The capital of Texas, Austin is located in the center of the state and boasts a diverse community of students, young professionals, established businesspeople, blue-collar workers, and artists.

Summers are hot and humid, but winters are mild. It’s a great destination for northerners to visit in the middle of winter to escape the northern snows and enjoy the best Austin has to offer. Austin sees bright sunshine for approximately sixty percent of the year, even during the rainy season it is usually at least partly sunny at some point in the day.

Austin is known as the Live Music Capital of the World because of the high number of live music venues and musicians in the greater Austin area. You might even hear some tunes on your way in or out of town as the airport hosts eleven concerts each week.

Estimates are that just less than 2,000 musicians and bands live and regularly perform in Austin. A number of these are nationally known acts like the Dixie Chicks and Fastball. Many of them were born and raised in Austin and are committed to performing quality music in the Austin area. There are acts from nearly every genre here. Austin isn’t known for a particular type of music, which adds to the richness of the music scene here. You never know what you’ll find on an Austin evening.

The Continental Club is an Austin live music icon that hosts a variety of artists across several genres; there are concerts here nightly.

The Advocate magazine rated Austin in the top ten gay friendly cities in the United States despite its location deep within conservative Texas. Austin is a haven for liberals and progressives in Texas. The community is diverse and regularly elects liberal, LGBT-friendly officials.

The gay population of Austin is well integrated into the city so there’s no one gay neighborhood here. There is a concentration of gay clubs and bars in the warehouse district, but there are several others throughout Austin.

Austin Gay Pride is one of the biggest gay events in Texas. The many gay newspapers and other publications monitor the event and any specials occurring during pride week. The rest of the year they also provide lots of useful information on the gay community in Austin and can help you find out what’s going on and get involved in the community while you’re in Austin.

All images are used via Creative Commons Attribution rights. View the original images on Flickr at: Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4