Is it worth visiting Texas’s number one tourist spot? 

Did you know that San Antonio’s River Walk is the number one tourist attraction in Texas?  So said our River Walk boat guide.¹

Why is it #1?  If you’re a proud Texas, skip over the next two paragraphs.

Texas is not a particularly scenic state in my opinion.  Sorry!  There are some pretty parts, sure.  Hill country, the Gulf Coast, Big Bend, and others spots are nice enough.  But in my experience, much of Texas is flat, desert, scrubby, and often all three.  And really hot.  It’s okay.  We can’t all be California, Hawaii, or coastal Maine.      

Given Texas’ lack of dramatic scenery and heat, it does not surprise me that a river lined with trees and vegetation, flowing through a high-spirited downtown area, and then Spanish missions, is the #1 Texas tourist attraction. 

Okay, Texans, pick back up here! 

Why Did We Choose San Antonio? 

Christmas lights along the River Walk, of course.  Mrs. Anysecondnow loves sparkling lights.  We had been in San Antonio before for an anniversary trip, but I knew she would love visiting again closer to the holidays with the lights.  Her birthday in early December + lights + warm temps = great celebration surprise trip.   

Does the River Walk deserves to be the 1# Texas tourist attraction?

Yes. Touristy as it may be in parts, the River Walk is a genuinely lovely, even charming, attraction. We got a hotel overlooking the river (more on that later) and Selena’s bridge with 30-second access to the stone paved River Walk paths on either side of the river.  

The river itself is about 20 feet below street level, decorated with giant cypress trees and vegetation, along with oh-so-cute arching bridges, fountains, mini-islands, and more.  Add in the Christmas lights, and some parts feel almost magical.  

The main River Walk area shows off restaurants and other attractions featuring right-along-the-water seating. These sections can get a bit noisy in the evenings, but within a few minutes in either direction the crowds and noise thin out and you soon have parts of the walk almost to yourselves.  

It’s also easy to pop back up to San Antonio’s main streets, glimpse the Alamo, find cheaper non-River Walk restaurants and sights, and then easily drop back down. 

I highly recommend continuing south on the River Walk, out of the downtown area. Here is where few tourists wander and you’ll mostly see locals strolling and exercising.  Outside the city landscape, the river quickly turns wilder. I spotted multiple varieties of egrets, cormorants, geese, and ducks.   

Going south along the same path also takes you through San Antonio Missions National Park. [the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Texas!] I unlocked one of San Antonio’s BCycle bikeshare electric bikes and cycled the entire River Walk.  I’m kind of a completist, so I visited all four of the missions along the trail (the downtown Alamo counts as the fifth).  Even just one of these missions is worth the visit, and getting there on the path is more than half the fun.  

Honestly, the river scenery of this part of the River Walk combined with the Spanish missions makes this one of my favorite easy bike rides in the U.S. 

So you rode one of the River Walk boats?

Of course we did!  Our hotel gave us free tickets (presumably for my wife’s birthday) but the 35-ish minute Go Rio boat tour is worth the $15 either way.  The boat captains/tour guides are fun and you get a nice river and city history while you float along the canal, waving at the pedestrians and diners. Do it. 

I’m tired of the flowing water, anything else to do besides the River Walk?

Oh yeah.  We also elevator’d to the top of the nearby Tower of the Americas (just barely worth the $20) and ambled through the slightly-north-of-downtown Japanese tea garden (definitely worth a visit, plus it’s free).  

There are several museums including the Briscoe Western Art Museum along the River Walk. I hear the zoo is pretty good as well.  

As good as all of those other sights are, if you are in San Antonio between March and November² on a weekend, you should try to see a rodeo.  Embrace your inner Americana.The foreigners there were clearly making some 'let's buy cowboy hats and really get into this unusual rodeo thing' memories to share with their friends back in Europe and Asia.!  For me, once was enough, but I’m glad I did it. Tejas Rodeo Company puts on a good show and we enjoyed some pre-show Texas bbq and steak at their adjacent steakhouse.

 If you’ve got any adventurous kids between 4-7, you can even enter them in the rodeo’s  “Mutton Bustin’” competition.  Call me a whiny East Coast progressive, but putting your kid on a sheep and telling them to hang on for a paying audience seems like one of those activities that might be labeled as abusive fifty years from now – or possibly right now in 2025? 

But I admit it was entertaining to watch and the kids seemed pretty enthusiastic. 

Let’s just move on . . .  

How about the food? 

You can probably get a bad meal in San Antonio but you would have to work at it.  Even a late evening snack at the local Chipotle hit the spot for Mrs. Anysecondnow.  

Our premier meal, the all-important birthday meal itself, took place riverside at Boudros.  Mrs. Anysecondnow proclaimed her coconut Gulf shrimp platter the best she’s ever had.  And they even gave us a free piece of lime chess pie for dessert.   

San Antonio has no shortage of good TexMex, of course.  I enjoyed the just off the River Walk Poblanos for a cheap breakfast on two mornings, but it’s tough to go wrong with almost any Mexican place.  

For something different, we tried the German deli spot Schilos (lotsa Germans settled in parts of Texas). I didn’t love my schnitzel sandwich as much as I hoped, but Schilos has been around since 1917, so maybe I got unlucky.  

What about the hotel? 

There are tons of hotels to choose from along and near the River Walk.  But for this trip I was targeting specific lodging – the Omni La Mansión Del Rio.  I had spotted the Spanish style balconies overlooking the river on a previous trip and decided “That’s where I want to stay next time.”  A river view room like the one we reserved costs more but it was well worth it.   

Wow, sounds like an overall great winter getaway.  Probably nice and warm, right?  

Welllll . . . 

For me, enjoyable winter escapes from Virginia require two things – cold temps here at home in Virginia and warm temps at the destination.  Virginia did its part – highs were in the 30s all 3.5 days we were gone.  It even snowed an inch on day 3!  

It did not snow in San Antonio (thank goodness) but San Antonio underperformed its usual December 65 degree average high.  Our highs were 57, 51, and 50, with the first two days dropping some rain and wind on us.  I was thankful for some smudges of sun and blue sky on Day 3, but the sun and warmth didn’t really come out until Day 4 and at that point we were Lyft-ing to the airport for a noon flight home.  Of note, Mrs. Anysecondnow prefers cooler weather without direct sun, so the weather was perfect for her and it was even her birthday.  

So, actually, maybe the weather was just right?

1. Not surprisingly, the #1 Texas tourist attraction is a little tough to pin down. Trip Advisor seems to concur with our boat guide.  So does the (possibly biased) University of Texas-San Antonio.   Kind of.  They actually say the Alamo is #1, but the Alamo is next to the Riverwalk.  If you’re seeing one, you’re almost certainly seeing the other.  For what it’s worth, TripAdvisor separates out the Alamo at #3.  
   
   There does seem to be more agreement that San Antonio is Texas’ most popular city for tourists.   
   
   With all that, I’m pretty comfortable going with our boat guide’s assertion.
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2. We did the rodeo on a previous San Antonio trip since they don’t put on shows in December. ↩︎