Getting There

By Plane

The Major Airlines -- America West (tel. 800/235-9292; www.americawest.com), American (tel. 800/433-7300; www.aa.com), Continental (tel. 800/525-0280; www.continental.com), Delta (tel. 800/221-1212; www.delta.com), Frontier (tel. 800/432-1359; www.frontierairlines.com), JetBlue (tel. 800/538-2583; www.jetblue.com), Northwest (tel. 800/225-2525; www.nwa.com), Southwest (tel. 800/435-9792; www.southwest.com), and United (tel. 800/241-6522; www.united.com) all fly into Austin. There are currently nonstop flights from the following U.S. cities (outside of Texas): Atlanta; Baltimore; Chicago; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Denver; Detroit; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Memphis; Minneapolis/St. Paul; Nashville; New York; Orlando; Phoenix; Raleigh-Durham; St. Louis; San Diego; San Francisco; San Jose; Tampa; and Washington, D.C.

Finding the Best Airfare -- All the airlines run seasonal specials that can lower fares considerably. If your dates of travel don't coincide with these promotions, however, the least expensive way to travel is to purchase tickets 21 days in advance, stay over Saturday night, and travel during the week.

By Car

I-35 is the north-south approach to Austin; it intersects with Highway 290, a major east-west thoroughfare, and Highway 183, which also runs roughly north-south through town. If you're staying on the west side of Austin, hook up with Loop 1, almost always called Mo-Pac by locals.

Stay on I-35 north and you'll get to Dallas/Fort Worth in about 3-4 hours. Highway 290 leads east to Houston, approximately 2 1/2 hours away, and west via a scenic Hill Country route to I-10, the main east-west thoroughfare. I-10 can also be picked up by heading south to San Antonio, some 80 miles away on I-35.

In case you're planning a state capital tour, it's 896 miles from Austin to Atlanta; 1,911 miles to Boston; 921 miles to Springfield, Illinois; 671 miles to Santa Fe; 963 miles to Phoenix; and 1,745 miles to Sacramento.

By Train

To get to points east or west of Austin on the Sunset Limited by Amtrak, 250 N. Lamar Blvd. (tel. 800/872-7245 or 512/476-5684; www.amtrak.com), you'll have to pass through San Antonio. Trains depart from Austin to San Antonio nightly. The Texas Eagle runs from Austin to Chicago daily.

By Bus

You'll also be going through San Antonio if you're traveling east or west to Austin via Greyhound, 916 E. Koenig Lane (tel. 800/231-2222 or 512/458-4463; www.greyhound.com). There are approximately seven buses between the two cities each day, with one-way fares running around $15.