Three years later we are back and brought family visiting from out of town. The captain was great and very informative without it being boring. We were a group of 11 ranging from age 11 through 94 and everyone liked it. You can either park on the street for free or at the Hyatt. If you park at the Hyatt, Capital Cruises will give you a coupon so the What a fun experience! read more

We rented a swan paddle boat for an hour. Since free parking can be tricky, we parked in the River south parking garage for a flat fee for the day. It was a short walk after that. The paddle boats are first come first serve and since we were there on a school day mid afternoon, there was no wait. The staff took great care of us and got us on our way quickly. The boat worked well even in really windy conditions. It was fun to just relax on the lake while getting a little leg workout! This is a fun, quirky experience to do on the lake! read more

Capital Cruises - Boat Charters Near Me - Austin, Texas

I wouldn't have done this, except i had an out of town visitor and he requested going here to view the bats. I rejoice that he did, because he told me how great this was and I liked it too. The captian of the ship ( whose name i believe is Alex) did a great job. His commentary was funny, witty, and interesting. He shared tons of fascinating facts about the bats and the surrounding areas. Worth the money indeed! 5 stars! read more

Parking - my small experience has been bleak. I called the Cruise line for advice. They recommended under the first street bridge. I am unfamiliar with the area or how to get under bridges. Long story short I parked very far away and had to walk/ run. Discovered the next day there is public parking across from the library. Try that. It is 440 pm on a Wednesday and there are a few cars in the lot. (Pay 2$ for 2 hours) you can walk from here. The cruise - it's early November so the bats are not as prevalent. Still a nice cruise the weather is warm and cool at times. Bring a jacket. And sunglasses. Robert the guide was excellent with knowledge and a few jokes too. Overall a good way to spend an hour. Located at the River behind the Hyatt Regency. Bathrooms are under the escalator. read more

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I joined for a Capital Cruise bat excursion in late September. Yes, sorry, I am very late on my review ha. It was a little confusing to find the walkway to reach the dock. Once I arrived, check in was a breeze and I selected a seat on one of the two available boats. Our guide was great - he gave an in-depth tour of Lady Bird Lake (formerly Town) and the city skyline, plus we passed by the dog park, which was cute to see. Once nightfall was arriving, we headed back toward the Congress Street Bridge...and then kept going. We were pretty far away from the bridge and at first I didn't understand....until the bats started to emerge. It was a night when the bats emerged in multitudes -- truly like nothing I have ever witnessed before in my life. I really enjoyed myself. read more

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I am not sure how this company has 4.7 stars. Our experience was terrible. We paid $216 to book a 2 hour Duffy boat ride on a Sunday afternoon. The pictures online need SERIOUS updating. Our 21' Longhorn Duffy was disgusting... I mean absolutely disgusting. The table was extremely loose to where we could not even sit a bag on it without it seeming like it was going to completely fall over. The speakers on the boat do not work, so forget about listening to your own music, but the guys working the boats will hand you a small Bluetooth speaker, "it's complimentary". The whole steering mantle was shaking the entire time and making a horrendous sound, bolts were missing from where the part is supposed to be secured into the floorboard. The boat MAYBE went 1 mph, I'm not even kidding. We pulled out of the dock and immediately turned around after maybe 3 minutes. The lake smells DISGUSTING! There are literally bushes growing from the lake just in the middle of the water. Trash EVERYWHERE. The entire area smells like pee and sewer water. As soon as we got out of the car in front of the Hyatt we just smelled it. Just a completely awful experience. When we pulled back into the dock after our 3 minutes excursion and told them we didn't feel safe, we had our 3 year old with us as well, the guys just said "yeah I totally get it." That was it.. no sorry. no offer of a refund nothing. It is a complete SCAM that they are charging $200 for this kind of "experience". Do not waste your time, money, or dignity. ** response to the owner: the lifejacket was not an issue whatsoever. Our daughter has grown up on the water and on a boat of our own. The safety concern was the fact that the boat felt like it was going to breakdown, fall apart and sink. read more

I did the sunset bat-watching cruise with a small group of friends in May, and it ended up being the highlight of our visit (my first time in Austin!). The evening was absolutely beautiful - calm water, a gorgeous sunset, and great views of the Austin skyline from Lady Bird Lake. Seeing the bats emerge from under the bridge was something we'll always remember. A special shout-out to MICHAEL, our (very tall!) captain. He was funny, knowledgeable, and full of interesting info. He struck the perfect balance between being entertaining and letting everyone relax and enjoy the scenery. The entire cruise was peaceful, memorable, and exactly what we needed to wrap up our trip. It felt like the perfect nightcap to a wonderful stay in Austin. I would recommend Capital Cruises (and Captain Michael!) to anyone visiting the city and looking for a relaxing way to spend an evening on the water. read more

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Every single time we have family or friends come to visit from out of town, we do a bat boat tour. I never get tired of it. Nothing beats the view of the Austin skyline at sunset from a boat on the water. The boat staff are pretty cool and fun, with lots of stories and history. They keep things lively and interactive, even if it's a night when the bats aren't as visible to the human eye as we'd like them to be. Can't recommend enough. read more

Capital Cruises - Boat Charters Near Me - Austin, Texas

The bat tour offered by this company is well worth it. Our captain, Beck, was very knowledgeable. The boat itself is no-frills but it is clean. The downtown and sunset views you see during the tour are amazing! One thing to note is that you aren't guaranteed to see the bats. I've done this cruise when hardly any bats come out and other times when tons come out. You never know! This is a great thing to do for both locals and visitors alike. read more

Capital Cruises - Can you spot the bats? - Boat Charters Near Me - Austin, Texas

We had a great time on the cruise. The communication and check in process was super easy. All of the staff were nice and gave great tips. I wish we would have known about bringing snacks and drinks on board earlier! The cruise was prompt and the captain was very knowledgeable. We enjoyed taking in the scenes of the city from the water. The bat migration was amazing and we had the perfect view from the cruise. We were able to view the bats going over the city and from the bridge. Overall great times! read more

Capital Cruises - Boat Charters Near Me - Austin, Texas

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If you only do one thing in Austin...TAKE THE BAT SUNSET CRUISE!!! It was such an amazing experience, I've never seen anything like it. We loaded up on the boat and headed down the river to the bridge where the bats hibernate during the day. At night they come out of the bridge and fill the sky as they fly out to hunt their insects. Our guide was very knowledgeable and knew exactly where to park the boat so we could get the very best view. The tickets were very reasonable, best deal in town. The only drawback is the parking. They had a good valet deal for $20 but it's only for a few hours. After that, the price starts going up. The Hyatt is under construction so it's not easy to navigate, or to find the boat dock, and is a long walk from where you park. But still worth it 100% read more

This company went above and beyond with their customer service. My mother is in a wheelchair and when we parked at the Hyatt the only access to the dock was down a flight of stairs ( they Hyatt should make this entrance ada compliment) so my mom and dad told myself and me and all the family visiting to go ahead and make the reservation. When I got to the dock I let them know two in our party couldn't get down the stairs. The amazing lady ( I don't know her name) had them hold the boat and walked up to the Hyatt and walked us around the construction to the bike trail and to the dock. She even offered to help with my mom's wheelchair. I'm super grateful . read more

We had a great time on our Bat experience cruise with Capital Cruises. Our guide was great! He gave us a really good tour of the surrounding area. Thank you!! read more

It was a beautiful day when we visited! We decided to ride the swan pedel boat. The attendant was so nice and helpful. He asked if we wanted the two or four seater. We went for the two seater and then he said they had one with a canopy that had four seats. Price jumped from $20 to $30 an hour, but it was worth the shade. So glad we got it since it was a pretty sunny day. Highly recommend checking it out! 1 hour is plenty of time to ride around. read more

Capital Cruises - Boat Charters Near Me - Austin, Texas

Check-in and out. Staff was friendly and helpful. Boat was clean. It was a fun experience on the beautiful lake the skyline in the background. read more

Our captain Sean was wonderful! He was funny and very knowledgeable. I'm might come back to Austin later this year with my partner and we're definitely going back on this cruise(hopefully with Sean) read more

Capital Cruises - The skyline and trees of Austin - Boat Charters Near Me - Austin, Texas

Fun tour cruise stopped here my first day in Austin so glad we did, was able to see some bats and catch a beautiful sunset. Our tour guide was funny and informative providing some fun facts about the city of Austin and ofcourse the bats! 10/10 read more

I had a great adventure enjoyed by three generations. The sunset was gorgeous. There was a rainbow. We got to see a heron and many egrets and oh yeah, millions of bats. Captain Mike was knowledgeable and fun to be with without being obnoxious. Ask for him when you make your reservations. read more

I love Capital Cruises! The captain was fun and knowledgeable, he knew the best place to hang out to view the bats. As an Austin resident I take the cruise several times a year and I bring visitors to Capital Cruise, it never disappoints! Be sure to do it in August and/ or Sept when the babies/ pups are flying. read more

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We had a team cruise along the river in Austin, and enjoyed an hour on the river with our boat guide (Alex). It was a very relaxing hour as the sun was setting to see the sites of Austin and the bat bridge (however most of the bats are not here for the winter, they migrated to Mexico and will return later in the year). Our guide took us up and down the river, showed us monuments, shared stories behind the Austin sky scrapers, all with music and bat calling sounds. The cruise was on an open pontoon boat, with plastic chairs. You can bring drinks for the ride! Which our group did. And I normally get motion sickness, however I did not on this boat as the water was so calm. Overall, if you are looking for a relaxing hour while enjoying the sunset and learning about the stories of Austin, this is a great attraction. read more

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I had so much fun on my spur of the moment decision to take a boat tour. I like that the boat was an open pontoon style. I wanted to see the bats under the bridge, but I missed it by about two weeks. That doesn't mean that the tour was boring though. There is so much beautiful architecture to see. Lady Bird Lake is beautiful and there is plenty of other wildlife to be viewed on the tour. My tour guide was very interesting and provided a lot of information. The tour was inexpensive, in my opinion. I highly recommend this excursion in Austin Texas. Next time I will try to book it when the bats are there. I was told that the best time is in June through August. The tour is about an hour long. read more

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Loved this sunset bat cruise! Our guide was fun and provided a lot of history. We spent a lot of time on the water and got to see so many bats taking flight from the bridge! Well worth the money! read more

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Captain Sean was the BEST!! My experience was nothing shy of AMAZING! He was educated, experienced, funny as EVER!!! I had the best time!!

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! Please note that you have to buy the swan peddle boat and kayaks in person, whereas boat tour online. read more

Capital Cruises - Kayak - Boat Charters Near Me - Austin, Texas

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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! read more

Capital Cruises - Boat Charters Near Me - Austin, Texas

The bat tour was amazing! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and funny! I really liked that it included a tour of the city and buildings as well as getting to see all the bats! read more

Seeing the bats! It was great seeing the bats, the driver did a decent job talking about the history of Austin, Lady Bird Lake and the bats. A few cons- people on our boat kept talking over our guide, wish he would have asked them to stop talking, our boat left 20 minutes later than they originally said. Had we known that before boarding we would have eaten dinner first rather than waiting till almost 8:30 for the cruise to be over. The boats and the dock could use a little makeover- definitely showing their age and wear. I would recommend taking this cruise but know before you go! read more

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First of all, seating is "first come, first served" on the boat, which we knew in advance. We arrived with our party of 8 extra early, but there is no place to sit while you're waiting to board except on a low concrete curb. Benches or chairs would've been nice. We enjoyed our cruise and guide...very informative. An issue was the gay pride parade was the same night (unbeknownst to us) and it traveled over the very bridge under which the bats roost and was very loud. As a result (PER OUR GUIDE) the bats didn't emerge as usual...a very few flew into to trees but we didn't get to see the thousands that fly out nightly. (He said this happens during Bat fest, too, even though there are many other bridges that both the parade and festival can use.) The conflict with the parade should've been listed on their website or told to those of us who paid and reserved our cruise (Aug 30) so that we had the chance to reschedule. Also, parking is definitely a problem, with construction at the hotel where we were told to park. That made it really difficult to find where to check in for our cruise. We have been on other cruises on Lady Bird Lake where beverages were offered for sale...none on this cruise (however you can bring your own food/drinks). In the future we'll most likely use a different company. read more

We did the sunset/bat cruise with capital cruises for 8 people under 100$. The website made booking very easy. Check in started 30 minutes early and was very fast and organized. Their staff were very friendly and helpful. The cruise itself was amazing the guide was very knowledgeable about the city and the bats. Kids were welcome on the cruise and also had a great time. Can't recommend this enough. read more

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Great way to see the bats. Better than standing on the bridge where you can't see the bats underneath the bridge. Long time waiting on dock. Difficult to get to the dock with all the construction at the Hyatt. Easy booking, online reminders and ticket great. Our tour guide wasn't that great. He seemed unsure and didn't offer a great deal of commentary nor was he engaging. It was reasonable cost. Sitting on an open deck flat bottom barge basically. It was hot and humid and lots of bugs around. Did take us out further to see the other bridges and showed us graffiti on other bridges. Saw a beautiful sunset and made it back in time to see the departure of the 1.5million swarming bats as they flew along the tree line. They looked like Black clouds. Seeing the bats was Amazing. Book with their website for better deal. Btw, both of the donut boats privately rented ran out of batteries and needed to be rescued by our barge boat which delayed our return. Some on board commented - thank goodness didn't rent a donut boat. read more

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Fun, detailed, friendly, on time, and energetic Captain Justin was terrific. Great for all ages! read more

Capital Cruises - Bats beginning there flight! - Boat Charters Near Me - Austin, Texas

We LOVED our Austin architecture tour! Sadly, we came at the worst time to see the bats but we did see a few scouts. Our tour guide was funny, knowledgeable, and friendly. The tour was about 75 minutes long and our crowd was great. The ticket purchasing was easy (so easy my mom could do it!) and we lined up about 30 minutes prior to boarding time. It was drizzling and all the crew made sure the seats were dried off prior to boarding. Much appresh! Would definitely come back!! read more

Capital Cruises - Skyline - Boat Charters Near Me - Austin, Texas

Captain Alec did a great job. The bats were really cool coming out of the bridge. I learned that AI has allowed us of learn that bats talk to each other! I wish we had known ahead of time we could have brought drinks and snacks and there was no bathroom on the boat. That would have allowed us to plan better. Other than that, it was a lovely one hour tour down the river. read more

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Shout out to our captain, Mr. Chase! He was super friendly and chill, and really knowledgeable about all things along the river-- the kinds of birds/ducks on the water, the old power plant building, and of course the bats. read more

Capital Cruises - Austin skyline and Congress Ave. bridge, right after the rain. - Boat Charters Near Me - Austin, Texas

hosted our wedding rehearsal dinner for 45 people aboard the nighthawk cruise and it was such a unique and affordable option! we ended up bringing our own finger food. speakers can be connected by phone- have a playlist ready for upstairs and downstairs joint sound. the sunset we were able to experience that night was so so beautiful. being a december event, we heard the bats but didn't get to experience them flying directly overhead. upstairs even had a firepit which i was definitely not expecting but really enjoyed as it gave off a good amount of heat. definitely recommend capital cruise for an unique and memorable event. read more

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We are so happy with our experience at Capital Cruises. We booked an evening cruise for a large work event of about 80 people. This was 10/10 from start to finish. We couldn't have had a better time if we tried. A special thank you to Raynor, Trace and Chris for being so helpful and communicative. We couldn't not have loaded our plethora of things into the boat without you. Y'all truly made our time better. And thanks for the special opportunity to see the bats as well. I will definitely consider this company moving forward for events to come. Y'all are amazing! read more

Such a great experience! We road with Captain Lorrie. She was super knowledgeable about Austin in general and the bats! I have lived in Austin since 2017 and have taken so many people around Austin for a tour but seeing the city from the lake was a really nice way to learn more about Austin read more

Capital Cruises did an amazing job with our sunset kayak tour to see the bats! Our guide, Michael, did a great job at answering all of our stupid questions and getting us to the coolest spots on the lake. We definitely recommend them for a quick, but unique, excursion right in the heart of downtown ATX! read more

Alec was a wonderful guide! Though we were at the end of the bat season and weren't able to see many bats, the tour was informative and entertaining. We would do it again if we come back during the regular season. read more

Did the bat watching tour and it was amazing! Tour guide was informative and fun. We saw SO many bats!! The boat ride alone was worth it.