Howdy; visiting Austin with teenagers? Y’all want to find some fun, age-appropriate, activities to make sure they have a good time. Austin is a fantastic city with great stuff to offer for all ages. Still, the activities on this list should hit the spot with Gen Z. So if you’re a boomer, this ain’t for you.
House Skate Park
House Park is Austin’s best Skate Park, and a great place for your teenage daughter to meet a ‘skater boy’. Just drop her off in the morning go do what you want for the day and then come pick her and her new boyfriend up in evening. You can get to know him over dinner.
Located in the middle of downtown Austin at House park. Get directions, or learn more here.
Barton Spring
You can pay and go into Barton Springs Pool. It’s pretty nice, a 3 acre natural spring fed pool with beautiful lawns etc. Great for sunbathing and a dip to cool off. Price wise it’s pretty cheap, teenagers are $3 for locals and $5 if your a tourist. The downside is there’s a lot of rules. No food, no drinking. However, you can also swim (with no lifeguards and no rules) just outside the pools, downstream. It’s the same clean cool water. But you can eat, drink, paddle board or jump off a bridge. (Technically there is a rule against jumping off the bridge but it’s largely ignored.)
Located Just south of Lady Bird lake so it’s easily accessible from downtown Austin. Get directions.
Paddle Board Lady Bird Lake
Rent a SUP and paddle the lake. Either on a Bat Bridge tour or just rent the dang board and go have some fun. You might even spot a turtle. This is obviously only fun in the summer, unless you’re teen is already a serious paddle boarder.
Lake Travis Zipline
Scare the shit out of your teenagers with an afternoon of Ziplining at Lake Travis. it;s a seriously good time y’all. Learn more.
Sandbox VR
Take time out from the real world with Sandbox VR. This is not your home VR kit there’s haptic feedback vests and state of the art motion capture technology to track you every movement giving y’all the most amazing VR experience. You teenagers will love it. There’s a variety of experiences for every taste.
Located at The Domain Northside. Learn more here.
Austin Paintball
Let’s face it who hasn’t wanted to shoot their teenager at some point. Well at Austin paintball you can. And then you can shoot them again, and have and ice cream on the way home. This is awesome fun, you know y’all gunna have a good time. And those paintball bruises will give you a story to tell back at the hotel pool. See prices.
House of Torment
Bring a change of pants as House of torment will scare the shit out of your teen. They won’t sleep right for weeks afterwards. This is Austin’s scariest Haunted House. For added scare stay at The Driskill and tell your teenagers it’s haunted too. See prices.
Go Wake Boarding
You can hire a boat, (and driver) and learn to wakeboard on Lake Travis or Lake Austin. This is an awesome family day out perfect for teenagers or younger kids if they are athletic and coordinated. See prices.