The Texas sun is no joke. When the temperature hits triple digits, the pool feels like a hot tub, and it’s even worse in the cities, where the urban heat island effect should be considered before your summer vacation. Luckily, there’s a place where you can spend a full summer day in the water without worrying about sunburns, shade tents, or the chance of a storm. Just 30 minutes by car outside of Downtown Austin, Texas, Kalahari Indoor Water Park is an African-themed jungle of coiling slides, wave pools, and swim-up bars that was voted the best indoor water park by USA Today (a title it’s held for three years in a row).
Texas is home to many indoor water parks that offer some respite from the heat — Waco Surf in Waco is thrilling and has the world’s longest lazy river — but Kalahari is its largest. At 223,000 square feet, the indoor water park is the second-largest in the U.S., and factoring in its adjoining hotel and convention center, it’s the largest indoor water park resort complex. In its indoor water park, there are 30 different slides and 20 pools. There’s a lot to do for all age groups, too. Small children can enjoy play areas like the Coral Cove, with sloped entry water, and teens can soar down big slides like the 250-foot Sahara Sidewinders, while adults can hang out at the Grotto Swim-Up Bar or take the family into the wave pool. In line with its African inspiration, the park is full of sculptures of jungle animals, bamboo pillars, and desert-like decor.
How to visit the Kalahari Indoor Water Park in Texas
At the Kalahari Resort, you can choose to stay at the connected hotel and have seamless access to the indoor water park, or you can come to spend the day at the water park itself with a general admission day pass. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 8 or 9 p.m. depending on the day. The resort has a few special passes, too. One of them, the Tom Fooling package, gives you access to the indoor water park plus the indoor amusement park, making it a good option for those who want to explore beyond the splash zone.
The resort has over a dozen dining options, ranging from a steakhouse to a Marrakech-inspired marketplace, though visitors have noted in online reviews that the food can be expensive. Within the water park itself, there are two swim-up bars, a grill, and a smoothie stand. Sometimes, Kalahari hosts special events at the water park, including after-hours nights when you can swim and slide after sundown.
Kalahari Resorts has four locations across the country (with a fifth expected to open in Virginia in 2026), but you can reach its Texas location in Round Rock easily from Austin. It’s about a 35-minute drive from the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, which happens to be one of the best airports in America for live music.
