San Antonio Travel Guide: 24 Hours Exploring the River Walk, Missions, Alamo & More

welcome to San Antonio Texas one of my favorite cities we visited during our 12-day Whirlwind Adventure through the state come with us as we explore the iconic Riverwalk the historic Alamo and the bustling Pearl District among many other things along the way we'll try some delicious Mexican food and barbecue and give you tons more recommendations for your own 24 hours in the city let us know what we left off in the comments and let's jump into one full day in San Antonio Texas good we began the day in San Antonio by heading downtown and visiting La Panaderia this restaurant was opened in 2014 by two brothers with a love for baking and since then it's become a really popular spot for breakfast in the city I'm happy to report that everything here is excellent but the Almond croissant is especially where it's at so don't leave without trying that [Music] from there it's only a five minute walk to San Antonio's most famous site the Alamo it was here that a galleon few the bravest of the Brave threw themselves between the enemy and the settlements determined never to surrender nor retreat they redeemed their pledge to Texas with the Forfeit of their lives they fell The Chosen sacrifice to Texas freedom that is pretty amazing I'm not going to go into a detailed description of the history of the battle in this video as many better videos have already been made on it on YouTube and I will link to those in the description that being said the Battle of the Alamo is one of the turning points in the Texas Revolution here 189 Texans were killed after a 13-day Siege this led to the rally cry Remember the Alamo which became as simple during the Texas Revolution the Alamo itself is Tiny and you need to get a timed entry ticket if you want to walk through it but it's definitely worth taking a few hours out of your day in San Antonio to experience this unique part of History after leaving the main building you can walk around the outside and there's a few more buildings that have information on the history plus a gift shop if you want to pick up a souvenir you absolutely must visit the Alamo if you're in San Antonio that was fascinating so much history even though it's a tiny spot it's still well worth exploring planned for at least a couple hours now we're continuing to explore Texas history with the Buckhorn Saloon the Buckhorn Saloon is only a few minutes walk from the Alamo and it houses the Buckhorn saluna Museum and the Texas Ranger Museum this place has been here since 1881. look at how cool it is even if you don't want to explore the museum be sure to walk into the main Saloon and you could get lunch or a drink here as well pretend like you're doing something a cowboy would do you gotta shoot or something I can put something moving click click effective gun [Laughter] if you want to go in it costs about 23 dollars a person when we went but there is a lot of stuff to see here we saw some of these guys in Fort Worth most of the Buckhorn museum is on the second floor and as you're walking around you get great views down into the saloon rattles look at these snakes they're as tall as possesses look how old the snake is if you count those it tells you how old are you I don't know if I've ever seen so many stuffed animals in one exhibit it is uh certainly a unique experience [Music] pops we've made it under the sea this is a trip [Music] as we continue There is an American Sideshow exhibit I never knew what was going to be around each quarter in this Museum in the Cabinet of Curiosities whoa the grossest thing I've ever seen [Music] all right I mean this place is pretty cool after you finish with the Buckhorn Museum you can go back downstairs and go to the Texas Ranger Museum before exiting this museum has lots of History photographs and guns from the Texas Rangers plus there's an entire replica western town you can walk through complete with the saloon and even a jail cell they caught the ruthless outlaw and putting him away where he belongs ruthless pups you're not gonna be able to get back up just waiting out your time leave me alone trying to sleep here so this is just a fake funny and high death car you could see by the bullet holes the real ones supposedly in Primal Las Vegas you can see it in this video it's interesting they don't have that one here though looks like it'd be a cool place the museum was more expensive than I thought it was going to be at around 25 a person but it was pretty cool pretty big lots of stuff to see in there so maybe worth it if you're interested heading on to the next spot next up we drove about 10 minutes outside of the downtown area to visit the historic Market Square this is a unique place for shopping and for restaurants it's the largest Mexican market in the United States this area is about Three City Blocks with a large cement walking area down the middle and then different buildings with specialty shops inside of them there's lots of restaurants but we're gonna head on to get Puffy Tacos which is something that was created in San Antonio plus I'm going to give you a barbecue recommendation if you want to do that instead first up Puffy Tacos at Ray's Drive-In about 15 minutes outside of the downtown area the puffy Taco is a beloved San Antonio staple and the mascot of their minor league baseball team is even the puffy taco while the exact creation date for the puffy Taco is unknown supposedly it was sometime between the early to mid 1900s at rays more lightly fried it's a little bit hairy it doesn't taste greasy like you'd expect from like a fried shell very good you had to get close and hear this crunch very good if you're looking for barbecue 15 minutes on the other side of San Antonio is 2m Smokehouse this spot is supposedly one of the best in the city 2m Smokehouse the spots only open Thursday through Sunday and it has a great Vibe with lots of outdoor seating and murals painted on the wall we got there about 15 minutes before they opened and it took us about 30 minutes to get through the line this spot was also on Texas monthly's top 50 barbecue joints and one of the things they're known for is actually the sides the literature they talk about the glassy sweet glaze I'm excited to try it very sweet very delicious different the sweetness is different than what we value very nice the sites here are incredibly strong via Lotte and then this is chicharoni mac and cheese and then we got beans all of them are very strong I think it's a very good spot it's got some interesting uniquenesses about it with the way they do the chicharrones and this barbecue sauce that they have so it's kind of gives you a different Taste of things it's kind of fun heading back in to San Antonio to explore some missions we're starting the mission tour with the southernmost Mission Espada and we're going to do all four of these ending at Mission Concepcion these missions make up the San Antonio Missions Historical Park which is actually a UNESCO world heritage site what's incredibly impressive about being the UNESCO world heritage site is that there's only 24 of them in the United States these sites are protected due to their natural cultural historical or scientific form of significance and when you think about all the special places we have in the United States and that this was one of only 24 that were given this designation it's pretty amazing to see I'm going through them quickly here but I'm hoping to make another video on them in the future and you can actually bike or drive between all of them a side trip from the missions but this is the historic aqueduct the oldest Spanish aqueduct in the United States and it was built between 1740 and 1745. if you only have time to visit One mission while in San Antonio make sure that it's Mission San Jose this one has a large Visitor Center with docents you can ask questions to and lots of information on the mission's history plus it's one of the largest and most complete of the San Antonio Missions we just entered our third mission and this one's already incredibly impressive there's all sorts of housing along the sides basically a complete wall and then the chapel is over there this mission is over 300 years old and it's one of the best to see as it was almost completely restored in the 1930s what you see here is of course the massive church building in the center but you also see the entire Community aspect that surrounded it here you can get an idea of where people lived and where they worked and what life was like on the mission some of the rooms even have artifacts and things left in them to give you that experience from there we made our way to the last mission which was another small one but was still interesting to see and explore a little bit also note that all of these are free to visit these missions are beautiful well restored it's amazing they're still functioning Catholic churches which is also really cool definitely recommend you come down here there's lots of things about it you wouldn't expect that you'll enjoy it only takes a few hours to see them all too if you're driving or if you want to make a full half day out of it you can rent a bike and you can go between all of them 20 minutes away was our next stop [Music] [Applause] some big cowboy boots hey look they got the lacing and everything these are really really well done the pop said note that they are not real they're fake boots but they're not actually made of leather you need to know that this is a little far away from most visits to San Antonio but pops really wanted to see them and they're 35 feet tall can you fit under the heel almost those are some pretty big boots that's the spot you probably don't want to go to unless you have a car it's about 15 to 20 minutes outside of the city but I mean it's fun when you're in Texas you gotta see the world's largest cowboy boots [Music] we're down in the Pearl District which is a hit Eating shopping area plus it has access to the Riverwalk so just gonna walk around a little bit but there's one part of the Riverwalk called The Grotto that I want to see it's right down here the Pearl area of San Antonio is definitely one that's worth visiting is built around the historic Pearl Brewing building which was a brewery that made beer from 1883 to 2001. it's a great way to access the Riverwalk which is like a massive pedestrian walkway that goes to the center of downtown San Antonio there it is The Grotto of the San Antonio Riverwalk right there in order to access The Grotto you'll have to walk over the bridge and then back down to the other side of the Riverwalk it's well worth it though as this is one of those places you'd never expect to see here it's one of those places where you want to spend a little bit of time and just wander around as there's lots of little hidden things for you to find watch out pops the giant skull is going to eat you good acting the Pearl area is really cool The Grotto area is really cool but San Antonio is really humid right now and it's only March I can't imagine what it's like in the summer after exploring The Grotto we made our way back to the Pearl and we were going to continue on but then we found out they had an ice cream shop there and since it was so humid it felt like a good idea the ice cream shop was called lick and it had all sorts of fun flavors like lavender crisp and orange chocolate which one is pups that one or that one the caramel Salt Lick is where it's at that is an amazing ice cream Pop's got like a lavender though after checking into our hotel it was back into downtown San Antonio to explore Tower of the Americas so my dad you know he's not going up there but I'm gonna go up there and then I'm gonna meet up with him for dinner be sure to check out the water features at the base and then grab your ticket and head up to the top of the 750 foot Tower [Music] made it to the top it's kind of hilarious this one feels like the one in Dallas so maybe it's built by the same people still really cool though this Tower was built in 1968 for the World's Fair and it was actually the tallest observation tower in the United States until the Stratosphere in Las Vegas was built [Music] foreign it's a 360 degree observation tower so you can walk around the outside in both an indoor and an outdoor area and as you can tell from the wind I spent most of my time in the indoor area [Music] there's also a lot of Texas history up here that you can read about if you're interested but I didn't stay for too long and headed back down to the base pops is taking an Uber over our dinner spot and I'm just walking it's supposed to be one of the top rated Tex-Mex places in San Antonio so we'll see how it goes created in 1992 rosarios is often voted one of the best Mexican food restaurants in all of San Antonio we were told that it seats over 500 people and that there's often a two-hour line just to eat here luckily for us on a weekday during March Madness we didn't have any weight for some reason I forgot to write down what we got but I can honestly say that everything we had was incredible and it was a great spot for dinner all we have left for our time in San Antonio is to walk the Riverwalk a little bit more and then see if maybe the boats are running when we get there and we can take a boat tour to end our video from the restaurant it was only about a five minute walk to connect with the Riverwalk it says our Chavez Boulevard it's like an urban Highway for pedestrians and it's beautiful and there's lots of light this is a really cool place I've been wanting to see the Riverwalk for as long as I can remember and I can honestly say it lives up to expectations as you walk closer to the main area it's so cool to see all the light up boats going past you the restaurants the hotels it's just a super unique place to explore even with as touristy as it is I felt like it lived up to my expectations also if you go you really have to experience it at night of course it's cool during the day as well but there's just something special about seeing it at night we made our way towards Market Street and the place that you could check in for the go Rio River Cruises I didn't book it in advance and it was pretty busy so it took about 30 minutes for us to get onto a boat I was surprised that it only cost 14 a person and it's definitely well worth that cost the tour was about 30 minutes in length and our guide told us all about the history of everything we were seeing and took us on a pretty full Cruise of the downtown Riverwalk area foreign especially fun to weave around the boats and go under the historic Bridges as we made our way around the canals the San Antonio Riverwalk is a place I'll for sure be back to I had a great time here and I didn't get to spend as much time as I really wanted to [Music] be sure to give me all of your San Antonio recommendations in the comments that boat was a blast it wasn't too expensive and it was a great 35 minute narrated tour showed you the entire Riverwalk definitely do it while you're here and with that our 24 hours in San Antonio is done hopefully you enjoyed exploring with us and we will see you on the next one [Music]

Channel: Through My Lens

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Id: 52hieeRXFl4

Length: 17min 7sec (1027 seconds)

Published: Sun May 14 2023