Dallas or San Antonio
 

Hello,

I am planning a trip this weekend,leaving this Friday, but cant decide between Dallas and San Antonio. Actually, it has mostly to do with the weather. The weather just got quite chilly here. I hear that it gets quite windy in Dallas and cold, whipping winds can be quite uncomfortable. In San Antonio, I would probably be spending most of my time at River Walk. However, again, cold evening could make the walk with 9-month old baby a bit unpleasant. As per weather report, it would be low 70s in the day, which is good, but low 50s in the evening this Friday. So, perhaps, I should wait till it gets a bit warmer?

If I do end up in Dallas, could you recommend places to go? I am not much into museums or art. Places popular among the locals, shopping and just exploring the city would be our main interests.

If I end up in San Antonio, is the day after Thanksgiving a good time to visit River Walk or is everything closed and deserted? Also, have they setup all those christmas lights yet?

What are the good areas in San Antonio to find family-friendly hotel? Is downtown San Antonio/RiverWalk area a good area to get a hotel?

Also, I just learned about light parade set for this Friday and thousands of people are expected. Is this a family-oriented event or more like Mardi Gras?

Come to San Antonio--it is going to be beautiful this weekend! The river parade and lighting ceremony are totally family oriented--our friends take their children every year. It's a special time to be downtown and popular so you may have difficulty finding a room. The only area downtown I would avoid at this time due to construction, etc. is the market place--otherwise, you should be fine.

http://thesanantonioriverwalk.com/Events/index.asp

I second SA. It's going to be very nice weather this weekend. AND, if it's the lighting ceremony, even more reason.

It is quite chilly this weekend in Dallas. We almost made it to freezing last night! Fortunately, the wind has died down, and it is supposed to be about 65 for the high on Saturday.

Honestly, I'd vote for San Antonio!

Another vote for S.A., especially to experience the river parade and lights. It's really nice.

Dallas metro is four times the population of San Antonio metro and has much more to see and do. SA's basic attraction is, as you suggested, the Riverwalk. That and a couple of theme parks. It is popular mostly as a weekend getaway for the much larger metros of Dallas and Houston.

Dallas and San Antonio weather will be similar. They both are on the same prairie, about 300 miles apart.

In Dallas, you go to places like the downtown World Aquarium, go up Reunion Tower for a view of the city, visit the Kennedy museum and historic area, you stroll along McKinney Avenue, or ride an old-fashioned trolley to a popular neighborhood called West Village.

Many people who visit Dallas take a day trip to nearby Fort Worth, for its unique old west atmosphere.

Dallas is a business town; San Antonio is a great tourist town. In Dallas, you'll be spending a lot of time in the car trying to get someplace. In SA, it's all on the Riverwalk. And the Christmas tree lighting ceremony is beautiful!

I'd agree with you, happytourist, that once you're on the Riverwalk, there's not much else in SA to visit.

Unlike San Antonio, however, Dallas has a good rail transit system that will take you to many points of interest, such as Mockingbird Station, the West Village, NorthPark Mall, downtown Plano, the Dallas Zoo, the nature trails around White Rock Lake...

But downtown Dallas has some attractions you can reach on foot.
. The Kennedy Museum and historic site
. Reunion Tower
. The Dallas World Aquarium and Zoo
. The original Neiman-Marcus store
. Pioneer Park ... an entire cattle drive with three drovers and about 70 steers ... all life-sized
. The McKinney Avenue Trolley ... kids love it
. Ice skating in a downtown hotel
. Old City Place ... a 19th century village of old buildings, that will show you farmhouses, doctor's offices, a blacksmith shop, things like that...
. Many restaurants and some shopping in the West End
. Walk on the wild side in Deep Ellum
. Stroll thru the sidewalk cafes and galleries of Texas' only true urban residential neighborhood... Uptown Dallas along McKinney Avenue...

Other things are just a cab ride away... for example, there is a new airplane museum, Called Frontiers of Flight... many aircraft hanging from the ceiling, interactive displays, the cockpit of a 737 cut away from the rest of the aircraft...

Fair Park is also a short cab ride away... it is a huge assembly of art deco buildings, many of them museums... my favorite is the railroad museum.

You can reach downtown Fort Worth easily by frequent commuter train... and then go to a place of interest called the Fort Worth Stockyards... fun.

The Galleria Mall is so unusual and out-of-the-ordinary that about 35% of its customers are from out of town, if not from out of the United States. If shopping is one of your interests, Dallas is where you need to be.

gzseattle
I am in SA right now, visiting for Thanksgiving from PA. Having been to Dallas before, which is a great town, my vote having now been to SA to come here. Weather is great, not overly cold although they have been having their share of rain. There is no cold weather forecast from what I can see, maybe just some more rain which the Big D will possibly get as well. The parade is scheduled for tomorrow night but reservations are suggested so you can view it. We are staying at the Marriott Rivercenter which is a 4* hotel and well deserving of it. The staff here just can't do enough for us, and constantly asking to do more. Very service oriented, lots of families around. Also, don't know about this weekend, but we were upgraded to the concierge level due to low occupancy on Weds. Nice perks there, cont. breakfast, tea, evening hors d'oeuvres and then late night brownies. Come on down!

The Galleria Mall is so unusual and out-of-the-ordinary??????????????
How do you figure?
It has nothing but typical mall stores and no Neiman's. The few independant stores are VERY ordinary.
I like the Galleria, but it's nothing special.
McKinney Ave and Oaklawn have better 'shops'.

TxTravelPro, I can't believe we're talking about the same Galleria. I'd say it has shops that are definitely not "typical". The electronics shop on the third floor has high priced goods that Best Buy doesn't carry. The book and record shop (Shakespeare, Beethoven...) is the only one of its kind in Dallas. What about the Gianni Versace shop... is that "typical"? No. Or the Tiffany's... expect to find that in Mesquite or Frisco?

The last time I was there, a sizable fraction of the customers were obvious foreigners, like the elderly Japanese couple I gave a seat to. The reason for the seat... so they could watch the ice show on the ground floor skating rink.

A lady I work with, from San Jose, CA, was stunned by the Galleria... she has seen nothing like it in the Bay Area. My daughter's boyfriend, from Oregon, was muttering things like... "this blows away anything we've got back home".

The Grand Lux restaurant... I hear that there are only 4 or 5 others in the United States... another example of the specialized product offerings you can find there.

Of course it has mid-range shops... not everybody is wealthy. But it also has the high end product that people are apparently willing to travel to Dallas to find.

Hello,

Wow! Thanks for the great info. For now, I have made a reservation at Wyndham (St. Anthony) hotel in SA for Friday night just so that I can also be there for the thanksgiving events. Has anyone stayed at this hotel? How far is it from River Walk and how is the location (can we walk to River Walk in the evening)?

I will be in Big-D in Spring.

gzseattle, I'll be happy to offer some more suggestions when you come to visit the DFW area. I can definitely help you with places to go, shopping trips and exploring the city, as you suggested.

Not this weekend, though. I'm getting ready for a weekend camping trip on the the forested shores of one of our lakes... the weather is forecast to be gorgeous, and as much as I like being in the city, sometimes getting away into the woods is a pretty good relaxant.

When you come to Dallas, you will find many picturesque urban neighborhoods, but one that I reccommend is called West Village, in Uptown Dallas. Its street life and architecture is more like a city in Europe than a city in Texas, and you can sit back on an outdoor table, drinking a coffee, and watch the world go by. I reccommend Paciugo's ice cream shop for some of the best Italian Gelato you've ever tasted.

Also, as for shopping... there is a district in Northwest Dallas that has dozens, if not hundreds of import shops from various Asian countries, and other parts of the world. Formerly a warehouse district, the buildings have been converte to vast low-cost retail... when I go byon the weekends, the crowds are so thick they have off-duty police working to direct traffic.

Hi gzseattle, glad you chose San Antonio--you won't be disappointed! You'll be just a block or two from the River Walk. The St. Anthony is beautiful and they have one of the best Sunday brunches in town. It's a little overcast this morning but no rain is in the forecast. Enjoy a safe trip :-)

The DMN's www.guidelive.com is a good source for current info re: Dallas and the metroplex.
Dallas has more restaurants per capita than anyplace in the US (perhaps the Americas) and shopping cannot be far behind.
M

I travel to both SA and Dallas regularly, and would definately vote for SA. Dallas is a business town. Lots of Lexus and BMW SUV's, but not alot to do for a tourist. I actually lived there for a while, didn't mind it, but if I had to choose one it would be SA.

As for Dallas, if I did go as a tourist, I'd spend most of my time in Ft Worth. Outside of the 6th floor museum and Sammy's BBQ (which both could easily be done in 3 hours) Ft. Worth has all of the true feeling of the area.

Gz:

Never been to either city but did research on the Internet of San Antonio and no matter what is in Dallas I'd take San Antonio in a minute! It looks like a gorgeous city. What I've heard from others is that Dallas isn't such a great town for sightseeing.

Ok, the Galleria has a Tiffany's and Versace but it's still a mall, with standard mall stores: Old Navy, Gap, Banana Rep, Bath and Body Works, Victoria's Secret, William's and Sonoma, Cache', etc... it does have a great Macy's.
Like I said, I really do like the Galleria but other than a few stores which may or may not be what someone is looking for, it's just a mall.
Most US tourists are NOT looking for a Versace store. They are looking for interesting shopping, unique shops.
Because of the exchange rate, many foreign tourists are interested in buying high dollar fashion in Dallas. I just took some Europeans last month. They found some good deals (for them) at the Galleria but REALLY loved Sam Moon and all the silver shops on Harry Hines and the small boutiques at Oak Lawn and they LOVED First Monday at Canton. The Galleria was on the bottom of the list of 'favorite things' they did while in Dallas.

Add me to the list of Galleria haters. The awful parking garages are a major turn off for me, as is the traffic in the Galleria area. I've never bought anything at Tiffany or Versace in my life.
Sam Moon and First Monday are also much more my style! :-)