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

Alexandra Kienle

April 10, 2025

Our wonderful server at Verbena recommended this company to is for viewing the urban bats. We were very happy! They got us on the trip after waiting standby. Carson did a great job driving, narrating, telling jokes, and holding the red light so we could see the bats leaving en mass. Those was a fun and unique yet tame adventure. What a wonderful experience!

Amber Lee

March 27, 2025

Capital Cruises offers fun and engaging activities along Lady Bird Lake that elevate any trip to Austin. We have gone on bat tours, swan boats, and kayaks all through Capitol Cruises and the service has always been good, well priced, and thorough. The bat cruise was fantastic with a short tour of Lady Bird Lake and history lesson included. The bats are typically very hard to see from land but with the red lights on the boats they were much more visible. The swan boats were fun although very difficult to row as you use foot pedals and it gets tiring. Lastly, the kayaks were clean and the process of getting into them seamless, we also liked that they offered lockers to store belongings in. Summarily, Capitol Cruises offers many fun and unique aquatic activities that are sure to make your time on the lake fun, we highly recommend them!

Jennifer Hutson

March 21, 2025

Our bat tour was amazing! We saw sooo many bats. The tour guide Captain Beck, aka Beck on Deck, did a great job of answering everyone's questions and providing a humorous tone to our ride. He was knowledgeable and friendly. The check in process was very easy and after check in we were allowed to leave the boat to buy drinks or snacks nearby before departure. We departed on time and arrived back in a timely matter too. I would recommend Capitol Cruises to anyone! Side note: the guides accept topping at the end of the tour of you feel inclined and they accept cash or Venmo.

Marlin & Amy Cunningham

March 20, 2025

Beck was funny and full of inspire and history. He seems to know a lot about the birds as well. It was a lot of fun and laughs! We loved it and will tell you that it is well worth it! The bats were amazing and we were lucky enough to get to see thousands of them!

Katie Mayberry

March 18, 2025

Great experience and would recommend doing the Bat boat tour to anyone (OG or implant) in Austin who hasn’t done this before. The captain was very informative on the landmarks surrounding as well as the bats themselves and it was fun! We got quite the show from the bats taking flight, to a beautiful young lady posing for pictures, to some crazy dude jumping off the maintenance station, and it was awesome!! Bring a jacket as it does get chilly on the water and bring some cash to tip the captain’s as they do try to give everyone a great experience.

Dileep Bapat

February 14, 2025

It was nice, more than one hour on calm water front. Guide was taking us through history of the places. Stopped to watch bats even after the trip time was over. Value for money

Michael Herdeen

October 28, 2024

Visiting from NJ and this was a "must do" from several friends and family members. Without a doubt, the best $15 you can spend in Austin. The cruise ran close to 90 minutes and Captain Gabe provided lots of history and stories of the area. Very informative! The night time skyline views are amazing and watching the bats leave their nests was certainly a unique experience. Highly recommend to anyone visiting the area. Quick tip: if you get here early, we found free street parking right in front of the Hyatt (parking is free on Sundays) and walked over to the Yeti Flagship store on the corner and enjoyed several cocktails at the bar. You can order a drink/beer and wander the store while shopping.

Kristie Long

October 27, 2024

What a fantastic experience we had with Capital Cruises. The bat tour was outstanding. Our captain Lenny was super knowledgeable about the river, the Austin skyline, and, of course, the bats. I highly recommend taking this tour.

Lucia Ferrer

October 23, 2024

I was so very pleased with my experience with this company. Took their Bat Watching cruise tour and I had a wonderful time. Our tour guide was witty, informative, friendly and knowledgeable. I was pleased that he didn’t rush the tour, He timed everything perfectly. And of course the highlight of the cruise was watching the bats hundreds of bats take flight. Amazing! Highly recommend this company.

David Hsu

September 21, 2024

The one definitive reason that you should come to Austin is to see this natural phenomenon. The 90 degree heat in Sept didn’t help since AC spoils us but make sure you bring a cooler with cold brews and also bug repellent or long sleeves to avoid the bugs. I didn’t expect the ride to be relaxing but it really was and we had a nice sunset view of the cityscape. Bats were an amazing sight and guano poop smelled like corn chips so just make sure you get the dip.