Wildsam Field Guides Austin (Wildsam City Guides) Paperback – March 1, 2018

I love Wildsam guides, even if it is a city you have visited before. They are filled with great stories and little known facts. They make the best gifts!

This is what I want in a travel guide: hints of ideas, a flavor of neighborhoods, and for Pete’s sake, no stars. It points me in the direction of my research, but doesn’t do it for me. The truly useful travel guide in the age of Google.

interesting details for newcomers to austin and validated by long time residents

This was advertised as a travel guide; it is not. It is a collection of childish drawings and boring, useless essays. It had about two paragraphs worth of useful information for someone traveling to Austin, and that information can easily be found on the internet. This is the worst "travel guide" we have ever seen. I returned it immediately.

Interesting read — NOT a good travel guide book. I bought it for my home town, but it wouldn’t be of much help to a stranger to Austin.

Excellent city guide and it is well worth it to look into the whole Wildsam series. This is a refreshing and sophisticated field guide to cities and regions across the US. The Austin one is great. I grew up in TX and I learned so much from this book. We own many Wildsam field guides and love them all. The guides list helpful recommendations that have never disappointed, but more than that you get a true sense of the place through the essays, almanacs, and well written content. If you want to really learn a place and get a true feel for it, this series is for you. The guides make great gifts for locals or visitors. We keep a Wildsam guide on the night stand in our guest room for guests to flip through and they always comment how great it is. Highly recommend whole series.

After getting this guide for myself and learning even more about my hometown than I anticipated, this will now be my go-to gift for newcomers, and friends/family that are visiting! A short list of shops, restaurants, and experiences feel more like a handwritten list from a friend rather than the typical "travel book" or online review site. Everything was spot on. The essays in the back section of the book are beautifully written, and nice to see some familiar names from world class writers in there. Props for lifting up local illustrators and writers - Thank you! This will live on my coffee table forever.

I was gifted several guides and I love them. It's harder and harder to trust online reviews when you're looking for a great local spot and so these guides give you thoughtful recommendations for the best breakfast, coffee, dive bar, etc.But, what's great is that once I get to that recommended coffee shop, I pull out the guide and read about the city - stories, history, facts.Perfect size so it's easy to carry.Don't use this if you want to tips on visiting the State Capital - use it to find those memorable local spots and then, once you're there, enjoy reading more about the lesser known, wonderful parts of Austin.