Good Time Tours: Best Austin Party Boat Rentals for Summer

Summer in Austin leans arduous into the water. By the time the afternoon warm sits on South Congress and the Texas State Capitol glows inside the sun, the metropolis migrates west toward Lake Travis. If you have mates in town, a birthday to celebrate, or you actually would like your weekend to suppose like a staycation, a captained get together barge beats any rooftop downtown. Good Time Tours has been component to that ritual for years, and it exhibits within the way their crews cope with the small issues that make a lake day modern, safe, and cheerful.

When I first moved to Austin, pals insisted on two nonnegotiables in July: frozen custard from Sandy’s via Zilker Park and a ship day on Lake Travis. Barton Springs Pool is splendid at 68 levels, yet if you desire room to spread out, play track at a good extent, and swim in deep, blue water, Lake Travis has no equal within town limits. The lake’s long, branching coastline bargains quiet coves if you happen to favor low-key solar time and lively spots like Devil’s Cove once you wish to mingle with neighboring boats. The water holds up neatly even in overdue summer time when other lakes get muddy. Access is easy from neighborhoods like Westlake Hills, Tarrytown, and Bee Cave, with maximum marinas approximately 30 to 45 mins from downtown relying on visitors around the Pennybacker Bridge on Loop 360.

That combo of deep water, sizable sky, and legitimate marina infrastructure is why Austin occasion boat leases on Lake Travis keep booked by using Labor Day. When other people question me who runs it major, I point them to Good Time Tours Austin. The boats are easy, captains are knowledgeable however enjoyable, and the bookings team communicates simply. There is a confidence that they can get you on the water without drama.

People throw around “pleasant occasion boat condo in Austin Good Time Tours” the method Austinites talk tacos or brisket traces, and whilst every person has a favorite, some reasonable facets justify the hype. First, the operation is captained. You do now not need to nominate a chosen skipper or how to dock a protracted pontoon in wind. The staff handles navigation, anchoring, and raft-up etiquette, which matters more than you observed when the cove fills up.

Second, the boats in shape businesses smartly. Most Lake Travis barges fall into degrees like 12 to twenty travelers or 20 to 30 guests. Good Time Tours often affords a number of with roomy decks and shaded seating. Features like floating mats, coolers, and Bluetooth sound structures are favourite, yet I continuously tell hosts to make certain the exact amenities at booking to tournament the vibe you want. For a bachelor weekend with fogeys flying in from Denver and Chicago, the lily pad turned into the hit. For a relations birthday with grandparents in Hyde Park and cousins out in Lakeway, color and gentle boarding mattered extra. Good Time Tours understood both events and positioned us at the excellent boats.

Finally, the crews realize the lake’s persona by using the hour. They study wind and boat traffic and might endorse when to aim for Devil’s Cove as opposed to a quieter spot close to Hudson Bend or Volente. On one blazing August Sunday, our captain skipped the mob scene and set us in a calm pocket near Mansfield Dam Park. We nevertheless heard the far-off tune of the primary raft-up, however we swam in clean water without preventing wakes. That’s knowledge.

Good Time Tours runs out of a most appropriate region at the lake, which trims the time among stepping on board and leaping into the water. If you're staying downtown close to Lady Bird Lake or UT Austin, the force out follows a highly route previous Mount Bonnell and over the 360 bridge, then threads you into the Lake Travis hills. Guests coming from the Domain, Round Rock, or Cedar Park traditionally hop onto 620 and meet you at the quay with time to spare. Staggered arrival works provided that the organizer stocks the slip variety and timing window with anybody.

A prevalent charter runs three to 4 hours, which matches a past due morning session or a golden-hour cruise that wraps around sundown. If you might have a titanic workforce coming from Clarksville and East Austin, goal buffer time for parking and restrooms on land, relatively on break weekends. Once every body is on board, the staff runs a brief safeguard chat, confirms your plan for music and coolers, checks lifestyles jackets for non-swimmers and adolescents, and pushes off. Ten to 20 minutes later, you are going to be anchored inside the cove, watching freshmen ease into the water like they've lived on the lake for years.

Good boat days transfer in beats. At first, humans take a 2nd to go searching. Lake Travis spreads extensive, framed by using limestone bluffs and the occasional hillside homestead. Then tune settles at a amount that contains however does no longer drown dialog. Sunscreen circulates, somebody calls first bounce, and out of the blue the boat is a base camp. Swimmers rotate off the lily pad. The quiet friend from Mueller floats on a noodle and smiles more than you could have visible all 12 months. Two cousins locate the shared pleasure of guessing boat costs throughout the cove. A new Bluetooth playlist sneaks in from the self-appointed DJ who insisted on bringing an additional battery percent.

Around both-hour mark, the captain almost always shows a reposition if the wind shifts or the cove gets crowded. It is a small, welcome nudge that keeps the convenience top. If the group entails a mixture of locals and site visitors, it truly is while any individual will aspect across the lake to the Oasis and inform the story of a staring at-the-sundown way of life, or remind you that the bats underneath the Congress Avenue Bridge placed on a coach at nightfall lower back downtown. Place subjects here, and the workforce is familiar with travelers have fun with that connection.

Not all lake days want the identical putting. If you're website hosting a corporate retreat with teammates from a device visitors close to the Seaholm District, a midweek afternoon can consider like a private lake. For bachelorette businesses staying along Rainey Street, late afternoon to sunset is top magic, chiefly should you cap it with dinner at a Lakeway spot with a view. Families with younger young children most likely thrive with a morning slot, when solar is softer and the water a little calmer. Good Time Tours can propose at the commerce-offs. The high-calories raft-up weekend crowd is a function, now not a worm, for confident companies. For others, it's far value cruising a touch farther out for elbow room.

Boat capability is a higher variable. If your guest record hovers at the sting, ask about the such a lot delicate more healthy in place of the highest legal variety. Better to have house for a cooler and flow than % the rail. On a contemporary Saturday, our 22-man or woman community booked a ship that might have technically dealt with just a few more, but the extra seating and colour intended grandparents from Tarrytown stayed unless the final swim. That single desire changed the entire day.

You will in finding Austin get together boat rentals priced by means of the hour, with costs affected by boat measurement, date, and call for. On Lake Travis, a cheap latitude runs roughly two hundred to four hundred dollars in step with hour for a captained barge, ordinarily with a three or four hour minimal. Holidays and Saturday top occasions hit the appropriate of that stove. Add essential gratuity for the captain and workforce. For planning, I inform hosts to budget a total that covers the rental, tip, ice, delicacies, and rideshares. Split across a celebration of 15 to twenty-five, it ends up within the comparable ballpark as a night time of dinner and beverages downtown, with some distance greater thoughts.

If your institution carries of us coming from North Austin or Pflugerville who favor to drive, money parking guidance at the marina ahead of time. Some regions price, others require a brief walk, and just a few get tight at midafternoon. Good Time Tours communicates arrival important points really, which continues the staff centered on enjoyable as opposed to logistics.

If you have got planned a lake day beforehand, you realize the fast list that makes or breaks it. Here is a compact guidelines that assists in keeping things straight forward:

Good Time Tours ordinarilly delivers necessities like coolers and ice, yet determine ahead of time. Glass is a no-go on such a lot marinas and boats, which makes sense if you happen to you have got naked toes and swim mats. Portable audio system are unnecessary if the boat has a stable formula, and so much do. Ask about continual stores once you be expecting to recharge telephones, then flip the ones phones into airplane mode for a while. Lake time rewards people who permit their emotions stretch out.

If you might have had one sketchy lake feel, you already know what a ready captain is well worth. They watch climate, site visitors, and the dynamics of corporations on board. They additionally store a watch on hydration. On an afternoon where Austin tops one hundred degrees and the breeze methods you into considering every little thing is first-class, the staff will nudge water breaks and coloration time. For young children and non-swimmers, existence jackets reside inside arm’s attain. If you deliver a canine, ask approximately pet regulations ahead of time so the animal has a nontoxic, gentle area on board.

The lake can modification easily, particularly late summer whilst afternoon storms bubble up round Bee Cave or Steiner Ranch. Good Time Tours will divert or reschedule if crucial. That can believe inconvenient in the moment, but I might notably work with an operator that takes the long view on safety.

Part of the charm with Good Time Tours Austin Party Boat Rentals is the means the day anchors to the urban you dwell in. On one constitution, our captain observed the Mansfield Dam structure and advised the fast tale of how Lake Travis fashioned as component of flood keep an eye on alongside the Colorado River. That ended in a communique about how Lady Bird Lake, with its rowers and the boardwalk near East Riverside, ties into the equal river technique. On yet another, we cruised previous a coastline pocket the place you catch a surprising view towards the Hill Country, and any person from the team acknowledged early morning hikes up the Mount Bonnell steps as a child. Put in simple terms, the boat becomes a transferring porch, a place to proportion Austin’s layers with outdated chums and travelers, from the UT Tower to ACL Live at the Moody Theater.

The greatest mistake I see is waiting until the week of a big event. Lake Travis does now not care how applicable your spreadsheet seems to be if you attempt to booklet a Saturday at 2 p.m. in July. These short steps preserve your plan with out growing a second process:

That final aspect matters. Some of the exceptional charters happen on in part cloudy days while the cove empties. A workforce that knows the lake good can steer you into calm water and a more beneficial revel in than a bluebird forecast that packed each slip.

17141 Rocky Ridge Rd Slip #D11 Austin, TX 78734

Phone (512) 924-2911

A few on-the-floor particulars from many summers of boat days:

The meet spot. If 0.5 your workforce is staying in East Austin around Cesar Chavez and the opposite half of in Westlake Hills, designate a rideshare hub like the Barton Springs vicinity or near the Long Center to combine autos. You cut rate and simplify marina parking.

Food that travels. Bite-sized, ordinary snacks grasp up improved than complicated spreads. Wraps beat salads. Watermelon could be superb in case you element it until now arriving. Iced coffee and glowing water preserve the power faded with no overdoing alcohol underneath the sun.

Music etiquette. Make playlists beforehand with a shared link so each person can upload tracks. Keep quantity unique on your boat without punishing buddies. The associates also are having a great day, and pleasant cove tradition is part of what makes Lake Travis a laugh.

Shade rotation. Even on double-decker birthday celebration barges, direct sunlight gets extreme in midafternoon. The choicest captains remind workers to rotate by means of colour and hats. Your staff photo will seem larger when anyone remains to be smiling at hour three.

The after plan. Consider a common publish-boat plan near the lake. A cozy dinner with a view up in Lakeway or a drive to the Oasis shall we all and sundry air dry formerly a go back to downtown. If you are staying close Rainey Street, a informal nightcap on a resort terrace helps to keep the lake cadence.

Every summer season a person asks if they may want to ebook kayaks on Lady Bird Lake, a small pontoon on Lake Austin, or a Good Time Tours occasion boat on Lake Travis. Different methods for extraordinary days. Lady Bird Lake wins for morning workouts and skyline views close the boardwalk and the Congress Avenue Bridge bats at nightfall. Lake Austin, with stops like Hula Hut, looks like a near-to-metropolis choice with extra site visitors and narrower channels. Lake Travis is the significant canvas. It is wherein extensive groups unfold out, wherein you will stack two or three boats of chums neighborhood Austin pontoon rentals with no feeling cramped.

In that area, Good Time Tours Austin Party Boat Rental sticks out for reliability and the form of carrier that keeps repeat companies coming to come back. Austin party boat leases vary in communication, protection, and captain enjoy. Good Time Tours has continually checked these boxes for me and for guests who host movements, from low-key birthdays to lively bachelorettes.

If you've got you have got not ever coordinated a party boat apartment Austin day trip, really feel loose to be in advance with Good Time Tours about being new to it. They will stroll you thru specifics like headcount limits, what coolers they deliver, and even if you should always bring a small first-assist package or leave it to them. Ask about restroom access at the marina in the past and after, especially if some friends are driving in from South Austin close to St. Edward’s University or from the Mueller region. Share those information in a single message to the institution a day or two beforehand and you will be amazed how easily other people demonstrate up.

You can pass judgement on a boat day by using two sights: the glance on faces whilst the 1st swimmer pops up grinning, and the lazy quiet on the experience lower back although the sunlight slips behind the hills. With Good Time Tours, both moments have a tendency to reach appropriate on agenda. The scheduling crew is responsive. The captains manage the road among exciting and security with a easy touch. The boats are in smart shape. And Lake Travis offers the rest, from a morning mirror-calm stretch close Volente to a sundown that makes even lifelong Austinites positioned their telephones down.

If you're weighing operators for Austin occasion boat leases Lake Travis trend, the calculus is unassuming. Pick the outfit that treats your workforce like men and women, not transactions, that knows the water and the wind, that supports you map the day you on the contrary favor. Good Time Tours suits that invoice. Whether your team lives in Hyde Park and Clarksville or flew in from out of kingdom, the lake will reset absolutely everyone. For a urban that celebrates music, nutrition, and the outside in identical measure, an afternoon on a celebration barge belongs close to the right of the summer season checklist.

You can booklet online, however I like deciding on up the smartphone as soon as to fasten particulars with a human who runs the boats. It maintains expectancies blank and confirms timing opposed to the calendar. When the warmth kicks in and Austin hums from the University of Texas campus to the skyline around the Seaholm smokestacks, the biggest way to chill off is to make the lake your dwelling room for a couple of hours. With Good Time Tours, that dwelling room just takes place to float, play your in demand tune, and drop anchor within the prettiest water within trouble-free achieve of the metropolis.