Thank you for existing!!

I absolutely LOVE this park! It's huge and there's a lot of space. It's definitely one of my favorite parks

I absolutely LOVE this park. It's huge and open and VERY relaxing for me!

An out-of-town visitor who found the Riverwalk Trail delightful. As others note, the downtown section is narrow and can be crowded. Recommend starting a ride a mile south of town at the Blue Star complex (parking is available). The 9 miles south from there are on pristine concrete, wide enough to easily pass walkers and runners. The trail follows the San Antonio River, occasionally crossing it. Gentle ups and downs. Signage and maps are frequent, as are historical signs. Fun seeing cormorants, geese and ducks on the river.
San Antonio has four missions close to the path going south. Unlike the California missions, these are within a few miles of each other. The National Park Service maintains the grounds. The missions still hold church services and are different from each other. Highly recommend detouring to at least one if you have time.
Bring hydration. There is no shade on the trail itself going south, and convenience stores are few and far. There are frequent picnic tables and shelters, and a few bathrooms.

After riding the Salado Creek trail (at least the portion that was open-haven’t been back since the Boardwalk was closed at Lady Bird Johnson), I started riding the San Antonio. For starters, finding parking is easy in Brakenridge Park. Sunday mornings are great. Between the families cooking out, the custom cars and motorcycles hanging out and overall fun atmosphere, it’s a great place to start your ride. It parallels Broadway running south and it’s a nice 2+ mile ride down to the Pearl-you WANT to go there and enjoy the vendors behind Hotel Emma. From there, you can continue your ride south to the Riverwalk, but things get tight for cyclists and pedestrians. By the time you get to the stone crossover bridge, it’s impossible to ride. TIP: do not cross over the bridge and try to ride back going north-it’s tight and there are several spots where there are stair steps up and down. You have to get off your bike to navigate. Turn around and ride back. Otherwise, it’s a nice easy ride, especially in and around Brakenridge Park.

Wow! What a pleasure it was to experience this awesome trail on a bike!

We did a clockwise loop of the lake, about 10.5 miles, on an overcast, horribly humid, early Sunday morning in October, but the weather certainly did not discourage us or keep other active Austinites off the trail! I have never seen so many people on a trail before, and we were easily outnumbered by walkers and joggers by a ratio of at least 50:1. There had to be thousands on that busy, crowded hike and bike trail, but everyone was so Austin cool, chill, and polite that nary a negative word was expressed (except by the irate homeless guy who yelled something unintelligible at me when he felt I invaded his space). Be that as it may, for these two Southern Californians the trail and its users gave off a beach city sort of vibe such as in San Diego. Everyone was so fit, healthy-looking, and laid back.

Speaking of homeless: When we first pulled up to park and set up our bikes at Rendon Park I was concerned about all of the homeless who had pitched tents and staked out their own bit of real estate, but my concerns were allayed when I saw the hundreds of parked cars and joggers utilizing the trail. With so many using the trail it was obviously safe for a couple of senior citizen California tourists! (Later in the day my nephew, an Austin resident, told me the homeless had pretty much taken over Lady Bird Park, and it was just a few weeks prior that the citizens and the city got fed up and finally had them relocated; at least, most of them.)

The trail truly is totally magnificent! The views of the lake, trees, and modern downtown skyline from the awesome boardwalk are absolutely spectacular and are so photo-op worthy. The path, which is mostly hard packed dirt, is not an issue for bicyclists and most likely appreciated by the runners. Whether you live in the Austin area or just visiting, this is a can't miss trail!

I roller skate this trail religiously!! it’s gorgeous!!..although I would love to find other trails to skate just for a little switch up.. This one always seems to be the best one ¿¿ The workers are so nice and everything is so beautifully kept! Everyone is very friendly on the trails as well.

I spent today walking about 4 miles of this path starting at Phil Hardberger Park. What I found was that walkers are pretty much taking their lives into their own hands because of some of the bicyclists. The vast majority of bicyclists do seem to be out for a leisurely ride but you have a handful that treat it as some sort of racing track. When I got back to where I had started there was even a bicyclist turning around a bend in the path doing 30mpg. A lady in back of me yelled out, "Hey, slow down!" A friend who was with her said that they (some bicyclists) do this all the time. I think I'll stick with Phil Hardberger Park.

Very pleased to have this trail close to home. Very scenic and well-designed. We went on a Saturday and while it was popular it wasn't packed. You do have to be aware of the hardcore spandex crowd who are traveling at high speeds. But otherwise this is one of the best trails in Austin.