San Antonio, Texas
Welcome to San Antonio, Texas. This was our first trip to San Antonio, and it was a rainy one. Although we got to go to most of the attractions we had scheduled, we had to leave some out due to weather.
Outlets at San Marcos, Texas: We hit these outets on the way down to San Antonio. Generally, we shop at outlet centers, especially Premier and Tanger, as they usually provide a nice atmosphere for walking around after a long day of driving in the car. However, we have never encountered BOTH outlet shopping centers in one spot, literally across the street from each other. They were both really nice outlet centers and provided plenty of walking, shopping, and resturants.
Costs: FREE
Overall Attraction: Worth going to.
Time Needed: We spent around 2 hours, but you could easily spend the day here.
Rivercenter Mall: Our first taste of San Antonio was trying to find parking. Not an easy task. Most lots were asking a fourtune, and if you get away from the touristy streets of downtown, the areas get kinda scary, or non-family friendly. We ended up paying $18 for all-day parking in the Rivercenter Mall parking garage. OUCH! However, the Rivercenter Mall is massive, it's right across the street from the Alamo, and the riverwalk runs right by it. The mall is four stories of shopping and includes a large food court and a really nice Imax and movie theater. The tickets for the movies are around $5, very affordable. The catch is parking somewhere downtown where you don't get taken advantage of.
Costs: FREE (With exception of parking)
PAID ($18 for parking)
Overall Attraction: Worth going to.
Time Needed: We spent around an hour in the mall.
The Alamo: The Alamo was actrually pretty cool. We had been told by locals and others that have been to San Antonio that the Alamo was nothing more than a photo op. But for someone who likes history, the structure was actually very informative, and the kids also seemed to havea great time inside the Alamo. Just an FYI, there is no picture taking inside the Alamo building itself.
Costs: FREE
PAID (Nothing)
Overall Attraction: A must see
Time Needed: We spent around 45 minutes at the Alamo, with no wait in line. We went first thing in the morning. We noticed that later in the day, the line to go in was very long.
The Rainforest Cafe: If you have never eaten at a Rainforest Cafe, this is a good one to try. This sucker is THREE stories full of jungle, animated animals, and good food. The kids LOVE these resturants. The Rainforest Cafe is part of the Landry line of restaurants. The cool part is that, for just $25, you can join their "Select Club" which gives you priority seating at ALL Laundry's restruants. So if there is a two-hour line, your wait is around two minutes. It is well worth it since you get the $25 back on the next check, and you get a free $25 gift card on your anniversary!!!
Costs: Family of four can eat for around $35 to $40.
PAID (Just food, the experince is free.)
Overall Attraction: Well worth going to.
Time Needed: Since we are "Select " members, we did not wait in line. Took about an hour and a half to eat and enjoy the Rainforest.
Double Decker Tour Buses: We Grouponed this deal well in advance to our trip to San Anonio. It was a great value, as you had access for the bus for the whole day, and the bus made several stops to most of the attractions downtown. So you could just hop on and off at your leisure. The kids loved the open air of the double decker, and, lucky us, it did not rain during this part of the trip. It is well worth the price of admission... IF you get the Groupon rate.
Costs: Ticket for two adults and three children on Groupon was $22.
Overall Attraction: Worth the experience
Time Needed: We spent about six hours on and off the bus visiting local attractions, incuding the Riverwalk.
The Riverwalk: The Riverwalk is of course, one of the main attractions in San Antonio. While there are many restruants and hotels around the riverwalk, outside of that there is not much to do. The area closest to the Alamo is probably the best part, when you start getting away from that area, there just is not much else to do. Restrooms are also a problem as they lock the public restrooms at 8pm, so you have to go to either a resturant or a shop. There are water taxis and boat tours if you want to get on the water. We ate at both the Rainforest Cafe and Casa Rio. Casa Rio was a nice Mexican resturant with good food and also provided upstairs restrooms that could be accessed without eating at the resturant. They also have outide seating and indoor seating in case of those nasty rainstorms that were so frequent on our visit. As far as nightlife that is family friendly, the riverwalk does not provide much. You are better off going away from the riverwalk towards the Alamo and visiting the Ripley's attractions on the strip.
Costs: FREE (Walking on Riverwalk)
PAID (For food at the Rainforest Cafe and Casa Rio, boat tour was $8.25/person)
Overall Attraction: Go there once, do the Alamo side of the Riverwalk, and then go do something else.
Time Needed: We spent most of a day at the Riverwalk.
San Fernando Cathedral: If you are going to visit the Missions in San Antonio, this one is one you do not want to miss. This cathedral is one of the most intact and one of the best structures in San Antonio. The stained glass and sculptures inside the church are beautiful. This is also the final resting place of Davy Crockett and some of the other famous names from the Alamo. San Fernando is also one of the stops on the Double Decker bus tour. However, the area seems to be popular with panhandlers, and we noticed at least one police officer having an argument with an intoxicated woman in the plaza in broad daylight, so be aware of what's going on around you when you visit.
Costs: FREE
PAID (Nothing)
Overall Attraction: Worth going to, just be aware of your surroundings.
Time Needed: Around 30 mins. to an hour
Market Square: This is an actual Mexican marketplace, and we believe a must see in San Antonio. Our girls had a blast here shopping around and looking at all the trinkets available. The area is festively decorated with live music and some street performers. The marketplace is anchored by Mi terra Cafe Y Panaderia, which is an authentic Mexican resturant wth excellent theming and mariachi bands. You might even see Elvis running around the restaurant. This attraction is also on the double decker bus stop and the downtown trolley.
Costs: FREE
PAID (For food and tipped the mariachi band)
Overall Attraction: Well worth going to.
Time Needed: Around 1 to 4 hours
San Antionio Zoo: The Zoo is just one of four attractions making up Brackenridge Park. The park consists of the zoo, a Japanese Tea Garden (Free), The Witte Museum (not free), and the Kiddie Park (also not free). All of these attractions are connected by a miniature train that makes stops at all four attractions (also not free). We had planned on doing most of these attractions. However, a rainy forecast prevented us from going to all four. The zoo was suprisingly good, lots of great habitats, good eats, and just an overall well-organized zoo. The kids loved talking to the zookeepers who were stationed around the zoo to help the kids interact with the animals.
Costs: $26 for family of four (with reciprical zoo membership discount)
PAID (Entrance fee, lunch, and $2 for the kids to make thier own plastic animal molds.)
Overall Attraction: Well worth going to
Time Needed: We were there around 4 hours before the rain ran us out..
Witte Museam: VERY Dissappointing! Only part of the museum was open, and while that part was pretty cool and entertaining, we paid FULL price. I promised my kids dinosaurs, and what I got was a whole lot of "under construction." I would dodge this attraction at all costs as we found it to be a RIP-OFF, at least until they finish all of their construction projects.
Costs: RIP-OFF!
PAID (Entrance Fee = RIP-OFF!!)
Overall Attraction: Did I mention this was a RIP-OFF!!!? Don't go here!
Time Needed: None
Missions National Park: Now, if you have a taste for history and old structures, this is the place for you. I thoroughly enjoyed this vehicle trail through the four missions, as did the kids. There are a lot of cool histrical facts about the area and a lot of structures for the kids to climb on and, of course, park rangers to learn from. The missions themseleve are still active and are really cool to go into. Just note if you go on a weekend you might have to wait to go inside since there are A LOT of weddings planned in these missions throughout the summer months. And some hold mass on Sunday mornings, so keep that in mind when planning a visit.
Costs: Free
PAID (Nothing)
Overall Attraction: Very good, especially for history lovers and explorers
Time Needed: At least half a day. Attractions are only open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Lodging at Fairfield Inn by Marriott: Nice hotel just outside the city limits in a town called Shertz. Nice, clean hotel, good breakfast in the mornings. However, they only have an outside pool, so with the rain in the area we did not get to use the pool much. Overall, a good experience during our stay.
To see more photos from this trip for the attractions listed above, check here!