San Antonio Vacation Ideas?

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

I’m hoping someone (or more) on this blog is from San Antonio as I’m looking for a few tips.  

This year I began a “Grandma/Grandchild memory trip” and since I have 5 grandchildren that means 5 trips will happen.  I started with the oldest, Gia (15) and let her choose what she wanted to do.  She chose Portland, Oregon so we spent 5 days there in April visiting waterfalls, hiking in a few awesome areas, and even drove to Cannon Beach…which was AMAZING!  I used Viator for a couple of our tours and we were quite pleased!  She keeps telling me how awesome the trip was and I am now in the process of making a memory book for her.

OK that brings me to my next grandchild!  Chloe (she will be 15 when we travel in February) has chosen San Antonio, Texas!  Lol her main reason is steak!  She LOVES steak!  . So I have our airfare booked (very reasonable on SWA from PVD to SAT!) and I am now trying to find a decent hotel on the Riverwalk…any help will do.  I also booked a Viator tour which includes a River cruise, 24 hour hop on hop off bus with 18 stops, and tickets to the Tower of Americas.  I bought tickets to attend the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo (she is soooo excited)!  I’m renting a car and would love to find a place to take her horseback riding (simple trail walking would be great).  Oh, the Alamo is also on our list!  How does that sound so far?

So…I’m hoping for some help on choosing a hotel…some really good restaurants for us to check out…and horseback riding place maybe with an hour’s drive of the Riverwalk.  I’ve spent hours online looking up things and a few recommended restaurants are Boudro’s on the Riverwalk and Saltgrass Steak House?  I know there are plenty of Mexican restaurants and she loves that food too so recommendations?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.  She and I are really looking forward to this memory vacation!

[WAAAYTOOO]

What a wonderful Grandmother you are !  I love this idea…

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

What a wonderful Grandmother you are !  I love this idea…

I wish I could take full credit for the idea.  However, several years ago I met a sweet lady in the nursing home my mom is in but she couldn’t speak or use her hands.  I would help her out during lunch times and I just felt that she was such a wonderful person.  She passed away a couple of years ago and when I read her obituary I found out just how wonderful she was!  Her story included a piece about the trips she had taken with her grandchildren…one at a time.  That was it…I made the decision right then and there that I needed to do something like that with mine.  And so it began……..

I will say after having finished just the first of five trips I am sooo grateful to little Nancy who touched my .  Oh and grateful to my husband for allowing me to do this !

[themillennialcruiser]

I grew up vacationing in San Antonio as a kid because my great grandparents lived in the area. I love the La Cantera resort, its not on the river walk but you can get to the river walk driving in around 15-20 minutes. The pool is amazing(i think they have 5 of them) and on the property there is a fantastic kids club and activities specially for kids. They also have one of the most beautiful spa’s i have ever been to. Six flags is less than a mile from the Hotel as well. Trips with my grandma are some of my favorite memories! She took me all around the US and when i was college visiting she took me to every school I wanted to visit. 

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

By the looks of it, guessing there are not many RC Bloggers from Texas…or at least the San Antonio area.  I thought I would put another request out there?  Thanks if you can help out….

[teddy]

I was there in January 2017 and stayed five nights at the Marriott Rivercenter on the River Walk.  It had direct access to the River Walk, but was at the far end of the walk itself. 
 

In January 2018 I stayed at the Best Western Premier Historic Travelers Alamo/River Walk….which was near, but not on the River Walk.  It is a block and a half from the Alamo though.  

I was happy with both hotels.  I stayed in basic rooms, so I can’t tell tell you if they offer higher end suites or other amenities.  
 

A restaurant I went to that I enjoyed enough to remember after all this time is Saltgrass Steakhouse.  It’s right on the River Walk  

Downtown San Antonio is (or at least was when I went there) was very walkable.  People were very nice and I enjoyed my time there. 
 

One thing that sticks in my mind about being there is when walking back to the hotel at 11 pm, people were stacked up at the crosswalks waiting for the WALK light to appear, but there was absolutely zero vehicular traffic anywhere.  Most of my “big city” experience is in Boston, where WALK/DON’T WALK lights are routinely ignored by pedestrians. 

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

I actually have Saltgrass Steakhouse on my list!  I will check into the hotels and am happy to hear the area is pretty walkable!

 

[deButler]

We’re closer to Houston but made several trips in/around SA. The Menger Hotel is THE MOST historic/iconic hotel in SA and is across the street from the Alamo. They have amazing lobby & bar that is worth going to see if not staying there. They do have very comfortable accommodations and even programs for kids.
 

Brenner’s or Bohanans steak houses are high end classic steakhouses downtown. Salt Grass is a Landry’s chain with good steaks but not quite the same.  Fogo and TX de Brazil are both Gaucho style red meat overload options downtown as well. 
 

As Teddy said the downtown area is very walkable and enjoyable to stroll all along the riverwalk.  There are plenty of family friendly places now downtown to see/do. 
 

Bandera, the Cowboy capital of Texas, has tons of history and a whole bunch of places to ride horses in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. It’s a quaint little town about an hour drive from Downtown SA. 

[KristiZ]

While it's been a... *cough* minute since I lived in Texas, one of my favorite places near San Antonio was Natural Bridge Caverns. There are other great things to do around that area too, like tubing in New Braunfels or the wildlife park associated with Natural Bridge Caverns. If you have time to leave town.

[Cakemeister]

If you postponed to April, you could take in the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. Most of S.A. will have some amount of totality. You should make your reservations now for that, though. National Eclipse | San Antonio, Texas | April 8, 2024 - Total Solar Eclipse

Has anyone mentioned Sea World or the historic missions? 

I live in S.A. but I don't know anything about downtown hotels or restaurants.

How long is your trip? 

 

 

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

2 minutes ago, Cakemeister said:

If you postponed to April, you could take in the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. Most of S.A. will have some amount of totality. You should make your reservations now for that, though. National Eclipse | San Antonio, Texas | April 8, 2024 - Total Solar Eclipse

Has anyone mentioned Sea World or the historic missions? 

I live in S.A. but I don't know anything about downtown hotels or restaurants.

How long is your trip? 

 

 

That would be really awesome, however my granddaughter is a freshman in HS this year so can only travel while on school vacation.  I am planning to spend 5 days there with her during February school break.  Her April vacation is the week after the 8th and she actually has other plans for that vacation !

[melmar02]

I believe the Hyatt Regency is built so the river flows into their lobby. If you want touristy maybe the Buckhorn museum https://www.buckhornmuseum.com/ Natural Bridge Caverns is just north of SA and they have added additional activities beyond just walking through the caves.

[jbrinkm]

On 8/27/2023 at 12:56 PM, themillennialcruiser said:

Trips with my grandma are some of my favorite memories! She took me all around the US and when i was college visiting she took me to every school I wanted to visit. 

I don't have advice about what to do -but I will jump on the bandwagon in affirming what an awesome idea this is. One set of grandparents also did this for me (not all but some) and I love those memories. The other grandparents took each of their grands to a local theater production when they turned 16. Not quite as extravagant because they were farmers and had little disposable income, but I have a really wonderful, lovely, treasured memory of that time.  

[happy cruisers 2]

We were just recently at the Hyatt Regency San Antonio Riverwalk at 123 Losoya St. for 3 nights.  Great location for stepping out of the hotel and walking the river walk.  We liked the hotel very much.  (Never used the car once after parking it across the street in a covered lot.)  Really enjoyed each meal we had at Mad Dogs British Pub too, which is connected to the hotel.  Great outdoor patio where you can sit and people watch along the river walk.  Very nice heated(?) roof-top pool too (although we only had a look at it on our last day there).  The Alamo is a very short walk from the hotel, as is the previously mentioned Menger Hotel.  We ate at several restaurants along the water, but none stick in my mind as much as Mad Dogs.