of years including the next tallest building in austin.

UT campus is beautiful along with the people, and the atmosphere is great, truly one of america's unique cities with a certain flavor that is Austin. A must see!!!

Oh, and you wont find a better city for live music performances!!!

From Chicgaoland
I was very dissapointed by Austin. It was a big college town with nothing much to do. Just a lot of little drunken college kids running around. There is no culture, no history, and no nightlife. I just cannot understand why this city has been getting so much attention. It is really nothing special. Oh and downtown consists of about 4 buildings, yippee!

[normalguy]

Originally Posted by artsyguy

I agree. Austin is a college town. But if you thought Austin was bad check out Denton. There is literally NO CULTURE in Denton. It is god awful there. Being there for several years has made me really appreciate Austin

So, your argument seems to be that Austin is great since it is better than some Godforsaken place (where is this Denton anyway?). On similar lines we should say that Austin is great because it is not in Iraq

[justanothercalifornian]

I personally loved Austin upon my first visit. I feel very much at home there and would love to raise my family there. Everyone has different tastes and you won't know if this place is for you until you try it out. The college atmosphere did not bother me...actually I think it brings a certain vibrancy to the city. Downtown seemed fairly dead, but that's not my thing anyway. I loved the parks and pools and trails everywhere. It is very laid back and friendly and it seems like you can be whomever you want to be here. I've lived in Los Angeles and also in the wine country and as much as I loved the culture and beauty of these places Austin still wins me over.

[TexasGirl@Heart]

Austin...if you don't "get it" on your first visit, then sadly, you probably never will get it! I happen to LOVE Austin.
Denton is around the Dallas area. Small town with absolutely nothing to do.

[chicsndvl]

Originally Posted by travelknows

After reading all the recent articles which cite Austin as "the place to live", one has to wonder if the city is actually that great. I've heard the traffic is terrible, it's excruciating hot, and it's becoming way over-crowded. Please offer some input. Be honest.

I just moved here. and NO it's not up to the hype! the traffic is awful, the roades are worse, the drivers are bad (a fatal accident almost everyday). If you move here...live in Westlake Hills. That's the best part of the town.

The people are super nice tho. Milk for some reason is really expensive which for the life of me I cannot figure out.

There are nice food choices if you like BBQ (haha jk, there really are nice choices).

Downtown is really cool tho.

[austin-steve]

This topic comes up from time to time. I will again point out that one need not believe hype or opinion but can instead look at FACTS and DATA to compare Austin to other cities.

Decide what you are looking for in a city and a lifestyle and see if Austin can offer most of what you need. If it looks like a good candidate city, come visit and decide for yourself.

Most of the anti-Austin stuff I read in these forums is just a bunch of blather from people who've spent 1 or a few days here and think they know enough to discourage others from coming. Give me a break.

Steve

[imaterry78259]

I do agree with Austin Steve- you got to spend more than a day in Austin to judge it. The same thing s that go for people in the forum that always bashed Houston and San Antonio

[chicsndvl]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

This topic comes up from time to time. I will again point out that one need not believe hype or opinion but can instead look at FACTS and DATA to compare Austin to other cities.

Decide what you are looking for in a city and a lifestyle and see if Austin can offer most of what you need. If it looks like a good candidate city, come visit and decide for yourself.

Most of the anti-Austin stuff I read in these forums is just a bunch of blather from people who've spent 1 or a few days here and think they know enough to discourage others from coming. Give me a break.

Steve

Here's a fact:
Of our 2cars, since we've lived here (2 months) we have gone through 5 new tires and 1 patched tire....that's a FACT as you would call it, not my opnion.

I moved here about 2 months ago. I felt my opnion would be good becuase I haven't been "sold" on all the Texas hype yet. All the people I talked to about Austin before I moved lived here almost their entire lives, and said nothing bad about it. The truth is....EVERY town (yes, even precious Austin) has things about it that are not perfect.

Coming from an organized town with roads that make perfect sense, Austin's roads are terrible. I don't think that's "bashing" on Austin, just the truth. When random roads end and main roads are so narrow you can hardly drive on them, you can see how somenoe would said they are poorly designed roads.

Not everything is bad about Austin, but I feel it's good to be honest.

[imaterry78259]

Can Austinites be honest about thier city.