The Best Things to Do in Georgetown, Texas

A Texas Highway Department drilling team punched through 40 feet of solid limestone in the spring of 1963 and hit open air. Explorers went down that November on a wooden tripod and a rope. The cave they found is the reason Georgetown has a genuine destination attraction and not just a nice downtown, and it is the one thing on this list you cannot approximate anywhere else in Williamson County.

Four tours run at different levels of effort. The standard walking tour is the one most people want. The Hidden Passages and Wild Cave options go further off the lit path, and the Ice Age tour leans on what the drilling and later digs turned up in the sediment. The cave holds one temperature all year and does not flood in rain, which makes it the reliable move on a 104 degree August afternoon or a wet February one.

The 1911 courthouse at the center was designed by the Austin firm of Charles H. Page and Bros. and carries giant Ionic columns, a copper dome, a four faced clock and a Justice figure. It came through a restoration in 2006 and 2007 and looks it. The buildings facing it are the actual draw, a dense run of late Victorian commercial fronts and pressed metal facades that survived because Georgetown started working at it early.

The city has been a Texas Main Street city since 1982 and was the first in Texas to win the Great American Main Street Award, in 1997. Three National Register historic districts now cover more than 180 buildings and houses. Half the rest of this list sits inside a few blocks of the square, so park once and walk.

The South Fork of the San Gabriel widens out here against limestone bluffs into something that looks like a Hill Country swimming hole and happens to be a five block walk from the county courthouse. There is a shallow end that works for small children, a deeper middle, and a section you can actually swim in. Entry is free, there are restrooms and picnic tables, and there is no lifeguard.

Two things to know. Flooding on the San Gabriel closes this park and the connecting trails from time to time, sometimes for a couple of weeks while gravel is cleared off the bank, so check before you drive out after heavy rain. The city has also approved a roughly seven million dollar rebuild of the park for flood resilience, parking and restrooms, with construction bidding expected in December 2027, so the version you swim in now is the version before the work.

Jack and Cammy Garey donated this 525 acre ranch along the South San Gabriel to the city in 2004, and it opened as the largest park Georgetown has. More than seven miles of hiking and equestrian trail run through it, and you can bring your own horse and use the arena for a slightly higher entry rate than a car.

It is also the park that solves a family afternoon. There is a splash pad, a playground, a dog park, fishing ponds, pavilions and picnic shelters, plus the Garey House for events. Entry is charged per car, with residents paying less than visitors, and the fee drops by half on Tuesdays from October through March.

A. C. Moore built this in 1925 and it opened in February 1926 showing silent films, with talkies arriving three years later. The buff brick front became the Art Deco facade you see now in a three day 1936 remodel, which the Georgetown Heritage Society has called the only Art Deco building in town. In December 1990 a group of residents formed a nonprofit to keep it from being lost.

It now runs a full season of musicals and comedies rather than films, with youth ensembles and education programs alongside. There are two rooms, the historic Springer Stage on Austin Avenue and the Doug Smith Performance Center around the corner on West 2nd, so check which one your ticket is for before you park.

The Goodwater Loop runs about 26 miles around the entire perimeter of Lake Georgetown through juniper forest, hardwood bottomland and prairie, finishing on top of the North San Gabriel dam. The International Mountain Bicycling Association has designated it an Epic, which in Texas is rare company. You do not have to do the whole thing, and most people do not.

Four Corps parks give you access. Cedar Breaks and Jim Hogg have camping with water and electric, Russell Park has tent sites, screened shelters and a washed pebble swim beach, and Overlook Park is day use only with a fishing platform and a trailhead. Tejas Camp takes tents by reservation. Day use is five dollars a vehicle at the fee parks, and swim and day use areas close through the winter.

The museum occupies the old Farmers State Bank building on the square, put up between 1910 and 1912 in Classical Revival with Corinthian columns and a decorated pediment, which is worth the stop by itself. Admission is free. Permanent galleries cover the founding of Williamson County, the artisans who worked here, and a full World War II exhibit.

It is also the place to ask about courthouse tours, which the museum handles, and it runs ghost tours and rotating shows by regional artists. Allow an hour, more if you are the sort who reads every label.

This is a seasonal operation and worth planning around rather than stumbling into. The 2026 season runs September 19 to November 8. The core of it is a 4.5 acre themed corn maze and a pumpkin patch carrying more than 40 varieties, with pig races, pony rides, a petting zoo, wagon rides, apple and candy cannons, jump pads and zip lines.

October is when it stretches out. Weeknights run to 9pm and Friday and Saturday to 10pm, with fireworks on October weekends and falconry shows. Pumpkin patch entry alone is free on September and October weekdays and five dollars on October weekends, with general admission tickets covering the activities and advance purchase cutting the price.

Patrick and Lori Mann, both former educators, run this out of a building on the square that is about 130 years old. What separates it from a tasting room is that the wine is made here. The winery says it has been producing in Georgetown since 2007 as the first winery in Williamson County, and it pours more than 30 wines made in the county.

Tastings, wine by the glass and small plates are all available, walk ins are welcome and reservations are taken. Wednesday brings a later close and a happy hour in the last two hours.

This is the Williamson County park rather than a city one, and it is the quiet option. A century old heritage pecan grove sits along Berry Creek, with a paved and mostly flat trail loop, fishing, picnicking, an amphitheater and a playground. Two donkeys named Lil' Bob and Pedro live on site, which is the detail every child remembers.

You can camp here, and three pavilions take group bookings at half day and full day rates. Park headquarters handles reservations on weekdays. Trail mileage is published inconsistently, from a 2.5 mile hike and bike trail to a 3.1 mile marked course, so treat it as a couple of miles of easy walking rather than a fixed number.