Weekends in Austin: 30 Minutes from San Marcos to the Tech and Music Capital of Texas

One of Texas State University's biggest advantages is location: a 30-minute drive reaches Austin — the Texas state capital, “Silicon Hills” home to Tesla, Apple, Oracle, Dell and Samsung, and the Live Music Capital of the World.

Austin for your career

Austin is one of the fastest-growing tech job markets in the U.S. For TXST students in Computer Science, Engineering and Business it is where internships (CPT) and post-graduation jobs (OPT) happen. Many companies recruit directly at TXST career fairs thanks to the short distance.

Austin for weekends

• Downtown & 6th Street: live music every night, restaurants, festivals.
• Zilker Park, Barton Springs, Lady Bird Lake: picnics, paddleboarding, lakeside cycling — free or nearly free.
• Texas State Capitol: free tours of the state legislature building.
• Major festivals: SXSW (March), Austin City Limits (October), the F1 Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.
• Food: Franklin BBQ, breakfast tacos, food trucks everywhere.

Austin for Vietnamese students

North Lamar and North Austin concentrate the Asian supermarkets (MT Supermarket, H Mart, 99 Ranch) and dozens of Vietnamese eateries: pho, bún bò, banh mi, broken rice, chè. It is the regular “supply run” for Vietnamese students at TXST.

Getting to Austin

Option	Cost	Notes
Carpool with friends	$5–10 in gas	Most common
Intercity bus	A few dollars	Cheapest, fixed schedule
Uber/Lyft	$40–60 each way	Convenient for groups of 3–4
Drive	Gas + parking	I-35 is congested at rush hour

And San Antonio to the south

Forty-five minutes the other way lies San Antonio — the 7th-largest U.S. city with the River Walk, the Alamo, SeaWorld, Six Flags and a large Vietnamese community. TXST students truly have “two big cities within reach”.

Big-city access at small-town cost — that's why so many students choose TXST. Explore student life.