A group of 6 of my girlfriends and I are traveling to Austin and need some advice. We are in our low 30's and need some fun places to go out. Not too old, but I guess not all UT students either. Also, any advice on sites would be great. Should we rent a car... Luchenbach?? San Antonio? We only have 3 days.

Get a car. In fact, since you're in Texas, get an SUV. I'd go to Schultz' brewery and take a walk down South Congress. Stop in to the Continental CLub for some music and grab a taco at Guero's Tacos. Austin has the best Tex-mex in my not-so-unbiased opinion. go to www.theaustinist.com for good tips. -K

I agree with the recommendation of an SUV or even a van for all 6 of you. Go explore the cute shops and tea rooms in the Hill Country!

Sign the "Texas will NEVER win a National Championship while Mack Brown is coach" guestbook.

Sorry to be recommending another travel site, but tripadvisor.com has an Austin forum and there was recently a really good answer to your specific question. You'll love Austin and can easily spend the whole 3 days there just hanging out downtown and going to dinner and clubs at night. Definitely do South Congress St. for the funky stores. Go to Whole Foods at 5th and Lamar if you've never been to one. This is the headquarters and it's huge and definitely the coolest grocery store you'll ever see. A great place downtown for BBQ is Ironworks. Take a walk around town lake (it's a damned up river but everyone calls it a lake). What I've seen of the Hill Country is nice but not really my cup of tea (except for the scenery). A lot of cute shops but definitely an older crowd. You'll have to check out Sixth St. but it is definitely the very young crowd. There are plenty of other places downtown that aren't the "get drunk til you puke" kind of places you'll find on Sixth St. I highly recommend going to Ester's Follies on Sixth St. Make a reservation for sure! It's a comedy club/vaudeville show and it's absolutely great. You'll laugh your butts off. Okay, I'll stop for now but let me know if you have any questions. And don't forget to check out the tripadvisor forum for a list of great clubs.

I had no idea Whole Foods headquarters was in Austin! Is that what makes that store "more special"? I'll have to drop in one of our trips there.

I was in our Whole Foods today and saw they have the same premade yummy burgers that Central Market carries. Those two duke it out for "king of the mountain" honors don't they--at least in San Antonio. Austin's WF must be fabulous--although ours is nice, I doubt it'd make a list of tourist "must sees".