For seven summers, the Comal was the whole show. The river carried the town, and the rest of a weekend filled in around it. That equation shifted this year. A rainy spring restored the flow, and while everyone was watching the water, the downtown around it quietly grew a dinner scene worth staying in town for.
The Comal is running the way it used to
The rivers at New Braunfels are flowing better now compared to recent drought years, following a rainy spring, and a lot more river tubers are expected this summer, beginning with the Fourth of July weekend. That is not a small correction. Matthew Hoyt of Corner Tubes told Texas Public Radio he was not sure his outfit would make it through the summer, calling it "the worst drought I ever experienced" before April and May rain turned the season around.
If you have not floated in a while, the practical numbers are worth knowing before you decide when to go:
- The Comal runs a constant 72 degrees year round thanks to its spring fed source.
- The official tubing season runs Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, and the peak weeks, late June through late July, are the busiest.
- Lifeguards are on duty at the City Tube Chute during weekends in May and daily from June to mid-August.
- The Comal can attract more than 300,000 tubers during the summer months and up to 20,000 tubers at a time on any given Saturday in July, according to Texas Highways magazine.
Twenty thousand people in a two-mile stretch of water is not a float, it is a parade. If you live here, the move is a weekday morning or an early weekend arrival. Landa River Trips recommends arriving by 9 AM on weekends, parking while spots are available, getting your tubes, and being in the water before 10. Texas Tubes, Comal Tubes, and Landa Falls, the last of which sits on the Wurstfest grounds and bills itself as the longest float on the Comal, all offer variations on the same math: earlier is quieter.
One rule that trips up guests every year, so worth repeating for the friends you are bringing down from Austin or Houston: the City of New Braunfels container ban prohibits all single-use disposable containers on the river, including inside a cooler, so transfer everything to reusable containers before arriving, and this applies to every outfitter on the Comal.
What opened downtown while you weren't looking
Here is the part of the summer that has changed most. For years, a night out in New Braunfels meant Gruene or a drive back toward San Antonio. That gap closed in February.
A new restaurant opened inside a historic building in downtown New Braunfels. Old City Hall Restaurant & Bar opened on Feb. 17. It is located at 200 N. Seguin Avenue, inside the restored 97-year-old former town hall. The operator is Wiggins Hospitality Group, the team behind McAdoo's Seafood Company and La Cosecha Mexican Table. The restaurant, designed by Dibello Architects, seats approximately 200 guests and includes a private dining room and patio. Hours are Sunday through Thursday from 4 to 9 p.m. and Friday through Saturday from 4 to 10 p.m.
What makes this matter beyond the menu is what it signals. A 200-seat steakhouse concept opening in a restored civic building is the kind of investment that follows demand, not the kind that creates it. The demand has been here.
A few more openings and near-openings worth putting on the calendar:
- sMAC'n Noodles is bringing its Seguin mac and cheese concept to 1515 N. Walnut Ave. near New Braunfels High School, with a projected March 2026 opening.
- CAVA at Creekside, with construction expected to begin in early 2026 and a projected summer opening.
- Chipotle at 323 Creekside Crossing, with construction scheduled to begin in May 2026 and wrap up by September 2026.
- Muck & Fuss, the downtown New Braunfels burger favorite, is expanding to San Antonio, not the other way around, with an 8,812 square-foot second location at 2422 N. Loop 1604 West expected to be completed by September 15. Worth mentioning because the flagship stays here, and the growth story is a New Braunfels story.
The Muckenfusses, incidentally, are the same operators who restored the historic Prince Solms Inn and opened the neighboring Sidecar, a speakeasy-style cocktail bar tucked beneath the inn. Downtown has quietly stitched itself together into a walkable evening.
A weekend built around Gruene Hall
Gruene Hall does not need an introduction to anyone reading this, but the summer 2026 booking calendar is stronger than the venue's usual quiet-August pattern. A partial roll of what is on the schedule:
June 12–13: Hayes Carll
July 16: Billy Bob Thornton & The Boxmasters
July 18: Stoney LaRue
July 22–25: Roger Creager's four-night birthday run
August 1: Bob Schneider
August 8: Jack Ingram
August 15: Mike Ryan
Sources: Gruene Hall's July calendar lists Billy Bob Thornton & The Boxmasters on July 16 at 8 p.m., with doors at 7, and Stoney LaRue on July 18, Bob Schneider on August 1, and Jack Ingram on August 8, with Roger Creager's birthday celebrations held over multiple nights from July 22 to July 25.
The reason to flag Creager's run specifically: four consecutive nights on a stage inside Texas' oldest continually operating dance hall, built in 1878, with the original layout including side flaps for open air dancing and an 800-person capacity, is the kind of thing you tell out-of-town friends about after the fact. It is easier to just have them in town for it.
If a full show is more than you want on a Wednesday, the free weekly programming still runs. Gruene Hall's public calendar lists Two Ton Tuesdays, Honky Tonk Thursdays, and Friday Afternoon Club as recurring, low-commitment ways to end an afternoon.
Bigger stages, shorter drives
Whitewater Amphitheater on the Guadalupe has quietly built one of the state's stronger summer bookings. Recent and upcoming: Bob Dylan on June 29 at 11860 FM 306, Dwight Yoakam on July 18, The Black Keys with Eddie 9V on July 25, and Hardy on August 21. For anyone whose weekend routine used to require a drive to Austin's amphitheaters, the calculation has changed.
Closer to Main Plaza, the Brauntex Theatre at 290 W. San Antonio St. is running its Summer Cinema series through the season. On the near horizon: Summer Cinema: Trolls (2016) on July 15 and Jimmy's Buffet, a tribute to Jimmy Buffett, on July 18. Not every Friday needs to be a headliner ticket.
And the city keeps its own summer rhythm going through Live @ Landa, the free concert series at Landa Park's Dance Slab. The July 4 evening headliner slot ran through Live @ Landa this year, with the final Live @ Landa concert featuring the J Abram Band ahead of the fireworks, followed by the RE/MAX Skydiving Team parachuting into the golf course ahead of the fireworks display that begins at 9:15 pm.
A simple Saturday, if you want a template
For anyone whose in-laws are visiting this month and asking what to do:
- Be in the water by 10 a.m. Park at your outfitter of choice, transfer everything into non-disposable containers before you leave the house.
- Off the river by 1 or 2. Late lunch downtown, ideally somewhere with air conditioning and a shaded patio.
- Sophienburg Museum or a walk through Landa Park while the day cools.
- Early dinner at Old City Hall, which opens at 4. Reservations through OpenTable.
- A short drive to Gruene for a show, or back downtown for a drink at Sidecar under the Prince Solms Inn.
If you cannot get a Gruene ticket, Brauntex or a free Live @ Landa evening covers the same slot without the ticket stress.
Why the summer feels different this year
The tempting read is that a good rain year came at the same time as a couple of restaurant openings, and that is the whole story. The more useful read is that operators like Wiggins Hospitality and the Muckenfusses are placing multi-million-dollar bets on downtown New Braunfels sustaining a dinner crowd year round, not just a river crowd from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The 200-seat dining room inside a 1929 civic building is a bet that summer weekends here now include something to do after the tubes come off the truck.
For homeowners who have been here through the drought years, that shift is the most concrete argument yet that the town is settling into a new gear. The river was always going to come back. The evening downtown had to be built.
If you are thinking about how a home here can better support the way you actually spend your weekends, from an outdoor kitchen that earns its keep in July to a remodel that opens up the living space where guests always end up, BGA Design & Build would be glad to talk it through. Contact BGA Design + Build to start the conversation.