Austin is fortunate enough to have nearly 400 parks — but where can you go for your children to be guaranteed a fun time that puts a smile on their faces while also keeping them safe?
Whether it’s traditional playing fields, slides and swings, playhouses or something more extravagant, the best playgrounds in Austin are safe, fun and stimulating for the kids and convenient for parents to get to and spend time in.
But not all playgrounds fit that bill.
We’ve tracked down the ones that do so that you can be sure that you can rest assured that your kids are safely entertained on weekends, school holidays and summer evenings.
Here’s a quick rundown of the 12 best playgrounds in Austin with a more detailed look at each destination to follow:
Kids’ playgrounds in Austin
Austin is blessed with many great parks and playgrounds that kids love and at which parents can feel comfortable leaving their children. The Austin Parks Foundation has a mission to make parks in the city healthier, safer and more accessible.
A common theme for the best parks is that the City of Austin has recently invested in some renovations/upgrades, making them even more attractive for families.
Here are our top 12 picks of the best playgrounds in Austin in no particular order…
Alliance Children’s Garden
Location: 1000 Barton Springs Rd, Austin, TX 78704
Top feature: Hills and tunnels
Hours: 5 am–10 pm
Parking: Paid parking is available at Douglas Art Center, Palmer Events Center garage or on-street at the Bouldin Creek neighborhood on Dawson Rd.
The Alliance Children’s Garden features on most people’s lists of the best playgrounds in Austin because it’s large, fun, varied and has extra-colorful attractions. It’s also very conveniently located by Lady Bird Lake (Butler Park) in downtown Austin, with great views of the city.
Covering two acres of garden and playground, Alliance is best known for its “hill country” grassy hills and tunnels where kids love to play hide and seek. It also features:
- Giant fire ants and salamanders to climb
- Spider web climbing net
- Rock climbing walls and blocks
- Extra-wide cement slides
- Water feature
- Giant rope climbing gym
- Sandpit
- Rock wall corridor
If you bring your children here, be prepared for a long stay as the fantasy feel of this playground will cast a magical spell over them! Fortunately, there’s plenty of shade and seating for parents.
Adjacent to the Alliance playground is a small pond with turtles and the Liz Carpenter Fountain splash pad with a giant map of Texas on the nearby hill.
Play for All Abilities Park
Location: 151 N A.W. Grimes Blvd, Round Rock, TX 78664
Top feature: Miniature village
Hours: 6 am-midnight
Parking: Free parking in an adjacent lot
The Play for All Abilities Park is based in Round Rock, Austin and has been in operation since 2012. It is a large, gated park serving over 100,000 children in Williamson County, including many with disabilities.
With 140,000 square feet of outdoor fun for kids of all abilities, the park has recently been upgraded to include new and exciting features for children.
Its main features include:
- All Abilities playscape
- Speedway race track
- Train pod
- Adventure hill
- Nature pod featuring an all-abilities tree house
- Retreat pod
- Rock band pod
- Swings
- Zipline
- Shaded sand pit
There’s also one of its star attractions: Brushy Creek Village, which includes a miniature city, with life-like buildings, such as hospitals and shops, as well as roads, traffic lights, sidewalks and more.
A car wash with misters helps park-goers keep cool and nearby picnic tables and restrooms mean the whole family can enjoy a day out here.
Pease District Park (Kingsbury Commons)
Location: 1100 Kingsbury St, Austin, TX 78705
Top feature: Treehouse
Hours: 6 am -10 pm
Parking: Parking lot access available off of Kingsbury Street. Free street parking on Parkway (underneath the 15th Street bridge).
The Pease Park playground area (Kingsbury Commons) in Central Austin is maintained by the Pease Park Conservancy, which is dedicated to protecting the diverse ecology and history of Austin’s first public park (it’s over 100 years old).
The entire park spreads over 84 acres and the playground area has been updated in recent years. The Treehouse is its star attraction and you may have seen it in social media posts. It is a steel and rope structure resembling a seed pod resting in the forest and is accessible to children of all abilities. The treehouse observation pod allows you to watch as your children play at the structure.
Other top features include:
- Wooden climbing structures
- Life-size chessboard
- A new interactive water feature
- Nature play area
- New playground
- Basketball court
- Walking paths
A pavilion area also features a large picnic table area and a Tudor Cottage.
Katherine Fleischer Park
Location: 2106 Klattenhoff Dr, Austin, TX 78728
Top feature: The giant green playhouse
Hours: 5 am-10 pm
Parking: Free parking on an adjacent lot
The Katherine Fleischer Park in North Austin (Wells Branch neighborhood) is a hub of activity in the community, boasting plenty of play/sporting attractions for children of all ages and drawing visitors from all over the city.
The park measures 22 acres in total and, besides the star attraction (the giant, green, three-story playhouse), you’ll find the following:
- Swings
- Climbing structures
- Multi-level playscapes
- A gazebo/pavilion
- Shaded playground
- Pool
- Soccer field
- Sand volleyball court
- Tennis/basketball courts
- Multi-use baseball field
The playground area is heavily shaded and parents can rest in the central pavilion while their kids play. There’s also a community center and historic homestead and the entire park is well integrated with the main trails across the Wells Branch neighborhood.
Circle C Ranch Metro Park
Location: 6301 W Slaughter Ln, Austin, TX 78739
Top feature: Playscapes for two different age groups
Hours: 5 am-10 pm
Parking: Parking lot access off of W Slaughter Lane and La Crosse Avenue.
The Circle C Metro Park is located in South Austin and is well-shaded with trees and shading structures. The play equipment is for kids of all ages, with a playscape that includes one structure designed for toddlers and another for older kids aged six and up.
Biking and scootering are popular activities, along with various ball sports (basketball, soccer and volleyball) and other play activities like swings, disc golf, a musical garden with a xylophone/drums and a gravel pit.
There’s also a picnic area for all the family to enjoy the day here or even tackle one of the gravel trails together.
Like several other parks included in this list of the best playgrounds in Austin, Circle C has undergone recent renovations. The playground surfaces are suitably soft so parents needn’t fear that their toddlers will injure themselves if they fall.
Springwoods Neighborhood Park
Location: 9117 Anderson Mill Rd, Austin, TX 78729
Top feature: Playscapes in a forest location
Hours: 5 am-10 pm
Parking: Parking is available in the parking lot off Anderson Mill Road
Springwoods Park is located in the north of Austin (Anderson Mill neighborhood) in a forest-like setting that’s well-known for its beautiful old oak trees.
The playground features two playscapes — one for small kids and another for older children, incorporating the trees into its design (we all know how much kids like to climb trees).
There’s a short walking path/hike and bike trail, a sand volleyball court and plenty of benches and picnic tables at which to sit back, relax and observe as your children play. There’s also a soccer field and two tennis courts if you’re feeling sporty.
Mueller Lake Park
Location: 4550 Mueller Blvd, Austin, TX 78723
Top feature: The lake and Nessy, the Lakeness Dragon
Hours: 5 am–10 pm
Parking: free parking available on Mueller Central Drive or McBee Street District Garage or surrounding side streets (paid)
Mueller Lake Park is a large, popular and modern park in the Mueller neighborhood of eastern Austin (just opposite the “Thinkery”). It has a large (6.5-acre) lake, an open-air amphitheater and a loop trail.
The lake is the centerpiece of the park and is a great place to play, feed the ducks and take a stroll with the family. The star attraction is undoubtedly Nessy, the Lakeness Dragon, who lives at the Mueller Lake Park playground.
The park features 30 acres of attractions that also include an interactive playscape, a picnic peninsular and a public art area that parents can enjoy while their children play. There’s often a farmer’s market on Sunday mornings too.
Zilker Metropolitan Park Playground
Location: 2201 William Barton Dr, Austin, TX 78746
Top feature: Zilker mini train (the Zilker Zephyr)
Hours: 5 am–10 pm
Parking: Paid parking in Zilker Park
Zilker Park Playground is one of the most convenient if you live in downtown Austin. Centrally located next to Barton Springs swimming pool makes it very easy to find — though it is more difficult to find parking in the summer months.
The playground is one of the oldest, largest and most loved in the city. It features large grassy fields for frisbee or walking the dog, Lady Bird Lake for canoeing, kayaking and cooling off, a botanical garden, a science and nature center and, most impressively, a mini train called the Zilker Zephyr.
The Zilker Zephyr runs through the middle of the park, with features designed on either side of the tracks and a safety fence in the middle, giving the park a somewhat unique look and feel.
There’s something for children of all ages here and you can even access the greenbelt trails from the park.
Roy G Guerrero Park
Location: 400 Grove Blvd, Austin, TX 78741
Top feature: The playscapes and proximity to the Colorado River
Hours: 5 am–10 pm
Parking: Parking lot access available off of S Pleasant Valley Road.
Roy G. Guerrero was the patron saint of Austin Parks and this park named after him is located in southeast Austin adjacent to the Colorado River.
Safety is a big feature here and the entire park is fenced in so that your toddler can’t stray too far and is protected from the roads and cars. The playground area is typically not as crowded as some of the other best Austin playgrounds.
There are plenty of nature-themed climbing structures for kids of all ages. Other features include:
- Mini tightrope to walk across
- Playscape for little kids with interactive buttons that play nature sounds
- Disc golf course
- Trail leading to the Colorado River
- “Secret” beach
- Dog walking/play areas
Ramsey Park Playground
Location: 4301 Rosedale Ave, Austin, TX 78756
Top feature: Climbing equipment
Hours: 5 am–10 pm
Parking: Street parking available off Burnet Road
Located just to the north of central Austin and the university, the playground in Ramsey Neighborhood Park features an expansive area with an impressive array of climbing structures (many of which have been added recently), a natural grass play area, small and large slides, swings for toddlers/older children and balance wheels.
The wider park area boasts a baseball field, basketball court, tennis court and swimming pool. Its playground and sporting facilities have made Ramsey Park a social hub for families in the area for decades and the facilities and attractions have seen a recent upgrade — like many of the best playgrounds and parks in Austin.
In particular, the extra shaded areas (both trees and man-made structures), the pathways and the picnic areas are designed with parents in mind as well as children.
Walnut Creek Metro Park
Location: 12138 N. Lamar Blvd., Austin, TX 78753
Top feature: The Fairy Pavilion
Hours: 5 am-10 pm
Parking: Free parking in an adjacent lot
A sky-high slide that looks like it would be more at home in a water park greets you when you enter Walnut Creek Metro Park. But this is just the start of the fun your kids will have here.
Located in North Austin, this playground was opened in the 1960s and upgraded in 2021. It now features plenty of attractions for all ages — even toddlers.
The main attraction is the Fairy Pavilion, a re-homed structure from a previous Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Fortlandia exhibit.
The park’s other main attractions include:
- Excellent walking trails for all the family
- Huge, fast slide for older kids
- Play equipment for toddlers and preschoolers
- Nature play space
- Soft turf area for playing and running
- Treehouse area
- Purple dinosaur (from the original playground)
- Mountain biking
- Volleyball/basketball
Dove Springs District Park
Location: 5801 Ainez Dr, Austin, TX 78744
Top feature: Slides
Hours: Open 24 hours
Parking: Parking lot access available off of Ainez Drive
The Dove Springs District Park is located in southern Austin (adjacent to the Jimmy Clay Golf Course) and stays open 24 hours.
Covering almost 60 acres, it’s a large park with good amenities. The playscapes in the playground are a major attraction for the kids and, for sports lovers, there are three baseball fields, three soccer fields, a swimming pool, outdoor tennis courts, an outdoor basketball court and a sand volleyball court.
The park is also well-suited to walking and family activities, with wonderful natural scenery and a nature walking trail. There’s an 18,000-square-foot recreation center onsite and a pavilion.
A kids’ playground in the safety of your backyard…
With the warm year-round weather in Austin, the public parks and playgrounds in the city are a popular destination for children and parents alike.
And with the City of Austin’s focus on creating safe, green spaces for the youth to enjoy, we’ve seen plenty of upgraded playground spaces in recent years.
Some of the best playgrounds in Austin have replaced natural grass surfaces with artificial playground turf. This is largely because it’s such low-maintenance and looks great without much upkeep, making synthetic turf very cost-effective in the long run even though the installation costs are higher than with natural grass.
And because of the availability of safe, high-quality playground turf, more Austin homeowners are also discovering the benefits of artificial grass for backyard play areas. At Artificial Grass Pros, our team can look after everything from start to finish with your backyard kids’ play area. Discuss your ideas with a professional at 512.269.1500.
