Aug 20, 2026

Off-Leash Dog Parks in Austin: All 30, With Acreage and Addresses

Austin publishes 30 dog off-leash areas on a map dated February 2026, the largest inventory we have covered. Two are over 180 acres, fourteen are under one, and the city calls them the only public places in Austin where a dog may legally be unrestrained.

Luis ZamoraCo-founder of PetCompass; Dog Dad to Banzo and Tuck

Austin, Texas10 min readThings to Do

Austin publishes 30 Dog Off-Leash Areas on a map dated February 2026, each with an address and, for most of them, an acreage. That is the largest published off-leash inventory of any city we have covered, ahead of San Diego's 20.

The range inside that list is what makes it useful. Two sites are bigger than 180 acres. Fourteen are under one acre. One is a spillway below a swimming pool. One charges to get in.

Here is the whole list, from the city's own map, with the things the map does not tell you flagged rather than guessed.

What the city calls them, and why the wording matters

Austin does not say "dog park" in its rules. It says Dog Off-Leash Area, abbreviated DOLA, and the city's Dog Off-Leash Area Guidelines define them in a single sentence worth reading twice: "DOLAs are the only public places in the City of Austin where dogs may legally be unrestrained."

The same document sets the consequence: "Those in violation of these rules may be ticketed and fined up to $500 per citation."

So the list below is not a list of nice options. It is the complete set of legal ones.

What the city publishes	Detail
Number of off-leash areas on the February 2026 map	30
Largest	Emma Long Metro Park, 193 acres
Second largest	Walnut Creek Metro Park, 185 acres
Smallest published	fourteen sites at under 1 acre
General park hours	5 a.m. to 10 p.m. unless otherwise posted
Cost	free, except Emma Long, which charges park entry
Maximum dogs off leash per handler	3
Leash length entering and leaving	no longer than 6 feet

All 30, with addresses

Taken from the city's dog off-leash area map, which is linked from the Parks and Recreation dog parks page.

Site	Acreage on the map	Address
Emma Long Metro Park	193 acres	1711 City Park Rd
Walnut Creek Metro Park	185 acres	12138 N Lamar Blvd
Onion Creek Greenbelt	107 acres	7004 Onion Creek Dr
Davis-White Northeast Neighborhood Park	58 acres	6705 Crystalbrook Dr
Great Lawn at Zilker Metro Park	46 acres	2100 Barton Springs Rd
Mary Moore Searight Metro Park	39 acres	907 W Slaughter Ln
Shoal Creek Greenbelt	31 acres	2610 Shoal Creek Blvd
Red Bud Isle	13 acres	3401 Red Bud Trl
Great Northern Dam Far West	10 acres	694 Shoal Creek Blvd
Auditorium Shores	3 acres	1100 W Riverside Dr
Riverside Shores	2 acres	1016 Edgecliff Terrace
Barking Springs at Zilker Metro Park	1 acre	2105 Andrew Zilker Rd
West Austin Neighborhood Park	under 1 acre	1317 W 10th St
Canyon Ridge Pocket Park	under 1 acre	12217 N IH 35 SVRD NB
Oertli Neighborhood Park	under 1 acre	1238 Pearl Retreat Ln
Triangle Commons Neighborhood Park	under 1 acre	722 W 46th St
Carson Ridge Bark Park	under 1 acre	2511 Montopolis Dr
Jain Bark Park	under 1 acre	5400 Jain Ln
Kramer Creek Bark Park	under 1 acre	2401 Esperanza Crossing
Metropolitan Pocket Park	under 1 acre	10300 Metropolitan Dr
West Bouldin Creek Greenbelt	under 1 acre	1515 S Lamar Blvd
Double Creek Bark Park	under 1 acre	600 E FM 1626 Rd
Walden Bark Park	under 1 acre	4907 Springdale Rd
Little Walnut Creek Greenbelt	under 1 acre	5100 E 51st St
Royal Crest Pocket Park	under 1 acre	1919 East Riverside Dr
Burnet Lane Pocket Park	under 1 acre	6801 Burnet Rd
Alexander Pocket Park	under 1 acre	1909 Alexander Ave
Double Creek Neighborhood Park	under 1 acre	10801 Brezza Ln
Park Ridge Neighborhood Park	not stated	8603 Cullen Ln
Circle C Metropolitan Park	not stated	6301 W Slaughter Ln

What the map does not tell you, and we will not pretend it does

The map's legend separates existing sites, future sites and fenced sites using symbols. Those symbols are not readable in the file's text, only in the picture. So two things stay open here:

Which sites are fenced. The city's guidelines describe two categories, a Fenced DOLA where "handlers must keep their dogs on-leash until fully inside the fenced area", and an Unfenced DOLA, where "The boundaries of unfenced DOLAs shall be marked with signage." Which of the 30 falls into which category is on the map's face, not in its text.

Whether any entry is a future site rather than an open one. The legend allows for it, so treat any site you have not seen as worth confirming before you drive across town for it.

What to do about both. Open the map itself, or the city's interactive off-leash area map, which groups sites into North, Central and South Austin. Then read the signs when you arrive, because in an unfenced area the signs are the boundary.

The four that a visitor should actually plan around

Emma Long Metro Park, 193 acres, 1711 City Park Rd. The biggest, on Lake Austin, and the only one with a gate fee. The park page publishes $5 per vehicle Monday to Thursday, $10 per vehicle Friday to Sunday and holidays, and $1 for walk-in or bike-in entry Monday to Wednesday, and its hours are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. rather than the citywide 5 a.m. There is a catch about its off-leash status that we cover in our Emma Long with a dog guide, because two city publications do not agree.

Auditorium Shores, 3 acres, 1100 W Riverside Dr. Downtown, on the south bank of Lady Bird Lake, and the one place the city's own ordinance names first. City Code 3-4-4 permits dogs without restraint in "the portion of Auditorium Shores that is designated by City signs clearly stating the area that is off-leash". The signs define it, so read them.

Red Bud Isle, 13 acres, 3401 Red Bud Trl. A small island below Tom Miller Dam, popular precisely because dogs can swim there. It is also the site the city named in a June 2026 algae warning, which is the single most important safety item in this city. Read our blue-green algae and your dog in Austin guide before you let a dog into any Austin water.

Barking Springs at Zilker Metro Park, 1 acre, 2105 Andrew Zilker Rd. The spillway below Barton Springs Pool. The pool itself is closed to dogs, because the city's guidelines bar dogs from any swimming pool or splash pad, but the water running out of it is on the off-leash list.

The rules that apply at all 30

The full set is in our Austin off-leash rules guide, because there are more of them than most cities publish and two are unusual. The short version:

Voice and sight control at all times. The guidelines define it: "the dogs must always be within the handler's sight and under verbal command. If a dog cannot immediately obey its handler's verbal command, the dog must remain on-leash."
A leash for every dog, no longer than six feet, on and off before and after. Dogs stay leashed in car parks and trailheads, "including the space between their vehicle and the beginning of the designated DOLA trail or site."
Three dogs maximum per handler, and professional walkers need a permit for Commercial Use of Dedicated Parkland.
Spayed or neutered, and currently vaccinated against rabies. Austin bars unsterilised dogs from off-leash areas outright, and bars puppies under four months because they cannot yet be vaccinated.
Fill in any hole your dog digs before you leave. That one is in the guidelines as a rule, not a suggestion.
No metal training or spiked collars inside an off-leash area.

If your dog's recall is a work in progress, the small fenced sites are the honest choice over the 193-acre ones. Our dog park etiquette guide covers making that call without flattering your own dog, and our how to leash train a dog guide covers the groundwork that makes off leash possible later.

How this compares with the rest of the country

Thirty published locations is a lot. San Diego, the previous leader in our coverage, publishes 20. Colorado Springs runs seven, of which four are fenced. Most cities we have covered publish between three and ten.

Austin's inventory is also unusually varied in scale. A city with 30 sites where 14 are under an acre is a city that has put a small pen in a lot of neighbourhoods, which is different from a city with three large parks. For a visitor, the practical effect is that there is probably something within ten minutes of where you are staying, and the odds are it is small.

Where to stay near the big ones: our pet-friendly hotels in Austin page lists what each property charges and allows, the Austin hotel directory covers the wider area, and our questions to ask before booking a pet-friendly hotel guide covers whether you may leave the dog in the room, which decides how you use a morning.

What Austin does that other cities in our coverage do not

Three things stand out once you have read enough municipal dog documents.

It publishes an acreage for almost every site. That sounds minor until you try to plan a visit somewhere that lists only an address. Knowing a site is under an acre before you drive to it saves the trip.

It writes down what control means. Most cities say a dog must be under control. Austin defines it, and then makes the definition operational: a dog that cannot immediately obey a verbal command must stay on the lead.

It ties the rules to enforcement you can look up. The guidelines cite specific code sections for each requirement, which means a rule on a sign can be traced to a law in Title 3 rather than resting on the sign alone.

Conclusion

Thirty legal off-leash locations, one map, and a $500 ceiling on the fine if you use anywhere else. Emma Long and Walnut Creek are the two that give a dog a genuine run. Auditorium Shores is the downtown one, defined by its signs rather than by a fence. Red Bud Isle is the swimming one, which means it is also the one where the algae warning matters most.

Take the map with you, read the signs when you arrive, and remember that in Austin an unsterilised dog is not allowed in any of them.

Frequently asked questions

How many off-leash dog parks does Austin have?

The City of Austin's off-leash area map, dated February 2026, lists 30 Dog Off-Leash Areas with addresses and acreage. The city's guidelines describe these as the only public places in Austin where dogs may legally be unrestrained.

What is the biggest off-leash area in Austin?

Emma Long Metro Park at 1711 City Park Rd, shown as 193 acres. Walnut Creek Metro Park at 12138 N Lamar Blvd is second at 185 acres.

Are Austin's dog parks free?

Twenty-nine of the thirty are free. Emma Long Metro Park charges park entry: $5 per vehicle Monday to Thursday, $10 per vehicle Friday to Sunday and on holidays, and $1 for walk-in or bike-in entry Monday to Wednesday.

Which Austin off-leash areas are fenced?

The guidelines confirm both fenced and unfenced categories exist, and that unfenced boundaries are marked with signage. Check the map itself or the interactive map, then read the signs on arrival.

What are Austin park hours?

The city states that parks are generally open each day from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. unless otherwise posted. Emma Long Metro Park is an exception at 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

How many dogs can I take off leash in Austin?

Three. The guidelines state a handler must have no more than three dogs off leash at any time, and professional dog walkers or trainers must obtain a permit for Commercial Use of Dedicated Parkland.

Sources

Rules, hours and facilities change. Confirm with the managing agency before you rely on any of it.