Devil's Waterhole is a canyon swimming hole located in Inks Lake State Park. This beautiful reservoir is a part of the Colorado River and takes a hike to find, but once you arrive the beauty will be well worth it. Devil's Waterhole is surrounded beautiful rock formations and woods where hiking trails are available and diving spots can be found. The water is calm, deep and cool the perfect place to bring your floaties and enjoy a relaxing day on the water. 

Because of the rocky terrain swim shoes are recommended to protect feet from injury. No lifeguards are posted at this swimming hole, so swimming and diving are at your own risk. It is recommended to swim in groups and only dive with experience in areas with deeper water. Parking is available in several places throughout the park, but the nearest parking lot fills up quickly. The earlier you arrive the easier it will be to find a spot.

Inks Lake State Park is open from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm daily and costs $6.00 for a day pass (children 12 and under enter for free). The day pass includes other areas and activities at Inks Lake State Park as well as the cost for parking. Reservations are required for Devil's Waterhole and can be made on the state park website or by calling their costumer service center.

Zilker Metropolitan Park is the green heart of Austin, Texas, a sprawling 358-acre expanse along the Colorado River and Barton Creek that holds one of the city's true crown jewels: Barton Springs Pool. For locals and visitors alike, Zilker is where Austin comes to swim, picnic, paddle, hike and gather, an enormous, beloved urban park that manages to feel like a genuine natural escape right beside downtown.

Barton Springs Pool is the headliner. Set within the channel of Barton Creek and fed by the fourth-largest spring in Texas, the three-acre natural pool holds a steady 68 to 70 degrees year-round, cool and clear and bracing on a hot Austin day, and it's one of the most iconic swimming spots in the entire country. Beyond the developed pool, Lower Barton Creek offers a series of free swimming holes and shallow areas ideal for families, and the adjacent Barton Creek Greenbelt strings together more pools and waterfalls upstream.

The park is far more than the pool. Zilker's vast lawns host picnics, festivals and frisbee, its trails and the hike-and-bike paths along the river draw walkers and runners, and the creek and river offer paddling and wildlife along the water. It's the site of Austin's biggest events and everyday recreation alike, a place that genuinely belongs to the whole city.

A couple of practical notes help. Barton Springs Pool keeps its own hours (generally open daily except Thursday mornings for cleaning) and charges a seasonal entrance fee for the developed pool, a standard city parks charge, though Zilker Park itself and the Lower Barton Creek swimming areas are free. The spring-fed water stays cold all year, which is refreshing in summer and bracing in the cooler months.

Summer is peak season for swimming and the park is busiest then, but the constant 68-to-70-degree spring means people swim Barton Springs year-round, and spring and fall are lovely for the lawns and trails. Getting there is easy, including by the number 30 bus to the Barton Springs (Zilker Park) stop and a short walk down William Barton Drive.

Bring a swimsuit and towel, water shoes for the creek's rocky spots, sun protection and a picnic, and cash or card for the pool if you're swimming the developed section. Between a legendary spring-fed pool, free creek swimming holes, miles of trails and lawns, and its place at the center of Austin life, Zilker Park is an essential Austin destination.

Sculpture Falls is one of Austin's most beloved natural swimming holes, hidden along Barton Creek in the beautiful Barton Creek Greenbelt — a nearly eight-mile ribbon of wild limestone canyon that threads right through the heart of the city, a genuine slice of the Texas Hill Country just minutes from downtown. Here the creek spills over a broad shelf of sculpted ledges into a series of clear, cool green pools; over thousands of years the water has carved the soft Edwards limestone into the smooth, artful shapes and channels that give the falls their name.

Reaching it takes a little effort, which helps keep it a touch quieter than the busier greenbelt spots nearer downtown. Many hikers come in from the upstream end at the Trail's End access, home of the infamous “Hill of Life” — a steep, rocky descent that drops roughly 300 feet in half a mile and is the greenbelt's toughest pitch, beloved by trail runners and mountain bikers — then follow the creek a bit over a mile downstream, passing the popular Twin Falls along the way. You can also come from other trailheads like Gus Fruh or the Barton Springs end, though those make for a longer walk. At Sculpture Falls you'll find pools deep enough for swimming, flat ledges for lounging and sunbathing, and refreshing water around 70°F on a scorching Texas afternoon. It's dog-friendly, too, and the tall limestone cliffs that line the greenbelt draw rock climbers to routes nearby.

One crucial caveat: Barton Creek is spring- and rain-fed and runs seasonally, so it can drop low or dry up entirely during summer heat and Central Texas droughts. The falls are only worth the trek when the creek is actually flowing — the sweet spot is generally two to four days after a good rain, before the water turns murky or vanishes — so check recent conditions and rainfall before you go.

The greenbelt is ecologically special as well as scenic. Barton Creek recharges the Edwards Aquifer and feeds the famous Barton Springs downstream, home to the endangered Barton Springs salamander, so it's a place to tread lightly: use the trash cans, keep sunscreen, soap, and glass out of the pools, don't build rock dams, and stay on established paths to protect the fragile creek. On hot weekends it can get genuinely crowded, so an early start helps with both parking and solitude.

Practical notes: wear sturdy shoes with grip for the rocky, sometimes-slick trail and creek bed, and carry plenty of water for the hike, because there is none along the trail and the exposed stretches bake in summer. Watch depth before jumping from the ledges, keep a close eye on kids near the drop-offs, and be ready for a real workout on the climb back up the Hill of Life if you came in that way. Spring and early summer, in the days after rain, are absolutely prime — and if you time it right, Sculpture Falls is about as good as a wild city swimming hole gets anywhere in Texas.