Suggestions for a road trip to San Antonio?

Question

Me and some friends (8-10 people total) are taking a road trip down to SA this weekend for labor day, just wondering about a few things. Thinking about visiting the Alamo, Sea World and Fiesta Texas, are those worth it? Also thinking about going over to Schlitterbahn or going out to tube down a river (closer to Austin I guess), wondering about how long a drive those are and if they are worth it.
Also, are there any good clubs and/or restaurants you'd suggest? We're mixed under and above 21.
If there are any good places to stay off the top of your head, that would be great too.
Finally, if there is anything else lesser known that we should do, please let me know,

Also, we are looking for a place to go fishing. We're not avid fishers, just a nice way to relax. We won't be bringing any gear, so we'd have to rent everything. If anyone knows a good place, that would be great too.

Answer 1

I thought both the Alamo and Fiesta Texas were worth visiting. Fiesta Texas has some cool rides. I didn't go to any clubs in San Antonio but they have some cool clubs in Austin on this street that is all bars and night clubs and they let people under 21 in as well so if you are over 21 then you get a braclet to drink.

Answer 2

All these places are worth it... if you go to Schlitterbahn, you are right in the middle of tube country... since it is on the river you can get your fishing done there too.... I would suggest you stay in Northeast San Antonio... that way you are close to the things you want to visit in SA and NB (New Braunfels) where Schlitterbahn. Even though it's not half way, it's not that far... (40 minutes to NB, and about 20 - 30 from everything thing else.

There are other things to see in SA, like the missions, the SA Zoo, the Botanical Gardens, amoung many other things. Visit the River walk, and take a boat ride, it's really a nice tour.

Also visit MySA.com, it has a listing of all things that will be going on this weekend. Enjoy! and hope you have a great experience in San Antonio!

Answer 3

I wish I could help you more with your trip to S.A. but dove season will be starting this weekend and my mind is having a mental block since that is all I can think about. If you are going to tour the Alamo try one of the tours of the missions. If you are driving you can easily get a map and follow the mission trail and visit all of them within a few hours. If you like you can visit the Alamo and walk down to the river walk for lunch. There you'll find every type of restraunt imagineable. At night all the clubs will be thumping since it is a long holiday weekend. If you want a cool place to eat that's different go to the Tower of the Americas and eat there. The restraunt at the top is owned by Landry's Seafood and the atmosphere is awesome. For a cheap lunch you can eat at a bunch of mexican restraunts that are all over the city.Won't be doing much fishing this week since i'll be wearing my shoulder out with my shotgun but we have 2 lakes that offer tour guides and they probably will rent equipment to you. Braunig lake and Calaveras Lake. With the weather here the way it has been I would rather stick to the tubing. New Braunfels would probably be your best bet. It's just a few miles north of S.A. and once you hit river road there are a million tubing places to hit. This weekend will be great for that. They got some rain so the river may be flowing a little more than a few weeks ago when I went. Nonetheless the eye candy for both men and women is excellent. The hotties will be in full effect wearing close to nothing. The only thing that kinda sucks is that cops will be all over the place looking for people who are drunk and causing a disturbance. The only problem is that they sometimes harass some of the people who are just having fun. If you just want to get wet, have a picnic, and hang out at a park, try Landa Park in New Braunfels, It's mostly a family park but it's totally cool. The only thing is that you will have to be there early or you might not be able to park. Landa has a spring fed pool that is freezing and it sports the usual bikini clad honey's that usually accompany a water hole. The price of admission to the pool is $3. and won't have the cops sitting in the water waiting for you to tube by so they can give you a ticket for any little reason. It's alot cheaper than the $15-$20 for the tube rentals. After the park closes you can come back to San Antonio and party. The big amusment park thing will be packed with people including Schlitterbahn and might make the experience a little not worth the money since you will probably have to wait in line forever to get on rides. Which in this heat totally sucks. If you do visit the other missions which would be great for a lazy Sunday afternoon and visit Espada Mission don't be alarmed when you hear the shooting. It's just me and my family shooting up a storm on all the doves. On Sunday we will be having our church festival for Espada Mission about a mile down the mission trail at Mission County Park. Stop by for some great fajita tacos and a snow cone and if you see a guy in camoflauge stop by and tell him hi. If it's me, have a beer with me. If you're over 21 that is. See Ya.

Answer 4

Speaking as an SA-born Texan who loves SA more than any place in the world (other than Corpus Christi since I was raised there).....

Touristy or no, EVERYONE should see the Alamo at least once in their life. Yes, it gets a bit crowded at times, esp. on holiday weekends, but if you can slide through there early in the morning and/or (really) late at night, it's quite nice. If you're there right at opening, you should be able to tour the grounds before the crowds get too bad.

Definitely see the Riverwalk. And if you guys have time, you should also take a ride on the Yanaguana Cruises 'boats'. It's the best way to see the Riverwalk.

Although we like Sea World, we haven't been in many years. We're a coaster family, and SW just doesn't have enough of them yet (lol). However, if you love marine parks, it's a nice park.

We LIVE in Fiesta Texas. One of the coasters, Superman Krypton Coaster (a/k/a SKC) is rated the #33 steel coaster in the world. The park was also recently voted the Best Show Park for the 8th consecutive year. Their waterpark, Whitewater Bay, is also a nice place to cool off; they've got some great water slides.

If you decide to go to FT, I would suggest you get your tickets online head of time (www.sixflags.com, then pick FT). I believe the online price right now is $33.99+tax. HEB grocery stores and Valero convenience stores also sell discount tickets for about the same price. Ticket price at the gate is $46.99+tax.

Schlitterbahn, if you also have the time, is a "must do". It's the number one waterpark in the world, so hey, gotta say you've been there! New Braunfels also has some great tubing; best place to go, in my opinion! NB is about 20-30 minutes from SA, depending on traffic, and what part of SA you leave from.

Here are a couple of sites you can check out on New Braunfels (the second one has a link to Schlitterbahn toward the bottom):
http://www.newbraunfels-tx.net/
http://www.nbcham.org/visitor/river_weather.asp

I don't know where you're traveling from, but from SA, "this side of Austin" is about an hour-fifteen to hour-half, again, depending on traffic and where you start.

As far as places to stay in SA, since I live here, I haven't had much opportunity to stay in the hotels to check for quality and price. However, most of the large chains are here, so you could go to their sites and search for SA hotels. The downtown hotels will be much more expensive, esp. on a holiday weekend (if there are vacancies at this point). Anything around the airport, well, you'll have airplanes flying over. There's a nice Omni Hotel at The Colonnade on I-10 W between Loop 410 and Loop 1604. I-10 is a corridor between Fiesta Texas and downtown, so if you wanted to go to both, that would be a good spot. There are also some very good restaurants in that area (Texas Land & Cattle, Bennigans, Fudruckers, Chester's Hamburgers [best burgers around!], Saltgrass Steakhouse, to name a few. Down the road a little bit is a Chili's, Macaroni Grill, Logans, and TGI Friday's, along with the typical fast food places.)

As far as clubs, well, I'm a 42 year old married Grandma of 3, so I don't do much clubbing. lol

But, there used to be several spots downtown that seemed to be very popular with the "late" crowd. My step-kids (aged 28 and 24) like Fast Eddies, which is a sports bar; they go there to play pool....

http://www.fasteddiesbilliards.com/index.shtml

My son and daughter-in-law like Dave & Busters. I've not been there either, but from their description, there is a restaurant "side", a game 'room' "side", and bar....

http://www.daveandbusters.com/

I think I've covered all of your questions. With regard to your travel, make sure you plan extra time in your trip for the traveling so you're not rushed. The highways are so full of traffic it can take longer to get to the destination and back, especially "around these parts".

Whatever you decide to do, I'm sure you'll have a great time!

Answer 5

You can tube down the Guadalupe in New Braunfels or the San Marcos River in San Marcos. In San Anotne, the Riverwalk's a must. I wouldn't go to Sea World or other tourist traps. Even the Alamo in getting aburd with all the tourists hanging around. Sacrilege. Zilker Park in Austin is a nice place...the pool's a constant 68 degrees (or something like that). Barton Creek's been dried up for too long, but has nice trails to hike or bike on. Be careful if you go to East 6th Street...the polizei work it pretty heavy at times. Expect crowds wherever you go, though.

(If you're really into tubing the river, take River Road in New Braunfels. All kinds of places along there. And Visit Gruene, right next door to New Braunfels. Touristy, but pretty nice.)

Answer 6

Definitely hit Rosario's Restaurant. It has the best mexican food I have ever had.

Answer 7

go to mapquest to find out how long it will take to go places....and you deffenitly have to go to schlitterbaun...since it is the number 1 water park in the world!