Austin to San Antonio
 

Flying in to Austin tomorrow morning (12/9), renting a car and driving to San Antonio for 4 day. We are looking forward to seeing the Riverwalk all decked out for Christmas and the Alamo. This is our first time in Texas. Is there any place we should stop to sightsee on our way down to San Antonio? Good place for lunch? Also could you suggest some day trips from San Antonio? We will be there from Monday thru Thursday, leaving early Friday morning. Really want to see as much as we can. Thanks so much in advance for itinerary help!

There are a few great stops on that route, including the town of Gruene, which is charming, and Natural Bridges Caverns, which is a very good cavern tour.

It's a pretty short drive, we had breakfast at SILs just west of Austin and had a late lunch and a boat tour of the River in San Antonio. New Braunfels also looked kind of interesting, mostly German, but we did not stop.

You are probably already in SA - did you stop en route or make it an express?
Day trips- eh, not really much other than Hill Country wineries. Border town violence has greatly reduced the attractiveness of a drive to a border town, plus you can pick up he same trinkets in SA at El Mercado/Market Square. Corpus Christi is a miserable excuse for a beach even in summer, and the nice beaches of South Padre are too far for a day trip. Do consider the trail of colonial missions - could spend the better part of a day on this.
For eats, the recently opened Julia's is getting raves, not far from downtown. If you want good Mexican, stay away from most of the downtown tourist spots - especially the godawful Mi Tierra - and head to places like Paloma Blanca on Broadway or La Fonda on Main. For great pub grub (and more) downtown head to The Esquire for casual fun.

Hey not sure how many days you have left on your trip. This thread has my impressions about the Missions in San Antonio, which I recommend:

https://www.fodors.com/community/uni...-pick-1652243/

We also really enjoyed El Mercado and eating at the Bakery. The governor's mansion, a half block to the cathedral in San Antonio, was one of my favorite places of all.

If you have more time in Austin, Daniel (who started the thread above) has several threads about Austin. He has great suggestions.

Five Alive