Skip the tourist hotspots, check out these local favorites while visiting San Antonio. While the Riverwalk and Alamo are great spots to check out, you might find yourself wanting to get away from all the crowds! From biking the mission trail, delicious places to eat and visit in San Antonio, to the best spot to check out the San Antonio River, this will show you the “hidden gems” and spots the locals like!
San Antonio, Texas, now the 7th largest city in the US, is filled with beauty, history, and culture. Skip the crowded tourist hot spots, these are the places to check out while you’re in town.
Rent a Bike
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Biking the mission trail is a fun way to explore San Antonio’s rich history while staying active. Rent a bike through BCycle for just $10. But remember your helmet, because they aren’t provided. In the King William Historic District, you can see the many beautiful and opulent houses built by German settlers in the 19th century. This area encompasses 25 blocks, and was once commonly known as Sauerkraut bend. Just blocks away in nearby South town is the Blue Star Arts Complex.
Brewery on San Antonio river
It’s home to cute little coffee shops and bars, art galleries and artist workspaces, as well as the Blue Star Brewery. South town is also the best place to check out the river. The Johnson Street footbridge was moved here from Commerce Street in 1914. This is the perfect area to explore the San Antonio river, without all the crowds. Formerly a pharmacy, the Olmos Pharmacy is an old school diner and soda shop, with live music every night Their specialty drinks are Italian sodas and milkshakes. That is delicious! The Point Park & Eats is a family-friendly mobile food truck park and open-air bar near Leon Springs. There are many food trucks to choose from, as well as craft beer for the adults, and a playground for the kids. The Pearl Brewery district is one of my favorite places to explore in the city.
Pearl Farmer’s market
Right on the serene part of the river, it’s a really hip place with lots of shops and restaurants. Another really cool thing about the Pearl Brewery district is that every Saturday and Sunday, the Pearl hosts a huge Farmer’s market with over 40 local vendors. During the farmer’s market, you may even be able to join in on a session of acro-yoga, or the activity combining yoga and acrobatics for physical and mental benefits. Enjoy your time in Alamo city.
More info on Top Things to Do in San Antonio
The land and terrain of San Antonio are outstanding making the city a natural pleasure place to move around in. The city includes in its domain certain distinct natural features like the hill country, the plains, and the lakes. This part of Texas is well known for its Prairies and South Plains but best of all the city sports a wonderful river meandering through it. These geographic traits make San Antonio a beautiful city.
Besides its historical backdrop, the city is a wonderful confluence of diverse cultures marking it out to be an interesting and exciting place to visit. Its also a relatively safe city but you should always exercise some caution and that’s true of anywhere. Learning to find the best means to arrive here and to move about confidently is essential in order to have a great time.
If you plan to come here by plane then San Antonio International Airport can be reached quickly in about 75 minutes from Dallas/Fort Worth or less than an hour from Houston. Of course, you could get information about air travel from other destinations as well. Transportation from the airport to the city center is available by shuttle and also by taxi. Free shuttles are also there from the airport that drop of people at a city bus stop that comes downtown for a dollar.
The train is also a pretty good option and you have Amtrak, SAS, 350 Hoefgen and the Texas Eagle provide services from everywhere to come to San Antonio. If you have time and want to enjoy the typical South landscape then the train journey is just your thing to do. Even so a car journey will give you the same pleasure but with more leeway.
Most visitors to San Antonio arrive by either I-35, I-10, or US 281. I-10 comes from El Paso to the west and Houston to the east. I-35 comes from Austin to the north and Laredo to the south. US 281 connects with Brownsville to the south and Blanco and Johnson City to the north. I-37 completed some years ago shortens the drive to Corpus Christi on the Gulf of Mexico. Besides local buses you have Greyhound plying its services too, taking you right down to the downtown areas.
San Antonio located in the middle of Texas is of course landlocked. But there are boating opportunities available around San Antonio because of the abundance of rivers in the area. The River Walk, in downtown San Antonio, offers River Taxis that ferry people to hotels, restaurants, and shops along its banks. Its a delightfully charming way of enjoying the city and seeing all that it has to offer.
San Antonio’s bus system is known as the VIA Metropolitan Transit, which also runs the downtown streetcar service that’s also actually a bus. Bus fares are very nominal depending on the service. There are 4 different types of routes: Express, Skip, Frequent, and Metro. Express routes run from the sub-urban areas (mostly Park and Rides) to downtown. Most of them run about once every 30 minutes.
Skip service runs along the streets with high traffic. They are called Skip routes because they usually Skip bus stops that are serviced by frequent routes. Skip routes also usually run about every 30 minutes. Frequent routes can be found on high traffic roads and as the name implies, the stops are very frequent, about once every 15 minutes. Metro service is usually found in neighborhoods around the city, the frequency varies with each route, but they usually run about once an hour. Discount fares are available to children between the ages of 5 and 11, senior citizens 62 and older, Medicare recipients, persons with disabilities and students.