Capital Cruises Tours

208 Barton Springs Rd
Austin, TX, 78704

(512) 480-9264

Capital Cruises offers famous Sunset Bat Watching excursions that include a trip up Austin’s Lady Bird Lake (formerly known as Town Lake). They also offer Sightseeing tours during the day on weekends that start at 1pm (This is a tour of Lady Bird Lake and does not include bat watching). Boats are limited to 36 people and tours fill up fast. You can use this system to book a reservation, but need to show up 30-45 minutes before departure time in order to claim your spot.

The boat dock is located lakeside the Hyatt Regency Austin in downtown on Barton Springs Road between Congress and South 1st Street. Our dock is right on the hike and bike trail next to the hotel pool. The closest and easiest place to park is in the Hyatt Regency Garage. It runs $5/hour and is controlled by the Hyatt Regency Austin (prices are subject to change). Other lots in the area are also pay lots and vary in price depending on events in the area. Please allow plenty of time to get to us as the downtown traffic can be congested at times.

Please not that if you have not checked in 15 minutes prior to you departure, you may lose your space and no refund will be given.

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Capital Cruises Tours Reviews

Vishwajeet Kale

January 19, 2021

Since we were staying at the Hyatt Regency, Capital Cruises was right below the hotel to rent out Paddle Boards, Canoes and Kayaks. The staff is very friendly and helpful. For the ones who don’t know how to Kayak they do give you basic rowing and maneuvering tips/training. Also help you get on and off your kayak. Overall was a fantastic experience! Thank you for having us!

Solomon Longsworth

November 23, 2020

This was the highlight of me and my daughters trip. We got there about 5 minutes before they closed and Chase, the Adventure Guide, was very cool and welcomed us to enjoy one of their experiences

Poppen

November 11, 2020

Really cool. Even if you've lived here for a while it's still a great experience. The tour guide is informative and chill. You won't regret booking this. They take you to see the sunset, under several bridges, to a pic opportunity with the skyline in the bckg, then you get to see the bats. I bet you learn something even if you're a local!

Haley Tuck

October 13, 2020

Five stars goes to our tour guide Leah. She was absolutely amazing. Her humor was great and her knowledge was very informative. The problem I had was with the parking. We spent 15 mins finding parking where we then ended up having to pay $18 for parking in the Hyatt garage cause if we were late we would lose our spots and not get a refund. A little info about where you could park would be great to put in the website. When we tried to call on our way to the tour no one answered cause we couldn’t even find the location in the beginning either. There’s no signage. So great tour. Well worth it but maybe get all the info beforehand if you’ve never been. It can be a little confusing.

Erin Hrynuik

October 8, 2020

Captain Michael was the best! My husband and I booked this wanting to see the bats, and our experience was so much more than we thought it would be. Captain Mike explained some fun anecdotes, played wicked tunes, and the boat ride itself was super serene right at sunset. Definitely a must do when you’re visiting Austin - thanks for the great time!

Jason S

September 17, 2020

I love capital cruises. This is the finest rental dock in Austin. The prices are the best in the city for paddle boarding. The electric boats are also amazing, but they require a reservation.

Melissa Thompson

September 15, 2020

Great times, so tranquil, the boat crew were really nice and hospitable.

Dustin Grandstaff

September 9, 2020

my room mate and i went on the sunset bat tore wich was wonderful experiance. We are both blind and vission impaired wich the tore guide gave a great description of everything on the tore. He was extremly friendly, helpful and energetic you can tell he love his job and wants guests to enjoy there experience. You can here the bats also wich is cool. Not a bad price if you something fun to do that normally cant do unless your in austin. If you visit you should take this tore

Paul Walker

September 8, 2020

We enjoyed our second experience with Capital Cruises this weekend. We rented a duffy boat on Friday evening a long with one of the meals from the Hyatt Regency. The overall experience was just as wonderful this time as it was the last. The duffy boats drive almost like a golf cart and are very easy to handle when trying to have a relaxing evening. With just the two of us we had plenty of room to sit back and relax. The braised beef pasta we had for dinner was of a very nice quality. The only complaint if any was there was no bread with the pasta, but it really wasn't necessary. I would almost think this is purposeful so you don't feed the ducks on the lake, but I could be wrong. Overall the meal was great and very well flavored. If you get the evening cruise at sunset, then you can position yourself just east of the Congress bridge to see the bats fly out at sunset. It's a very interesting experience and well worth having a boat or a kayak out on the water to experience it. Definitely give Capital Cruises your business if you're looking for a nice evening in Austin or a nice afternoon if the sun isn't being a scorcher!

Brenda B

September 8, 2020

We LOVED this cruise. Beck, our guide, was informative and funny. We saw BATS, lots of them. You should definitely go. It’s sad that Covid is limiting the number of passengers but on the other hand, it was also nice having the elbow room.