Lake House and Tubing Birthday Weekend in New Braunfels

New Braunfels is the place to float the river! You should even make a weekend out of it.

Boyfriend is a water baby. Surfing, scuba diving, tubing, anything on the lake – ask him to join any water activity and he’s in. I’m becoming convinced that he was a merman in another life. So when it came time to plan his birthday shindig, it was obvious something with the lake or river would be involved.

We conspired with our friends and rented a lake house in New Braunfels for the weekend to get away, eat good food, and float the river.

Weekend in New Braunfels

This was one of the most chill floats we’ve ever done. There were some clouds in the sky so it wasn’t scorching hot. We went around and told the birthday boy one thing we hated about him and roused everyone on the river to join us in a song of ‘happy birthday.’

The float ended up being an hour plus longer than we thought it would be. We had lunch waiting in a cooler in the car and who knew the simplest of sandwiches would taste so good?

We are so lucky to have foodie friends who are also fantastic cooks! Our friend Dan made a sous vide brisket, Claire made pounds of potato salad, and Cristina made beet deviled eggs. Claire also brought a fancy cheese spread and made jello squares 😉 for the river. With the amount of food (we *might* have over-prepared), we did not go hungry all weekend.

While the night before involved True American (a game from the show New Girl), charades, Twister, Kam Jam, and a dance party, the second night was karaoke for hours. As an adult, this is how you lose your voice. 😀 Circling back to True American, have y’all ever tried playing it? We attempted it for about a minute but I think we’re determined to figure it out now!

The weekend flew by way too quickly. It was a tease to wake up one morning PUMPED for a day of tubing and fun and then wake up the next morning to pack up and go home. Time flies when you’re having fun and the passing of time is so strange as an adult. The days feel long but the years are short. Don’t forget to take advantage of opportunities to spend time with people you care about.

The Logistics and Tips

We stayed in this awesome rental on Lake Dunlap in New Braunfels. It was about 15 minutes from tubing options.
We went to Texas Tubes to float the Comal River. $20 a tube and it’s $1 off per tube with a group of 10 or more. The float was about three and a half hours.
New Braunfels is about an hour south of Austin, TX.
There are a few tubing options in New Braunfels: Texas Tubes, Corner Tubes, Landa Falls, and Rockin’ R.
When it comes to tubing in Central Texas, you can float the Comal River, Guadalupe River, and San Marcos River. Comal is the tamest and less party-focused.
There is currently a can ban on the Comal River. In addition to cans, it includes disposable plastics like sandwich bags and one-time use plastic bottles. See all the rules here.