While on a cross country road trip to see Big Bend National Park, we took a detour to the east side of Texas to see the sights in San Antonio. During our two night visit we enjoyed the comfortable and laid back vibe of Texas’ second largest city. Below are a couple of our favorite adventures in San Antonio.
The Alamo
The most visited attraction in Texas and the star of San Antonio, is the Alamo. It’s one of five Spanish colonial missions in the city and played a pivotal role in the battle for Texas’ independence. To see the city’s featured attraction, you’ll need to make a free reservation to go inside the church. Seeing the rest of the Alamo grounds does not require advanced planning.
Prior to arriving in San Antonio, we made an online reservation for free admission to the church and also paid for the self-guided audio tour. We were SO glad we spent the money. The audio guide gave great details of the site and shared intriguing stories of the Battle of the Alamo. Any tour that can keep a ten and thirteen year old boy entertained is worth the money. The site also has several live character actors who tell interesting stories about life at the mission around 1836.
From kids to parents, all of us really enjoyed the couple hours we spent at the Alamo. It was by far, the best attraction we saw while in San Antonio.
The Alamo 
Backside of the Alamo 
Inside church
Period Actor-Davy Crockett
Riverwalk
San Antonio’s Riverwalk is worth seeing more than once. During our brief stay, we wandered through the Riverwalk area a couple times a day. Quieter and more peaceful in the daylight and a bit rowdier and magical at night. We loved both. Our favorite activity on the Riverwalk was a cruise with Go Rio Cruises. Again, because of the magic of the Riverwalk at night, we opted to take our cruise after dinner. We chose a 35 minute narrated cruise aboard one of Go Rio’s colorful, electric boats. We simply walked up to the ticket booth and purchased for the next available boat; one leaves every 15 minutes. Our boat captain navigated us through the downtown river loop and told entertaining and often funny stories of San Antonio’s history and culture. The river cruise was one of our trip highlights.
Touristy t-shirts and a Riverwalk boat cruise
Where to stay, where to eat, etc
We opted to stay at a Sonder Villa while in San Antonio. We chose it not only because it offered more space than a traditional hotel room but because it was just three blocks from the Riverwalk and had an outdoor pool. All for a very reasonable price. Though touristy, we chose to eat most meals at Riverwalk restaurants. Lunch or dinner at a riverside table at the first restaurant on the Riverwalk, Casa Rio, is a must. Casa Rio was delicious and so were the other restaurants we tried.
We loved the brisket at Smoke BBQ and the Sweet Texas Heat wood-fired pizza at Fiume Pizzeria. Though not unique to San Antonio, the boys saw the fun, insulting paper hats at Dick’s Last Resort and it was settled. We all ordered bacon cheeseburgers with fries and chuckled as those passing by read our hats.
Casa Rio 
Dick’s Last Resort 
Smoke
Overall, San Antonio is very comfortable and family friendly city to visit. We loved our time there and comfortable temperatures during our visit in March. For more family travel adventures, see out posts on visits to Chicago, Sedona, and St. Louis.
Happy Adventuring, Rochelle
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