New Braunfels sits between San Antonio and Austin, but it is not just a suburb with river access. The town was founded by German settlers in 1845, and that background still shows in its festivals, place names, beer gardens, and old limestone buildings.
The reason most travellers come is water. The short, spring-fed Comal River runs right through town, the Guadalupe slides past Gruene, and summer weekends are a parade of tubes, kayaks, coolers, and sunburned Texans. Landa Park protects the Comal headwaters and gives the town a shady green centre.
New Braunfels also has two heavyweight anchors that make it worth a spare day from either nearby city: Schlitterbahn, a water park that grew out of the river culture, and Gruene Historic District, where old storefronts, river outfitters, and Gruene Hall turn a former cotton town into one of the Hill Country's better preserved social scenes. Natural Bridge Caverns adds a strong underground day trip just west of town.