Barton Creek, West Austin Hills

Omni Barton Creek Resort and Spa

★★★★★

Omni Barton Creek is the Austin answer to a classic Texas golf resort. It sits on a ridge in the hills west of the city, about twenty minutes from downtown, surrounded by thousands of acres of rolling Hill Country, limestone canyons and the Barton Creek watershed, and the main building's terraces look out over fairways and green ridges that make the city feel far away. Golf is the headline: the resort's club offers multiple championship courses, including layouts by Tom Fazio that drop through canyons and creek crossings and a course by the celebrated design team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, with a practice facility and instruction to match. After a major renovation and its transition to the Omni brand, the resort added updated rooms and suites with contemporary Texas styling, many with balconies over the hills, as well as refreshed restaurants and bars and a larger pool complex. The Mokara Spa offers a full menu of treatments with views over the landscape, and there is a fitness center and walking trails across the grounds. Families find plenty to do around the pools, and the resort runs seasonal family programming; couples can make it a golf-and-spa escape. Downtown, Zilker Park and the Barton Creek Greenbelt are a short drive away, and the Hill Country wineries and swimming holes open up to the west. Trade-offs: it is a destination resort, so dining and activities carry resort pricing, a resort fee applies, and a car is essential. Fit: golfers, couples on a spa break, families who want resort pools close to Austin, and groups.

The resort has been one of the city's best-known golf destinations for decades, and the courses remain its soul: the Fazio courses in particular are known for dramatic elevation changes, limestone cliffs and creek crossings, and the Coore and Crenshaw course is admired for its natural, strategic design. Rounds are generally reserved for resort guests and club members, so staying here is the easiest way to play them. The setting, high above the creek valleys with oak and cedar woods all around, also makes the resort a good base for exploring the Hill Country west of Austin.

Room craft: ask for a room with a balcony facing the golf courses and hills for sunset views; suites add space for families. Book tee times and spa treatments well ahead, especially on weekends, and check resort packages that bundle golf or spa credits. Families should ask about pool cabanas and seasonal kids' programs, and everyone should spend one evening watching the sun go down over the hills from the terrace bar. For a city night, rideshare to downtown or South Congress takes about twenty to thirty minutes.

Practicals: in the hills west of Austin, about twenty minutes from downtown; resort fee and parking charges apply. Non-golfers need not feel left out: the spa, the pools and the views fill a lazy weekend easily, and the Barton Creek Greenbelt and the Hill Country wineries are close enough for an afternoon outing. Fit: golfers, spa lovers, couples and families who want a full-service Hill Country resort without a long drive.