Do the tour! We liked the building and the grounds. Fun and free. Can be in and out in an hour. read more

Texas State Capitol - Red marble state capitol - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Austin, Texas

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I'm proud to call myself a born and raised TEXAN! YEEHAW!!!

First time here and it was worth it! It's s pretty fascinating experience. The kids had fun and the adults were amazed how things looked in person. Definitely recommend this on your list of things to see in Austin and it's FREE! read more

Texas State Capitol - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Austin, Texas

It was my first Capitol Centre and it's a huge pink building!! Who said nothing in Texas was gay? :D I loved it. The free tour is a definite must! I climbed all the way to the top and enjoyed the wooden staircase and all the architecture, even the star at the top of the dome. Even if vertigo kicked in and my fear of heights meant that I couldn't actually look over the edge :D I'm still wondering what happens when they run out of wall room in the spiral, but I guess that's a grand reason to go back to check! I walked all over most of the States so walked here too from where I was saying on the river front. Why did no one mention the squirrels in the gardens? They have squirrels!!!! And for someone coming from Australia like me, this was nearly as good as the fact that the building was pink... Hours of entertainment sitting in the garden watching squirrels play. So so cute. Unfortunately they refused to come home with me. read more

Absolutely gorgeous building! I went to Austin to visit my cousins. (One lives there. One was coming from out of town.) We visited the State Capitol twice. Once the day before my cousin came and again with her the next day. Our first visit (on a Thursday) was pleasantly uncrowded. It was only my husband and me and one other couple. They have free tours every 15 minutes, by the way. The meeting point is directly on the left after you go through security at the south entrance. The lady who gave us the tour was a sweet elderly woman. She was so nice and incredibly fun to talk to, but she did ramble a lot, and it wasn't until the next day that I realized how much information and history she left out of our tour. The next day a young man gave us our tour. Unfortunately, it was Good Friday, and there were about 50 people who joined us on this tour. This guide was extremely interesting and informative, and he kept on topic. The rotunda is absolutely incredible! The whole building is an architectural masterpiece. The past governor's portraits hang along the walls with the most current governor last on the main floor with the first governor on the very top floor. I was surprised to learn that they move every single portrait back one space each time they add a new one. Seems kinda inefficient, but they get it done in 2 days. There are only 7 empty spaces left, and they haven't come up with a plan yet when they run out of spaces! I really enjoyed my visit here, and I definitely recommend it! read more

This has to be the most confusing building in all of Texas. That being said, I was very glad to visit my elected officials...I even got a tour of the dome, which I swear I almost died on (I am such a wuss when it comes to heights). The building allows you to carry, if you have your CHL. You also bypass the lines and don't have to go through the metal detectors. Score one for Texas and the 2nd amendment. Other than that, good luck finding your way around...maybe that's why it's so hard to get legislation passed in this state...can't find your elected official to lobby for their support!!! read more

Wow, what an incredible building. I had a great time taking pictures and learning about Texas history. Everything was impressive and it was nice to have a spot where one can learn and appreciate the rich history of Texas. read more

Boasting itself to be taller than the United States Capitol in Washington DC, the State Capitol of Texas forms a conspicuous part of the Austin skyline. The massive and imperial dome of the State Capitol can be seen from almost any part of the Austin downtown. After a brief screening, enter inside the State Capitol, stand on the star right below the dome and talk. You will hear your own echo. Creepy and cool at the same time! I really appreciate that free tours are offered every 15 minutes to tour the State Capitol. I personally found the tour to be very enlightening. The State Capitol just doesn't end with this colossal building. I was particularly impressed with the four-story underground extension with extensive skylights. The architectural details on the floor, door knobs, door hinges, grand hallways, chandeliers, grand staircases were mind-blowing! read more

If you enjoy history, architecture, and have time...this is a GREAT stop! Be sure to get there for the guided tour - it truly enhances the experience, and it's free! The tour lasts about 1 hour and is very informative. The grounds inside and out are very well kept. Great place for adults and kids to tour. Highly recommended. read more

Absolutely beautiful architecture, both on the exterior and inside. Walking around the House chamber made me wish I was cool enough to win an election. It's funny, I saw the painting of George W Bush in the rotunda, and I was like "What the hell is he doing in this building?!" And then I remembered that he had to ruin his own state before ruining our whole country! But enough politics. Beautiful place in a beautiful city. I'd love to go when the legislature is in session one day. read more

REVIEW #300!! I love it! Free and beautiful! There are a lot of things to see, lot of spaces to cover, and lots of things to take in. So, take your time! Dont forget they have elevators! I walked the whole flights of the stairs all the way to the top! haha - not that it was too bad! They have scheduled tours, which we passed since we were out of time, but it seems like a lot of people take advantage of it. *** side note*** we had a weird encounter. As we were buying a bottle of water from a sit down vendor, some girl came up to us and asked us if she can borrow my phone to make a call. i looked around and it seemed like she made a bee line towards us (because we looked like obvious tourists with big cameras around our necks.) I kindly declined and explained to her that I was recently a victim of pick-pocketting in Atlanta - and do not feel comfortable letting go of a valuable item too soon. She became quite pushy and upset with me, saying that it will only be for a second and that her boyfriend has her phone in the library somewhere. I found it weird that she knows exactly where her phone and her boyfriend is - yet she just had to have to make a phone call ... and when we KINDLY refused and even apologized several times, she was very very pushy and was even agitated when we wouldnt. After that, she just walks off very pissed and I watched her from afar and saw that she mustve walked by at least 10 people sitting by the benches and walking about, but she didnt stop to ask anyone else. Im thinking, if the phonecall she really needed to make was so important, I imagine she would ask other people AND not be so defensive with us. So watch out. It may be a budding new scheme for people to steal your phones especially if you are a tourist with no clear idea of the streets and cannot run after a girl on shorts and sneakers due to their big cameras ... just saying ... it was a bit suspicious to me. read more

A fun experience, although visiting the visitor center is a must. I have gone twice - once when the senate was in session and another when it was not. It was a unique experience to be able to look in on the senate meeting, although that only reaffirmed my desire to not become a politician. The architecture of the building itself is beautiful. The Capitol offers tours but when I went on a weekend the groups were far too large and on the weekday I didn't see any guides. If you're from Texas, visiting, or living in Texas, it's just something you have to see. read more

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Had girlfriends visiting from Cali so we went to Austin and they wanted to see the State Capitol. Gorgeous builiding! I was on the 3rd floor and looking down and I totally got dizzy! Maybe it's getting older or something but I never was afraid of heights before. :/ read more

It is even more beautiful inside than it is outside. Also love the view during an Austin night!

Beautiful at night.

The is one of the places should see while in the beautiful and welcoming city of Austin. The Texas State Capitol is very interesting in terms of history, design, and services. I bet this place has a lot to share on the uniqueness of the great State of Texas. read more

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It's a beautiful building and grounds. Take the free tour that runs every 15 minutes (lasts about 45). The stars everywhere were a bit much as was the spelling of Texas in the chandeliers, but still worth checking out. read more

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I have visited Austin since I was a kid, but coming from a hardcore Mexican family... we only visited with family and never really ventured into the city. I do remember one time having a birthday party at Lady Bird Lake but that's it. I grew up driving by the Capitol on every road trip to Mexico, just gazing at it's amazingness. I didn't want my son to just be left wondering, so what's better than taking him inside, right? I loved how you have the option of getting a guided tour, but we just wanted to look around on our so off we went. The look on my 3 year old's face was amazing. His curiosity sparked and he wanted to go up and down every step, thus reminding me how out of shape I really am. No worries, I needed that work-out. It was a great learning experience. It was nice visiting on a Thursday morning as soon as they open, because when we drove by again that afternoon (around 3pm) it was jam-packed. People like it! If you visit Austin, this is definitely an excellent place to absorb some Texas history. read more

I like free attractions! Besides that, why visit this place if you are from out of town? 1. If you are remotely interested in the history of Austin, let alone Texas, you get a nice peak in to the past with the history written on the walls and on display. 2. It's a lot cooler indoors. 3. As mentioned earlier, it's free admission. Can't go wrong with that. 4. Once you get past security, there are different floors to explore besides the first floor. Maybe you'll end up with a spot with a great view looking up at the dome. 5. There are bathrooms so if need of a bathroom break, look no further. 6. One of the biggest reasons to visit the Texas State Capitol is that it's better than sitting around at home. Perhaps you'll be lucky to catch a live event performing beneath the dome like a local school ensemble. Again, this place is definitely worth a visit. It should not be too difficult finding parking along the street or at any of the nearby parking lots. Either way, there are no regrets. I promise you. Treat it like a library but with loud talking permitted and lots of cool pictures and statues. read more

It started with the employee who was holding the front door open taking care of some task involving a screw driving letting it shut in my face when I was about a foot away. Really, Texas State employee, couldn't have held onto that door another two seconds? Then came the security check point where my dad was instructed to take off his belt and empty his pockets of everything including one penny. They asked me to take off my "jacket" which was actually a cardigan, and I had to show them I had nothing but a tank top on underneath to be able to keep it on. Then, of course, the metal detector beeped on me, so a surley security lady gave me some gruff orders while the people in line behind me guessed at which of my articles of clothing of mine was setting the metal off. The culmination was being instructed to lift the back of my shirt (aren't you gong to buy me a drink first?) before I was allowed to enjoy the splendor and glory of the capitol. The dome was cool, as was the floor under it. The agricultural room was interesting. Apparently the state senate meets once every two years, so that room doesn't see too much action. I especially appreciated the no smoking signs. Overall, unless you enjoy rude , armed, employees of the feel-you-up variety, enjoy the capitol from the outside. read more

It's free, free guide, buy wouldn't recommend on taking small children maybe from 6yrs and up. I took my children they are under 4 and they didn't enjoy it at a,l, but my husband and I found it very interesting. Beautiful art lots of history we like it. Outside they have lots of space for the kids to run around and play. I'd recommend to arrive early, it does get full on weekends. read more

A great way to start my first visit to Texas. The expansive grounds are worth a visit for the history told in its monuments and plaques or for a picnic, stroll or run. Tours are free and run frequently with special features tours available as well. With such a rich history this is a must see on your visit to Texas. read more

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I love the Texas State Capitol. It's really neat, steeped in history and just massive...There's a lot to see and do if you come here for the day. Parking is horrible but if you can park, you'll probably enjoy walking around the capitol grounds catching pokemon! read more

Texas State Capitol - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Austin, Texas

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The Capitol Building closes! What kind of unresponsive government is this. Actually I'm glad because I won a bet from a guy who would not stop talking about how you can go there all hours of the night. It turned out well that they were closed also, because leaving the bar to visit a government building and trying to stagger around it is a sure-fired way to get a P.I. Instead we just got a nice little walk and few of how nice it is outside at the Capitol at night. It really is amazing how good it looks with the lights on it at night, and they are still alot of poeple walking around in the big courtyards. read more

I love visiting the Capitol. It's a beautiful building that can be appreciated by all ages. What I hate - all the damn quincinera and bridal pictures that are inevitably being taken EVERY TIME I visit. Maybe that's just the hater in me...but probably not. I just find it annoying that I see it each random time I visit. It always seems busy, but never crowded. We managed to walk from our hotel not too far away the last visit. The best part is that you are free to wander around and look in to pretty much all the rooms. There were some parts roped off, but nothing that you can't see in another room. There are guided tours as well. It's a great way to lose some time and easy on the pocket book considering it's free. Some of the troopers there are hotties too, so that's always a plus. :-) read more

I won't repeat what most have already said about the history and the gorgeous architecture. I highly recommend taking the tour, I personally love the little trivia type bits they tell you. I absolutely love how open and free the building is, you're free to roam the halls and explore a bit on you're own (at least it is when they aren't in session when I went). It's just a very impressive building. read more

A very impressive Capitol building and grounds to while away the few hours I had left in Austin. When I visit any capital city in this great nation of ours, I tend to want to visit the capitol building in some fashion. Truly this capitol puts my home state of California's to shame with it's larger than life, everything! In one of the pamphlets I grabbed it mentioned that this capitol is larger if not the largest of all the 50 states and rightfully so since Texas has this thing about size. One feature I loved the most was in the rotunda with the paintings of each and every governor who had ever graced the halls of this marble and gold leaf adorned interior. Also, it was absolutely free to meander the halls and grounds. I'm glad I visited and can mark Texas off my list of the 50! :) read more

Okay I feel like the many five star reviews were slightly misleading. Upon seeing how highly reviewed this place was on Yelp, perhaps I had misguided expectations for the State Capitol. Because after all, it's just a government building at the end of the day. It's really not that riveting. However, it is a pretty decent tourist stop if you're bored and are a history buff. I was in Austin for a few days for work and a lot of the locals told me to come here. The rotunda is really beautiful and totally insta worthy, but beyond that... how exciting can a government building be? I don't really think it's a must-go unless you're really bored. I do think that the tours that they give are cool though. I like that they are free tours--they happen every fifteen minutes during business hours and last between 30-45 minutes. My tour guide, Byron, was a really cool, nice, and knowledgable dude. He really entertained our requests and questions and I did think it was pretty cool learning about Texas history since I didn't know anything about it beforehand. I would highly recommend going on the tour because what you don't realize when you're just an aimless passerbyer is that almost every single decision in the construction of the building is very deliberate. Everything represents something relevant and significant to Texas state history and the tour is really helpful for understanding what the relevance is. When the house/senate are not in session, you get to also tour those respective rooms. I did end up on a Holiday tour which I did not dig; not that it'll really matter to anyone reading this review until the 2015 holiday season, BUT we just so happen to arrive right when it was happening and we thought it would be interesting because it "described the Capitol's holiday traditions." It was 1% holiday traditions and 99% peddling Capitol ornaments on an iPad. That sucked because we were obviously not going to buy anything.. but at least our tour guide was awesome and still told us a ton of history. tldr; fun experience but don't get too excited. it's still a government building. you're not going to find it that riveting unless you care about learning some history read more

Cool place to just walk through. I didn't do the tour because I don't like tours, but I've been told that if you go to the top dome and say your name, it echoes everywhere. I'm not saying you should go up there and scream vulgar things, but... I'm also not not saying that. read more

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Join the tour. It's very informative and entertaining. Even my kids enjoyed it. We had lots of fun exploring the building after the tour. read more

I wonder if the Texas State Capitol was inspired by the United States Capitol? They're like exactly the same except not. Anyway, I enjoyed my quick visit here... Everything was free and hassle free! Worth a stop if you are in Austin, TX! read more

Really cool place to visit when in Austin Texas. It's free to go inside the building to walk around and take pictures of. There's also a gift shop on level E1 when taking the elevator down. There's also lots of yummy restaurants around there. read more

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If it weren't for my friends moving from Huntington Beach, California to Austin, Texas, I would never have a reason for visiting Texas. Now that my friends have established themselves in the Lone Star state, I have a reason to go. :-) One of the must-see sights in Austin is the State Capitol building. The building itself is made of PINK granite and resembles the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. The grounds are beautifully landscaped with lots of trees and manicured lawns and flower beds. The atmosphere around the Capitol building is one of peace and serenity. Guided tours of the Capitol's interior are available; however, my friends and I opted to tour the building on our own. Architecturally speaking, the building is beautiful inside and out. The rotunda has statutes of people prominent in Texas history and portraits of every person who has served as either president of the Texas republic (before statehood) and governor (after statehood). There are also many interesting displays showcasing Texas history, which I thought were very informative and interesting. Unfortunately, since the Capitol building and grounds are so massive, my friends and I didn't have time to see the entire site. Oh, well---gives me a reason to return. Best part of all is, visiting the Capitol is FREE! :-) read more

What can I say, I'm always here because it's where I work. Great place to tour, If you haven't been, come visit us and get a tour...if you know the right people...you may even get to go all the way to the top,,Dome!!! read more

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I just moved here from Bay Area, CA and I was dying to check out the state capitol. Everyone was very kind and friendly and I arrived just in time for a tour. Tours happen in very short time spans - 20-30mins which is great if you miss one. I was shown different floors and taught about the senate and representative chambers. My tour guide was well-prepared to answer all of our questions on the history of the capitol, the artwork to the ongoing debates on current issues. There was so much passion for history that our group just ended up having an extra discussion. I loved the layout of the capitol and you are free to walk around after the tour. I found that the outside was a great place to relax and enjoy the good weather. The grass was well-kept and would suggest a mini-picnic or book reading session there. Overall, I was very, very impressed with the building and the vistior service. read more

This place is OUTSTANDING! And the best thing, it's FREE. I've been here a lot of times and it's always surprises me. I love the environmet, the desing, the art. It's just perfect. It's a must go here in Austin. Also, the park around the capitol it's beatiful to chill, to read, to rest, it's so green and beatiful. You can take a lot of awesome pictures there. I strongly recommend this place to everyone who's here in Austin. read more

We walked from congress avenue bridge across downtown to the state capitol. It was really lively the whole route, and the building was v beautiful nice breeze in the gardens. Found good stuff on the way too. read more

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Absolutely beautiful, welcoming, historical and free! Even the parking garage is free (for up to 2 hours.) We went in and were able to jump right into a tour. I felt our guide was great, just hard to hear her sometimes. The architecture and history had me in awe. Lots of stairs and walking. I was surprised how many areas are accessible to the public. I can't wait to bring my tweens here. read more

Texas State Capitol - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Austin, Texas

Beautiful building - it looks like the US Capitol only in a brilliant red stone. Interior is immaculate with the freedom to roam around and peek your head into committee rooms. Free tours are fairly informative and take you into the real Senate and House chambers depending on the session. Inside the Senate and House chambers, you can see some serious details like TEXAS spelled out in every chandelier's light bulbs. When looking at the large framed portraits of each House and Senate members over the years, you can see that some portraits are just sketches from before photography was prevalent and there was no official picture of the member. The central atrium and dome are very impressive, and you have the freedom to go up a few floors to see it from different angles. There is a security checkpoint when you come in, and it should be obvious when the next tour will begin. Everything is free to boot. read more

A must visit in Austin! Great way to get to know Texan history and just to hang out! Free tours available, places for picnic and run without any restrictions. Came here as part of an Austin tour and was well worth spending some time here. Beautiful architecture, and overall a great area. read more

Texas State Capitol - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Austin, Texas

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