Twenty Austin swimming holes and trails, checked against the agency that runs them.
20 sites, with the facts that decide the day rather than the ones that decide a listicle: what it costs, whether the gate wants a reservation, whether the dog can come, when it is open, what is shut this month, and whether the water is there at all.
Every line was taken from the agency that runs the place, never from a blog or an aggregator, and most rows carry an agency link and the date the fact was checked. Where two agency sources disagree, the disagreement is printed rather than smoothed. Where an agency publishes no answer, or publishes no page at all, the row says so instead of guessing.
Barton Creek right now
read at 12:45 p.m. Sunday, September 20
The creek is dry at the gauge. At zero the bed at Twin Falls and Sculpture Falls is dry limestone, so the greenbelt swimming holes are not a swim today.
USGS station 08155300, Barton Ck at Loop 360, Austin, TX. The parks department does not monitor greenbelt water levels itself and points people at this gauge. USGS marks a fresh reading as provisional and subject to revision. Read the gauge yourself.
5 of the 20, so you can see what a row holds
Every field below was copied from the agency that runs the place, on the date stamped under it. Where two agency sources disagree, the disagreement is printed rather than smoothed.
Barton Creek Greenbelt
trail · Zilker to Westlake · No reservation
- Agency
- Austin Parks and Recreation, with trail mileage from Austin Water’s Wildlands trail data
- Fee
- Free to walk in. Two of the seven trailheads charge: the Zilker trailhead at 2212 William Barton Drive is a $7 flat fee on weekends and holidays from March through September, and Trail’s End on Camp Craft Road is paid from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Reservation
- None.
- Dogs
- The guide states one citywide rule: outside the designated off-leash areas a dog is on a leash of six feet or less, and a citation runs up to $500. This site’s own agency page carries no dog rule in the guide.
- Hours
- unknown
- Closures
- unknown
- Water
- Conditional. The guide lists this among the places you can get in, conditions allowing, so check before you drive out.
Austin Water’s trail data measures 12.68 miles, and the parks department lists seven trailheads between Zilker and Camp Craft Road. Treat the swimming holes as seasonal rather than as a feature: the parks department does not monitor water levels and points people to the USGS gauge at Loop 360, station 08155300, which read zero cubic feet per second on the morning of September 14, 2026. The creek depends on recent rainfall rather than on a spring, so at zero the bed at Twin Falls and Sculpture Falls is dry limestone.
Checked 2026-09-14 · austintexas.gov
Barton Springs Pool
Not on the hiking guidepool · Reservation unknown
- Agency
- City of Austin
- Fee
- Paid. The city’s admission table publishes no free window, and the guide records no price.
- Reservation
- unknown
- Dogs
- unknown
- Hours
- Opens at 5 a.m. Closes for cleaning every Thursday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. The early hours are swim at your own risk.
- Closures
- Closed for cleaning every Thursday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Water
- The guide does not list this as conditional water.
The sources disagreeThe guide does not agree with itself on the Thursday lifeguard hour, so both readings are printed. Its fact-check note says guarded swim starts at 8 a.m., and at 7 p.m. on Thursdays. Its entry says the pool opens at 5 a.m. with no lifeguard on duty until 8 a.m., or 9 a.m. on Thursdays. Treat the Thursday guarded hour as unresolved and check the city page before going.
Cut from the hiking guide because a three-acre spring-fed pool is not a hike. It earns its place on an access sheet as the reliable water when the creek is dry: it is spring-fed and holds 68 to 70 degrees year round, which is why it is the substitute the greenbelt row points at.
Checked 2026-09-14 · austintexas.gov
McKinney Falls State Park
park · Southeast Austin, 13 miles from the Capitol by the park’s own reckoning · No reservation
- Agency
- Texas Parks and Wildlife
- Fee
- $6 for anyone 13 and older, free below that.
- Reservation
- Not required, and still the thing to plan around. Day passes sell out every weekend and holiday, and the park says it often reaches capacity and highly recommends reservations for both camping and day use, so book a day pass online to guarantee entry or go midweek.
- Dogs
- No pets in the water at the falls. The guide records no other dog rule for this park.
- Hours
- unknown
- Closures
- Onion Creek can flood after rain.
- Water
- Conditional. The guide lists this among the places you can get in, conditions allowing, so check before you drive out.
Nearly nine miles of trail and a waterfall. The 2.8-mile Onion Creek Hike and Bike Trail is the spine, with Rock Shelter, Homestead, Flint Rock, and the Williamson Creek Overlook branching off it. At the falls the rules are strict: no coolers, no glass, no speakers.
Checked 2026-09-14 · tpwd.texas.gov
Hamilton Pool Preserve
swimming hole · Day trip, Dripping Springs, 24300 Hamilton Pool Road · Reservation required
- Agency
- Travis County Parks
- Fee
- $12 per vehicle booked online, plus $8 a person paid on arrival in cash, because the county takes no cards at the preserve. The county’s $80 annual permit is for Travis County residents only and does not cover Hamilton Pool.
- Reservation
- Required every day of the week, in one of two windows: 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., booked online.
- Dogs
- Prohibited with no exceptions, including in the car.
- Hours
- unknown
- Closures
- Travis County has water access closed on high bacteria counts, with the earliest resumption listed as September 19, 2026, and the trail under the overhanging cliff is closed for falling rock.
- Water
- Conditional. The guide lists this among the places you can get in, conditions allowing, so check before you drive out.
The walk to the pool is a quarter of a mile, so this is a destination rather than a hike, and whether the drive is worth it turns on the water rather than the mileage. With swimming closed the visit is a quarter-mile walk to a grotto nobody is allowed to swim in.
Checked 2026-09-14 · parks.traviscountytx.gov
Turkey Creek Trail, Emma Long Metropolitan Park
trail · Emma Long Metropolitan Park, northwest Austin · Reservation on some days
- Agency
- Austin Parks and Recreation, with the trail listing from Austin Water’s Wildlands trail data
- Fee
- $5 a vehicle Monday to Thursday, $10 Friday to Sunday and holidays, $1 to walk or bike in.
- Reservation
- Friday to Sunday and holiday passes are pre-purchased from March through September. The guide states when passes ARE pre-purchased and never states the converse, so it is not printed here.
- Dogs
- Off leash on this trail corridor, per Austin Water’s trail data and the city’s off-leash area map. See the conflict.
- Hours
- unknown
- Closures
- Park water is off for maintenance in October 2026, so carry your own.
- Water
- The guide does not list this as conditional water.
The sources disagreeThe sources disagree and the guide writes the disagreement out rather than smoothing it: Austin Water’s trail data lists Turkey Creek as off leash, as does the city’s off-leash area map, which counts all 193 acres of Emma Long. The park page still says pets stay leashed. The reading that fits both is that the designation belongs to this trail corridor, not the whole park.
A 1.92-mile foot-traffic-only trail, and the off-leash answer for Austin.
Checked 2026-09-14 · austintexas.gov
15 more sites are behind the email: the free city trails, the preserves that ban dogs outright, the day trips out on Hamilton Pool Road, and the ones where a closure or a booking rule is the whole story.
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