Onion Creek steps over two limestone ledges inside Austin, upper and lower falls, and the pools below them sit in the shade of bald cypress. You walk from the upper fall to the lower on those shelves, then get in the water when the creek allows it. McKinney Falls State Park is the overnight on that same water, a first night that never asks you to leave town.
The campground has water and electric hookups, reserved through Texas State Parks. From June through September that power is what you want at night. Spring through fall the park fills, so lock the pad before the van, spend a morning on the creek, and take the next night west at Pedernales Falls.
Pedernales Falls State Park
At Pedernales Falls the river sheets over wide limestone steps in a Hill Country canyon. You walk across layered rock when the flow is down, in the water as much as beside it, which is the Austin river weekend. After a storm those same steps take floodwater fast, so a night by the bank wants a weather check.
The van overnight is the water-and-electric campground, and late arrivals with a reservation call ahead for a gate code. As of September 2026, that campground is closed for construction for a month this fall and again after the new year.
Hamilton Pool's green pool sits in a collapsed grotto near Dripping Springs, a day by timed reservation, one vehicle per booking, and the trail under the cliff is closed for rockfall as of September 2026. Johnson City is the town on that stretch of river.
Enchanted Rock State Natural Area
Bare pink granite takes the afternoon out by Fredericksburg, a dome off the plain that you climb on the rock itself. After dark the park is an International Dark Sky Park, and people linger through sunset for that sky. Camping is tent-only and walk-in, so the van sleeps at Pedernales Falls or back at McKinney Falls and you do the rock as a day.
From a Pedernales Falls site the dome is a day with a pad waiting when you return. From McKinney Falls it is a longer day, and you still come back to water and electric.
Lake Travis at Pace Bend Park
Limestone cliffs meet Lake Travis at Pace Bend Park, water under the east-side bluff above Levi Cove. That shoreline is the cliff camping Austin names. The improved loop has water and electric and is back-in only.
RVs are not allowed at the primitive coves, so those stay tents. If you want more sleeping space or length than a campervan, look at RV rentals in Austin, which still have to fit that back-in loop.
North of Austin, Round Rock takes the Lake Georgetown and Inks Lake nights. New Braunfels is the Guadalupe River and Canyon Lake run. The Frio at Garner State Park is the longer haul, and it belongs to San Antonio.