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

Melissa Gaister

September 17, 2023

We took our 4 yr old on a tandem kayak and had a great time! Our guide, Captain Zack was easy going and knowledgeable - we learned a lot about the skyline and interesting facts about the bats. We really enjoyed the adventure!

Christan Crenshaw

August 26, 2023

We were originally going to just stand on the bridge to watch the bats but some coworkers had just been raving about how watching it from a boat was so much better and just a great experience. They had used capital cruises. So I went ahead and got my husband, my mom, and myself tickets for their 7:30 cruise last night. I’m basically never impressed by value, but this bat cruise so pleasantly surprised me! It was a lovely sunset cruise around downtown lbj for like 20 minutes and then our guide Michael had perfect timing getting us to right under congress bridge as the bats started emerging. It was an amazing experience, highly recommended!

Brittany Garcia

August 25, 2023

Had a great experience on this bat tour! As a local, I tend to stay away from touristic things but this was amazing. We had an informative driver and the bats at sunset were gorgeous (it is way better than being on the bridge). Plus it’s inexpensive & BYOB!

Thomas Tran

August 25, 2023

The dock is located behind the Hyatt Regency Austin. Be sure to bring water and use the restroom at the hotel before boarding. The boat is simple and the best seats would be closer to the front if you plan to take plenty of photos. Our guide took us on a nice loop on the Colorado River providing us with interesting facts. We got to the Congress Street Bridge 5 - 10 minutes before the bats started to fly out. It was an amazing site to see!

Lacey Shinn

August 10, 2023

We had such an awesome time! We did the Bat Tour with a Sunset Tour and all I can say is that it was worth every penny! It was also really easy to access since we were staying at the Hyatt Regency. It was such a surreal experience watching all the bats fly out from under the bridge and watching the sunset. I also highly recommend going either at the end of July/early August, definitely a must when visiting Austin. Carson was our guide and he was so informative, friendly, funny, and pleasant! Can't wait to come back to viait the bats again! ☺️

Cathy MacKinnon

July 19, 2023

Fantastic outing in the evening away from the hot sun! Our boat tour captain Alec was amazing - full of knowledge and humor. It was a perfect amount of time, about an hour and fifteen minutes. Up and down the river, you get some history, sunset, pics and relaxation. Oh, and bats. The grand finale of bats was very very cool. Highly recommend!

Katherine

July 15, 2023

Amazing service! I definitely recommend that you book with them. We did the 2 person kayak and is was so much fun. Amazing views of the city too.

Pablo Gutierrez

July 11, 2023

Made a pit stop here right before getting on a plane to go back home to Anchorage, Alaska. My wife and I had a blast and would do it all over again. We plan on coming back here next time we are in town. The Gentleman working the front desk was super professional and easy to work with.

Alex Chavez

July 4, 2023

We rented their Pride and Joy boat for a birthday party in July. The indoor A/C was great, especially with Texas triple digit temperatures this year. They also provided a big misting fan on the upper deck that was nice too. This boat was very pretty. Mostly talked with Tony over the phone, who was always very friendly and answered all of my questions. He made the whole booking process go very smoothly. On the day of my event, his staff was very friendly, funny, and helpful. It was a big help when the staff helped us transfer our party set up boxes to and from the boat to my car with the cart. This was an overall great experience. And a great bonus....we were able to see the bats!