The best murals in Austin, and how to see them in one afternoon
Start on South Congress around 2pm, walk three walls that sit within six blocks of each other, cross west to South First for the postcard, then make one leg north of the river. That is nine murals in roughly four hours, and the light gets better the whole time.
The route, in order
- 1300 S Congress — "I love you so much" at Jo's Coffee.
- 1423 S Congress — "Willie for President," one block south.
- 1912 S Congress — "Love from Austin," half a mile further down.
- 1720 S 1st — "Greetings from Austin," a short hop west.
- Then north of the river — La Lotería, Tau Ceti, the Butter Half, and the two on the Drag.
Why the order matters more than the list
Everyone publishes the same nine walls. Almost nobody tells you that four of them sit inside a six-block stretch of South Congress, and that people routinely drive between murals a two-minute walk apart.
Group them geographically and the afternoon stops being a scavenger hunt. South Congress and South First are one continuous leg on foot. Everything else is a single crossing of the river, done once.
Start at 2pm rather than noon. South-facing walls flare out in overhead sun, and the good color on these paint jobs shows up after about four o'clock.
Where to start on South Congress
Begin at the small green scrawl on the south wall of Jo's Coffee, 1300 S Congress. Austin musician Amy Cook painted it in 2010 as a note to her partner, who owned the coffee shop.
Walk one block south to 1423 S Congress for "Willie for President," on the side wall of STAG Provisions. Guero's Taco Bar sits across the street, which is why half the internet gives you the wrong address for it.
Then keep going south to 1912 S Congress, where Charlie Copp's "Love from Austin" covers the flank of the Prima Dora gift shop. Black script on white, no line, and the best of the three to actually photograph.
Which Austin mural is overrated?
The Jo's wall. It is a lovely story and a genuinely nice gesture, and it is also four words on painted stucco with a line of people waiting their turn in ninety-degree heat.
Locals have been saying so for years. One widely shared ranking of famous Austin spots put the tourist murals ninth out of ten, calling them forced rather than organic, and singling out this one alongside Greetings from Austin and the Butter Half.
Go anyway, because it takes four minutes and it is on the way. Just do not build the afternoon around it, and do not wait twenty minutes for a clean shot. Walk a block in either direction and you will find better paint with nobody standing in front of it.
Is Greetings from Austin worth the detour?
Yes, and it is the one wall on this list that earns its reputation. The giant vintage-postcard mural sits on the side of Roadhouse Relics at 1720 S 1st Street, about nine tenths of a mile west of Jo's.
Todd Sanders and Rory Skagen painted it in 1998. When it faded, the neighborhood raised roughly $10,000 in donations to restore it in 2013 — which tells you more about how Austin feels about this wall than any ranking will.
The walk from South Congress is dull and shadeless. This is the leg of the afternoon where a car, a bike or a pedicab earns its keep, because the mural itself is worth arriving at unbothered.
What to see north of the river
Cross once and take four in a line. Do not bounce back and forth across the water — that is how a four-hour afternoon turns into six.
La Lotería, 1619 E Cesar Chavez. Felipe Garza's oversized lotería cards from 2015, on a quiet stretch with no crowd and easy street parking.
Tau Ceti, at Second and Brazos downtown. Josef Kristofoletti painted ten stories of it in 2018, making it the tallest mural in the city. You can read it from three blocks away, so there is nothing to line up for.
"You're My Butter Half," 2000 E MLK Jr Blvd. John Rockwell's 2014 pair of toast slices. Somebody defaced it in January 2022 and it was professionally restored inside a week. There is a free lot on site, which makes it the easiest stop of the entire route.
Which mural has the best story?
Daniel Johnston's frog, at 21st and Guadalupe. He painted "Hi, How Are You" on the side of a record store in 1993, and it has outlived the record store, the building, and the artist.
The structure behind it came down in April 2023. The single brick wall was left standing, protected by a covenant, while student housing goes up around it. Construction fencing can block the view on any given week, so look before you commit to the drive.
Two blocks north at 2301 Guadalupe is "Austintatious," painted in 1974 and the oldest mural in Austin. Kerry Awn and his collaborators have restored it repeatedly, quietly repainting the skyline each time so the buildings stay current. It is the most interesting wall in the city and hardly anyone stops.
What happened to the graffiti park?
The Baylor Street site is gone. HOPE Outdoor Gallery closed those terraces in January 2019 and condos occupy the hill now, so do not send anyone up Castle Hill looking for spray cans.
The gallery reopened at 741 Dalton Lane, out near the airport, with free admission and public paint walls. It is about seven miles east of South Congress and is its own trip, not a stop on this one.
One honest planning note
The South Congress and South First legs work beautifully on foot or by cab and badly by car — parking on SoCo on a Saturday will cost you more time than the murals will. Park once, walk the cluster, then drive or ride the single leg east.
See how we run the mural loop →
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