Austin or San Antonio for base?
 

Do you recommend flying into and getting a hotel in Austin or San Antonio for a long 3 or 4 day weekend? I will be flying in from DC and plan to rent a car to do one of these cities as a day trip. Or, do you think it's worth it to get hotels in both cities? If so, does it make sense to fly in to one city and out of the other, or just one airport with a roundtrip drive to the other city as a day trip? Thanks.

I think you would get responses 50/50 on which is better. But what kinds of things interest you? Need to know that first.

It always helps to know your interests. I visit SA 10 times for every trip to Austin, but SA is closer for me. However, Austin does have a nice capital area, UT and music night scene. I became interested in seeing Gutenberg Bibles after a trip to Mainz and there is one of the five in the US on display at UT. Both cities are unique, though, and if you have not seen either, I would say sample both.

My preference would be to fly into SA. I have not looked lately, but my thought is SA is better served by airlines. I have flown in/out of SA recently and it is pretty easy to get in/out and on your way.

The drive between SA and Austin is only about 1.5 hrs on interstate so you can do either in a easy day trip. There are also at least two large outlet malls on the interstate between the cities if shopping interests you.

I would shop flights and see what kind of flights are available in/ouit of each. Check the car drop fee or even if a drop is allowed. I tried to rent from SAT and was not allowed to drop it in February.

It might be worth it to fly into one city and out the other; check flights. Austin has a lot of direct/non-stop flights and I know people will drive there to get a better flight. So if all things are equal, I'd fly into one and out of the other so you don't have to drive back just to catch a flight.

We like flying into one and out of the other as we are sight-seeing around the areas in between. Southwest is a major airlines for the area so I would check out their fares if they are an option for you.