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| Ranking Among U.S. Cities / Regions: #17 |
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| • Market Square is the largest Mexican marketplace outside of Mexico |
| • There were survivors at the Alamo bloodletting: a score of women and children plus one male slave |
| • The San Antonio River originates from artesian springs |
| • Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson were married at St. Marks Episcopal Church |
| • San Antonio was the capital of the Spanish province of Texas |
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Culture with a Spanish accent
In the minds of many visitors, the Alamo — built by the Spaniards in 1718 — defines San Antonio. Today, Spanish influence survives under Mexican wraps in a city where the biggest festival of the year is a fiesta, and fine dining could mean Mexican food.
Tourists visit the Alamo, but they make their home on the often-crowded River Walk, a pathway that borders the San Antonio River as it meanders through the business district. The River Walk is park-like in some places; other sections jump with sidewalk cafes and lively night spots. There is something for everyone because the River Walk itself has multiple personalities.
About San Antonio
Tourists’ favorite Texas city is a sprawling metropolitan area that lures visitors with numerous festivals, a rich cultural life, the Alamo, a small historic center and the considerably newer River Walk development. Top attractions include the remains of San Antonio’s Spanish heritage: five missions including the Alamo, now tied together on a Mission Trail; La Villita, one of the city’s original settlements and now an arts-and-crafts community; the Spanish Governor's Palace, and the San Fernando Cathedral.
The River Walk, jammed with its patrons, especially on weekends between mid-March through January, is a path extending three miles along both sides of the San Antonio River — all this 20 feet below street level.
Visitors frequent its shops, eateries and clubs, and stay in its hotels. The River Walk also hosts a number of festivals, including parts of the citywide Fiesta San Antonio and a mud festival, plus water-based events, such as canoe races and holiday boat caroling. Rio San Antonio Cruises provides river trips for sightseeing, and river taxis deliver visitors to the Rivercenter, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex, and to the convention center.
For families, two theme parks stand out: Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Sea World San Antonio, the world's largest marine life park.
More than half the city’s population is Hispanic — either Mexican or of Mexican descent, but the city has absorbed elements of the South, the cowboy West and German traditions, the last due to immigration in the mid-1800s. Business owners field a cadre of Centro San Antonio Amigos who are charged with assisting visitors, providing information, even First Aid if called on. Identified by their turquoise shirts and straw hats, they are found in the historical downtown. Central San Antonio can be navigated on foot or with public transport, but for points beyond, visitors need a car. Finally, San Antonio’s summers are very hot. The average highs June through August are in the 90s; September is not much cooler, with average highs of 89.8. As counterpoint to that, winters are mild with average lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s December through February.
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• Go canoeing or whitewater rafting on Guadalupe River outside of San Antonio. Or, head to Canyon Lake for lots of choices: fishing, kayaking, parasailing, sailing, scuba diving and waterskiing.
• Dance the night away to the tunes of a country western band or a Tejano super group. Or, hear jazz or sing along at an Irish pub.
• Hike in one of the state parks in Texas Hill Country, the area that forms an arc around the northern edge of San Antonio.
• Attend theater and have a bite to eat at Church Bistro & Theater at King William. The eatery and theater are housed in the former Alamo Methodist Church, built in 1912. The church still has its original wooden semicircular pews, but with cushions added.
• Climb the 50-foot Watchtower at Natural Bridge Caverns; the outdoor climbing tower has a zip line for a quick descent (up to 25mph) after the effort.
• Sign on for one of the adventure tours at the Natural Bridge Caverns. At the start of one guided three- to four-hour excursion, you are lowered on a rope through a 160-foot shaft, after which you climb and crawl as you make your way through the caverns’ dark places.
You are advised to wear jeans and a shirt that may be ruined. Hiking boots with good traction and ankle support are required.
• Make a rented bicycle your transport of choice. City buses have bike racks to facilitate this sort of thing.
• Register to compete with teammates in the annual Ford Canoe Challenge, featuring a number of timed heats on the San Antonio River in the middle of town.
• Hike or bike the San Antonio Mission Trail, a route that takes visitors from one to the other of all five historic missions.
• Here’s one you’ll want to catch: the Wild Hog Cookoff in Cotulla south of town. Dining selections include hog quiche, hog eggrolls, hog en brochette.
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• Board a cruiser and sightsee from the vantage point of the San Antonio River. Also, take a river taxi to Rivercenter, the shopping, dining and entertainment complex.
• Book a half-day guided sightseeing tour of San Antonio. You’ll get an idea of all there is to see and discover before you head out on your own to revisit the places that interest you the most.
• Take a break from the city at a nearby dude ranch, where you can go horseback riding.
• Shop in the bustling Mexican market at Market Square. Look for event schedules, as well, because the square is the locale for a number of Hispanic festivals featuring food and beverages, mariachi music and Mexican dances.
Or, consider the Alamo Quarry Market. It is housed in the former Alamo Cement Company, and you can tell that by looking.
• Pan for gems and minerals much as miners panned for gold. Do your “mining” at the Natural Bridge Mining Company. You keep what you find.
• Taste the finest wines and foods on offer at the city’s New World Wine & Food Festival. Note the Mexican fare in this city which is not so far from the border.
For an alternative, consider the annual Wurstfest in nearby New Braunfels. It celebrates beer and all things German.
• Soak up the pleasures of the three-mile River Walk, the developed area at river level, with numerous restaurants, shops and night spots. Lush green foliage lines the river, and at points, the river is shaded by cypresses, oaks and willow trees.
• For great views, eat dinner at Eyes Over Texas, a revolving restaurant high in the Tower of the Americas. Also at the tower, look in on Skies Over Texas, a piece of 4-D theater that takes its audience on a flying trip over the state.
• Tour historic San Antonio aboard a Segway, the stand-up motorized transport that lets you move faster than you would if walking.
• Investigate your choices if you are interested in an event focused on the written word, whether prose or poetry, fiction or nonfiction. The event is the Gemini Ink Summer Festival. There are writing classes taught by nationally recognized writers, and there are writing camps for kids.
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• Take a hop-on, hop-off narrated trolley tour through the heart of San Antonio. Or, take a horse-drawn carriage ride through town. You also may have the chance to buy carriages or other equipment when one vendor, Yellow Rose Carriage, is ready to sell used gear.
• Visit key museums and note their digs, too. The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) is located in the castle-like former headquarters of the Lone Star Brewery. The McNay Art Museum is in a Mediterranean-style mansion.
Or, visit small galleries in search of artwork you can buy for your home.
• Play golf. The state’s first public golf course was built in San Antonio in 1916, and new courses are added every year.
• Be entertained at the event that celebrates the city and all its diversity, the Fiesta San Antonio. It is 10 days in April with more than 100 events on tap. Failing that, opt for the June Texas Folklife Festival highlighting the traditions and crafts of more than 40 ethnic groups in Texas.
• Sample Tex-Mex dining as it is experienced by locals. For restaurant ideas of all kinds, ask your concierge or check www.sanantoniovisit.com/visitors/things_restaur.asp
• Go antiquing in town, or head out to any of a number of old European settlements that also offer a selection of antiques. Choose from these towns: Boerne, Castroville, Comfort, Fredericksburg, Gruene, Leon Springs and New Braunfels.
• Hear the San Antonio Symphony, but get a load of its home: the Majestic Theatre, a vintage vaudeville movie palace. The theater also hosts touring Broadway shows. Time your visit, in July, to coincide with the Classical Music Festival.
• Tour the Alamo, of course, then visit San Antonio’s other four historic missions. They were built by the Spanish in the early 1700s, and today, they comprise the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.
• Scare yourself gray at the Ripley’s Haunted Adventure, billed as a haunted house with special effects that will terrify the hardiest traveler. Less hair-raising but amusing, see the Guinness World Records Museum, or take Davy Crockett’s Tall Tales Ride, a kind of theme park experience narrated by Davy Crockett. All three are in the same location across from the Alamo.
• Take in the Chuck Wagon Dinner Show at nearby Enchanted Springs Ranch. The event includes a Texas BBQ dinner and an evening’s entertainment. Or, stay overnight at the ranch in an Old West guesthouse.
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For more information, consult the San Antonio Conventions & Visitors Bureau at www.sanantoniovisit.com
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