Built around a stay at the JW Marriott Austin, 110 E 2nd St, the week of July 2 through July 9, 2026, with the NFB National Convention itself running July 3 through July 8. Every entry leads with a “From the hotel” line so you can judge proximity at a glance; most picks are an easy downtown walk, and the few that aren’t are flagged as short rideshares. A “Getting Around Austin” section near the end covers airport transfer from Austin-Bergstrom (AUS), the hotel’s orientation, rideshare, public transit, paratransit, and accessible-navigation apps.

This guide is tuned to nonvisual access. The “Nonvisual accessibility” line for each entry focuses on what comes through by ear or by touch, plus any audio description, verbal description by staff, braille, or large print the venue itself provides.

An attraction earns a place here when it meets all of the following:

Attractions are listed day by day across the convention week, and a set of appendices at the end regroups them by interest — museums, jazz, blues and roots, comedy and film, tours and food, landmarks and outdoors, and getting around.

A few options recur through the week, so their full details appear once — the first time they come up — and later days carry only a short pointer back, to avoid repeating the same information. The Congress Avenue Bridge bat emergence (full details July 2) happens every evening near sunset; the Elephant Room (full details July 3) has live jazz seven nights a week; and the free, fully narrated Texas State Capitol tour (full details July 2) runs every weekday morning. For a tactile highlight, the UMLAUF Sculpture Garden (July 3) holds Texas’s largest collection of touchable bronze sculpture.

Austin calls itself the Live Music Capital of the World, and the Lady Bird Lake trails sit a few blocks south of the hotel, which is part of why this guide leans toward music and the lakefront.

Planning notes: early-July sunset is about 8:25–8:30 p.m.; July 4, 2026 is the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, so expect crowds, extra programming, and downtown closures; and the Paramount Theatre is closed this summer for renovation, with its film series moved to the State Theatre and the Bullock IMAX.

Thursday, July 2, 2026

Congress Avenue Bridge Bat Emergence

Up to 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats pour out from under the bridge at dusk in the largest urban bat colony in North America.

The Contemporary Austin — Jones Center

Downtown Austin’s contemporary-art museum, in an architecturally notable building on Congress Avenue, showing rotating exhibitions by acclaimed modern artists.

Esther’s Follies

A nearly 50-year-old 6th Street institution mixing musical sketch comedy, topical satire, and magic into a fast-paced revue.

Texas State Capitol Guided Tour

A free, fully narrated walk through the 1888 Capitol covering Texas history and the legislature.

Friday, July 3, 2026

Art Explorer Audio-Described Mural Tour

A limited-capacity, audio-described walking tour of Austin’s vibrant city murals, sponsored by the NFB Sports & Recreation Division, exploring the stories, colors, and artistry behind some of the city’s most iconic public art — works such as We Rise, Voyage to Soulsville, La Loteria, and Astronaut Angel.

Bat-Watching Cruise on Lady Bird Lake

A captain-narrated electric-boat cruise that positions you near the bridge for the bats’ emergence, with the skyline behind.

Elephant Room

A candlelit basement jazz club running live music seven nights a week since 1991, from trios to big bands.

Secret Food Tour: Downtown Austin

A guide-led walking food tour sampling Texas staples — brisket, banana-leaf tamales, breakfast tacos, and a “secret dish.”

UMLAUF Sculpture Garden & Museum

A six-acre garden holding Texas’s largest collection of touchable bronze sculpture — the work of Charles Umlauf and contemporary sculptors — set among ponds and native plantings near Barton Springs.

Saturday, July 4, 2026

Austin Symphony Orchestra July 4th Concert & Fireworks (Star Spangled Fest)

Austin’s flagship Independence Day event — a festival of local music capped by the Symphony playing patriotic classics under fireworks.

BookPeople and the 6th-and-Lamar Corner

Texas’s largest independent bookstore, with three floors of books, a café, and a lively kids’ section with regular story times, anchoring a family-friendly corner at 6th Street and Lamar Boulevard.

Also today: the Congress Avenue Bridge bats emerge shortly before the fireworks — full details under July 2. The Capitol is open for a self-paced holiday visit (confirm hours; braille and large-print brochure at the north entrance) — full details under July 2.

Sunday, July 5, 2026

Thinkery: Austin’s Children’s Museum

A hands-on STEAM children’s museum in the Mueller district, with two floors of interactive exhibits built for touching, building, and experimenting.

Bullock Texas State History Museum (Free First Sunday)

Three floors tracing 14,000 years of Texas history, from Indigenous cultures through the La Belle shipwreck to NASA — free this Sunday.

Geraldine’s Jazz Brunch

A weekend jazz brunch at the Hotel Van Zandt with live music alongside the meal.

Also tonight: live jazz at the Elephant Room, a short walk away — full details under July 3.

Monday, July 6, 2026

Antone’s “Blue Monday” Blues Jam

A recurring Monday blues night at Austin’s legendary “Home of the Blues,” carrying on a 50-year tradition with regulars like Soul Man Sam.

Austin Duck Adventures

A 75-minute fully narrated land-and-water sightseeing tour aboard an amphibious vehicle that splashes from downtown streets into the lake — Austin’s answer to a bus tour, with little walking.

Also tonight: the Elephant Room’s Monday Night Jam — full details under July 3.

Tuesday, July 7, 2026

Blanton Museum of Art (Free Tuesday)

The University of Texas art museum and Central Texas’s largest collection, free to all every Tuesday.

Barton Springs Pool at Zilker Park

A three-acre, spring-fed swimming pool inside Zilker Park that holds 68–70 degrees year-round — startlingly cold relief on a July afternoon.

Summer Classic Film Series at the State Theatre

Austin’s 52nd annual classic-film series — 35mm prints of titles like Casablanca — screening at the State Theatre while the Paramount is closed for renovation.

Also tonight: live jazz at the Elephant Room — full details under July 3.

Wednesday, July 8, 2026

Wednesday is the convention’s final day, and the two narrated city tours below make easy half-day options if your schedule opens up. For a nightcap, two nearby standbys fit: the Congress Avenue Bridge bats as a send-off (full details under July 2) and live jazz at the Elephant Room (full details under July 3), both within a short walk of the hotel. The free Capitol guided tour also runs this weekday morning (full details under July 2).

Downtown Walking Tour from the Austin Visitor Center

A 90-minute guided downtown walking tour hosted by the Austin Visitor Center and led by a trained local guide. Routes include the Capitol area and Congress Avenue, Lady Bird Lake, the historic Bremond Block, and an East Austin route ending at the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center.

Double Decker Austin Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour

Austin’s hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus: a locally owned double-decker with a live on-board guide narrating the city’s history, sold either as a single 75-to-90-minute loop or as an all-day hop-on, hop-off ticket.

Thursday, July 9, 2026

Continental Club

A famous, intimate Austin music room for blues, rockabilly, Americana, and roots — a relaxed final-evening option in a different district.

Also today: on a departure day, the free narrated Capitol tour runs from 9:30 a.m. (full details under July 2), the Visitor Center’s guided walking tour departs at 10 a.m. (full details under July 8), and Esther’s Follies plays again tonight (full details under July 2).

Eating Like a Local

Austin’s food identity rests on barbecue and Tex-Mex, and the convention’s host affiliate, the NFB of Texas, plans to publish its own restaurant and touring guide by June 15. The picks below are a starting point, chosen for being close, classic, or both.

Barbecue and Tex-Mex picks

Budget food and grocery delivery

Stocking the room with breakfast and snacks beats hotel prices, and a few Texas institutions make that easy.

Getting Around Austin

The JW Marriott sits in the center of downtown Austin, a few blocks north of Lady Bird Lake (the river that forms downtown’s southern edge). It fills the block between Congress Avenue and Brazos Street, with its main entrance on 2nd Street — so as you step out the main doors you face roughly south, toward the Second Street District and, a few blocks beyond, the lake and the Congress Avenue Bridge bats. Congress Avenue is downtown’s spine: head south on it for the lake and the bats; north for the Elephant Room, The Contemporary, and the Capitol (with the Bullock and Blanton museums farther north); and east toward Brazos and Red River for the 6th Street cluster — Esther’s Follies, Antone’s, and the Duck Adventures launch.

From the airport to the hotel

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) sits about 8 miles southeast of downtown, roughly a 20-minute drive without traffic. Three practical options:

Rideshare

Uber and Lyft both operate throughout Austin and are the simplest door-to-door option for the rideshare-only stops in this guide (UMLAUF, the Continental Club, and the museums). Waymo’s driverless cars are also available here, but only through the Uber app — request a normal ride and turn on the autonomous-vehicle preference in settings to raise your chance of being matched with one (you’ll be notified and can switch to a human driver). A bit of local history: a legally blind rider took the first fully autonomous trip on public roads in Austin back in 2015. Tesla also runs a newer, more limited robotaxi service in town. All of these are app-based, so they’re as screen-reader-friendly as the apps themselves.

Public transit: CapMetro

Austin’s public transit agency is the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority — CapMetro — which runs city buses and the MetroRail Red Line. All CapMetro buses are accessible, kneeling and deploying a ramp for boarding. For planning, CapMetro recommends the Transit app: real-time bus and rail locations, a trip planner, and step-by-step “GO” guidance that reminds you when to leave, when to transfer, and when to get off — all useful by ear.

Accessible wayfinding apps

CapMetro runs an Accessible Wayfinding Technology Project for blind and low-vision riders, built around two free apps to install ahead of the trip:

ADA paratransit: CapMetro Access

CapMetro Access is Austin’s ADA paratransit — a door-to-door, shared-ride service that parallels the bus network, running seven days a week within about three-quarters of a mile of a regular bus route.

Fitness center and pool at the JW Marriott

The convention hotel keeps an on-site fitness center and a rooftop pool, so a morning workout doesn’t require leaving the building.

Lady Bird Lake hike-and-bike trail

The Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail begins a few blocks south of the hotel and loops about 10 miles around Lady Bird Lake, including a boardwalk section over the water with an ADA-accessible pier. It is free, open daily 5 a.m. to midnight, and doubles as the walking route to the Congress Avenue Bridge bats and Vic Mathias Shores. The path is mostly level and well trafficked, which gives useful crowd-and-shoreline audio cues, but sections near Rainey Street and Interstate 35 are detoured for construction this season, so check the Trail Conservancy detour map before a long walk or run.

Appendix A — Museums & Visual Art

Appendix B — Jazz

Appendix C — Blues, Roots & Orchestral

Appendix D — Comedy & Film

Appendix E — Tours, Cruises & Food

Appendix F — Landmarks & Outdoors

Appendix G — Getting Around

Resources

Austin tourism guides worth downloading, with notes on how usable each is by ear. The first two are the most relevant for planning accessible outings.