San Antonio Travel Guide
Three Days in San Antonio
A three-day itinerary that sequences the heat, the timed tickets and the evenings right — the Alamo and the river, the Mission Trail by bike, Pearl and the Museum Reach, and an optional fourth day underground or at the parks.
Three days is the right amount of time for a first visit to San Antonio. It is enough to see the Alamo and the River Walk without rushing, to spend a full day on the missions, to eat well at Pearl and Market Square, and to enjoy the city's evening rituals. This itinerary assumes you are staying downtown or on the River Walk and that you will walk most of the time; add a car or rideshares for the optional extras.
Before you go. Reserve a free timed ticket for the Alamo Church on the official site for the morning of day one, and decide whether to add the Alamo Exhibit, the audio tour or a guided battlefield tour. Book a GO RIO river cruise for the afternoon of day one if it is a weekend or a holiday. If you want a sunset dinner at the Chart House atop the Tower of the Americas, reserve ahead. Check the Saga schedule — it runs Tuesday through Sunday — and plan your nights around it. If you will be cycling the missions, check bike-share station locations near your hotel.
Day one: the Alamo and the river. Start at the Alamo at opening with your timed ticket. Visit the church first, then the Long Barrack, the gardens and the living-history encampment, where interpreters demonstrate 1830s life and fire muskets at set times. Spend time in the Ralston Family Collections Center with the Phil Collins Collection, the best way to understand the 1836 battle and the people on all sides. Expect construction around the plaza as the new museum rises, with an opening scheduled for 2028. Have lunch on the River Walk a block away, then rest through the hottest part of the day. In the late afternoon, take the narrated GO RIO cruise for an overview of the river, then walk the downtown loop to La Villita and the Arneson River Theatre. After dark, head to Main Plaza for the Saga, the free light show on San Fernando Cathedral, and finish with dinner on the river or at Market Square, a few blocks west.
Day two: the Mission Trail. Get up early for the missions. The best way is by bike on the Mission Reach hike-and-bike trail, which follows the river south from downtown past all four missions in San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. Start at Mission Concepción, the closest to town and among the oldest unrestored stone churches in the United States, then continue to Mission San José, where the park visitor center has a film and ranger programs and the walled compound and Rose Window show a mission at its fullest. Continue to Mission San Juan and finally Mission Espada and the Espada Aqueduct, still carrying water three centuries after it was built. The missions are free. Bring plenty of water and sunscreen, and plan lunch on the way back toward Southtown or downtown. If you prefer to drive, follow the signed Mission Trail and allow three to four hours. Rest in the afternoon. In the evening, head up the Tower of the Americas for sunset over the city and the Hill Country, then dinner at the Chart House or on the River Walk.
Day three: the Museum Reach, art and Pearl. Walk north from downtown on the Museum Reach of the River Walk, the most beautiful part of the river, with public art under the bridges and a lock where barges change levels. Stop at the San Antonio Museum of Art, housed in the old Lone Star Brewery, for antiquities, Asian art and its outstanding Latin American galleries. Continue to Pearl, the former brewery district, for lunch; if it is Saturday, the farmers market is in full swing, and on Sunday the artisans' market takes over. Spend the afternoon browsing Pearl's shops, relaxing by the river or visiting Hotel Emma's library and bar. In the evening, have dinner at Pearl or return downtown for a last walk along the River Walk under the lights.
Optional day four: underground or at the parks. With a car, spend a morning at Natural Bridge Caverns, half an hour north of downtown, where an hour-long guided tour descends 180 feet into a living cave that stays around seventy degrees all year — perfect on hot days. In the afternoon, continue to the historic town of Gruene and the river town of New Braunfels. Families might instead choose SeaWorld San Antonio, with orcas, belugas and coasters, or Six Flags Fiesta Texas, built in a limestone quarry with some of the best coasters in Texas. The San Antonio Zoo in Brackenridge Park is a shorter outing, combining well with the Japanese Tea Garden and the Witte Museum.
Adjusting for the season. In summer, start every day at dawn and keep the afternoons for museums, the caverns and pools; evenings are pleasant. In spring and autumn, you can stay outdoors all day. During Fiesta in April, the city is packed with parades and parties, so book early and build the festival into your days. From late November to early January, the River Walk holiday lights make the evenings magical.
With children. Swap the Museum of Art for the zoo or the DoSeum children's museum, add a theme park day, and keep the Saga and the river cruise, which children love. The missions by bike suit older children; younger ones do better by car with stops at San José and Espada.