Driving from Houston to San Antonio
 

Hi there, we will have four or five days in August to drive from Houston to San Antonio. We don't need to take the most direct route (perhaps via Dallas?) and would like to have opinions on a 'touristy' drive and what to see along the way. This will be our first time in Texas.

Thanks in advance for all suggestions.

Cheers.

If you like waterparks, Visit The Schlitterbahn in New Braunsfel. Best one ever!!!

I'm a little confused by your reference to Dallas. Do you mean that that could be your indirect route from Houston to San Antonio? It surely would be indirect, but lots of driving between the cities without too much noteworthy.

I don't mean to be discouraging, but you will be coming to Texas at a pretty hellacious time of year. Temperatures in August range from the upper 90's to over 100 F daily. Even Texans don't like Texas then! You'll have to work with the heat, doing your outside activities as early in the day as possible. I would suggest you take your 4 or 5 days in areas surrounding San Antonio--Austin, and/or Hill Country drives west/northwest of San Antonio providing you enjoy rural scenery. If you prefer cityscapes, then concentrate on Austin.

If you didn't come from an area with such incredible beaches, I might have suggested South Padre Island, but you do, so I'm afraid you would be disappointed with that, but water offers a little escape from the heat.

I hope you have an enjoyable trip, tho wish you could be coming at almost any other time of year than August! Again, I don't mean to be Debbie Downer--everything is air conditioned of course, even outside dining in San Antonio often has misters making al fresco dining entirely comfortable. Have fun, be ready for heat, and just make the best of it.

Thanks Spriobulldog.

OO no choice on timing I am afraid as I have a four day work conference in San Antonio at the end of August. Perhaps we are best just to do Houston, Austin and San Antonio? We just thought driving may give us the chance to take a look at the coutryside. I fully understand is is going to be extremely hot, Perth in Summer is just as hot and very dry with temperatures in the 40's very common and Mauritius is not an humid for a large part of the year. Personally I find the really hot and dry heat easier to do things in than the high humidity we get in Mauritius. We live our whole life in summer weather so we will be fine.

We like Musuems, historical sites, great food, wine and music and are also hoping to seeing a Rodeo.

Any suggestions on highlights for Austin and Houston?

Just a quick reply right now until I have time to write more later. But, there used to be a rodeo in Simonton, which is a small town outside of Houston. I live in Clear Lake, close the Space Center Houston, and have often wanted to drive out to Simonton to see the rodeo, but haven't gotten to one yet. I am not sure if it still is held and I am not sure even if it is in the summer. Maybe someone else knows about it?

Thanks Kkukura. Just having a look at the map and certainly if we want to go to Dallas we have plenty of time, maybe two nights in Dallas, 2 nights in Austin and on to San Antonio. We don't mind driving 2 to 4 hours a day in a nice air conditioned car. Understand we will need to do everything in air con but we know what severe heat feels like.

So if we do drive Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio what (if anything) should we stop and see between cities?

Stop in Luling for good BBQ.

City Market BBQ @ 633 E. Davis St., Luling, TX 830 - 875 - 9019.
http://www.lulingcitymarket.com/menu.html

To be honest with you I think you would enjoy spending time driving around the Hill Country than driving between the big cities of Houston and Dallas. I do not find those drives to be interesting...just a way to get from one city to another. Now, staying put in the Austin-San Antonio-Hill Country area gives you more options for wonderful country drives on back roads that wind up and down and around. Plus, that area can offer you a lot of varied activites to do. That is one of my favorite parts of TX to go to.

What dates will you be in the area?

Here are some rodeos in the general vicinity. There aren't any large rodeos at this time of year but there are some small ones in the small towns. I haven't been to any of these except the first one. And it's a Ranch Rodeo and they are very fun. Not the traditional rodeo events.

Hotter Than Hell Ranch Rodeo
Presented By: Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce
& Produced by: Triple R Rodeo
August 19th & 20th , 2011
City Park Arena - Pleasanton, Texas (30 miles south of San Antonio)


PALOMINO FEST PRO RODEO, Sanctioned: CPRA/UPRA, UVALDE, TEXAS, AUG. 31, SEPT. 1 & 2, 2012. Uvalde is on U.S. highways 90 and 83, eighty-three miles west of San Antonio.

LIBERTY HILL PRO RODEO, Sanctioned: UPRA/CPRA, 2 Perfs: Aug. 31 - 7:30PM; Sept. 1 - 7:30PM. Liberty Hill is on State Highway 29 in the Hill Country fifteen miles west of Georgetown and thirty-three miles northwest of Austin.

If I'm reading correctly this one has a weekly rodeo every Saturday night until August 25th. http://twinelmranch.net/rodeo.htm. Bandera, TX is 40 miles (64 km) northwest of downtown San Antonio.

Thanks for the information on the rodeos. I might just check one out myself this summer!

Dallas is waaaay out of the way. I'd stick to the original plan of Houston/Austin/san Antonio. Tell us what interests you and we can make better suggestions.

Sorry, just saw your likes... If you know the dates you can google rodeo, Texas and see what dates they are. Not a lot in the deep heat of August.

If you like music then Austin is your best bet. Late August will have college football so may keep that in mind when coming to Austin. The Blanton museum is a gem as well as the Bob Bullock Texas History museum (almost across the street from each other). Austin has so many good restaurants too, and lots of wine bars. Really sounds like you would enjoy Austin!

Dallas is about 5 hours from San Antonio and Houston. I wouldn't venture this far north. Stay in the San Antonio / Austin area.

Fredricksburg and New Braunfels would be good stopover destinations.

You mentioned that you don't mind driving 2 to 4 hours in a air conditioned car, but, as jill_h pointed out, it's about 5 hours from San Antonio to Dallas. The driving would eat up so much time on a four or five day trip. I'm assuming you're flying into IAH, so I would recommend keeping to the Houston to San Antonio and Austin area.

For the drive between Houston and San Antonio, you might enjoy stopping at the Painted Churches of Schulenburg. http://schulenburgchamber.org/tours/churches/

In San Antonio: enjoy the Riverwalk, tour the Alamo and other missions, eat at Mi Tierra or La Margarita in the Market Square.

As you are leaving San Antonio towards Austin, make a stop at the Natural Bridge Caverns. http://www.naturalbridgecaverns.com/

In Austin, visit the Capitol building and Bob Bullock Museum, walk the Zilker Hike and Bike trail by Lady Bird Lake (early to avoid the heat of course), watch the bats emerge from the Congress Avenue Bridge, enjoy the music scene and more. http://www.batcon.org/index.php/get-...tegory/51.html

Oh, forgot to mention that you might enjoy stopping for some great barbeque.

Lockhart is a popular place to stop. http://www.lockhart-tx.org/web98/vis...taloftexas.asp

Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood is also popular. http://www.saltlickbbq.com/

Houston has a lot of great museums from the small Art Car and Buffalo Soldier to the large world class Natural History and Fine Art Museums. The Holocaust, Menil, Printing History as well as many others are all worth a visit depending on your interests. NASA I think is a must see when coming to Houston. To satisfy your interest in history you could combine NASA with a swing by the San Jacinto Monument which is where the Texans avenged the Alamo, which is of course is a must see when you are in San Antonio.

To the suggestions you have already received for Austin I would suggest a tour of the Capital building. All these museums are within walking distance of each other. Of course the opportunities for music are endless on 6th Street. It is pretty crazy with college kids on Thursday nights as well as Friday and Saturday nights especially if there is a home football game. Just a heads up in case you are seeking, or not seeking, that experience.

On the drive to San Antonio you might enjoy detouring through Fredricksberg. The Admiral Nimitz Museum details the US involvement in the Pacific during WWII.

One last thing, it is lucky you are use to high humidity as that is what you will find in Houston in August. Austin and San Antonio are less humid relatively speaking. Have a great time when you visit!

Barb is correct- Capitol, Blanton and Bullock are literally within blocks of each other. But then again, each requires a few hours. Also agree that 6th Street is crazy on weekends. Might be something to walk up and down once, but I don't recommend it to anyone anymore - unless you are young partiers. They are so many places to enjoy music. Let us know your preferences and can make better suggestions.

Another Austin area to enjoy is South Congress Ave. Stores, music, trailer food. Bats are plentiful in August. If u like the outdoors, the Town Lake Hike and Bike Trail is great early in the morning in the summer. A visit to Barton Springs Pool (spring fed, a landmark) would be great too.

And a Sunday morning (or any time, really) along the 2nd Street area, especially the W Hotel is a super cool, upscale vibe with people, food, music, shopping, wine bars and Mimosas....

Thank you again, all the responses are really appreciated. We are Australians living in Mauritius and we are in our 40's so not 'young party goers' and have never been to Texas so to us it was I guess just the thought of "In Texas better go to Dallas" :) In Australia it would not be a big deal for us to drive 5 or 6 hours for a weekend.

We will arrive in Houston on the afternoon of Saturday 18th of August after 28 hours of travel so not sure we will be up for much that night except a nice dinner. We would love to hear your recommendations on good Houston Hotels near shops and restaurants. We want to visit the NASA centre (and hopefully one of the musuems mentioned) and have a couple of hours of business to do on the Monday.

We could depart Houston for Austin and San Antonio on the Tuesday (yes we are listening to the give Dallas a miss recommendation:))) and only need to arrive in San Antonio on the Friday or Saturday.

We love the idea of great BBQ's and would also love to eat crawfish. We once heard a story about how it is cooked up then thrown down on the table to eat true or not?

As far as music is concerned we really like blues style. For accomodation we can spend up to $200 per night but are also open to smaller Bed and Breakfast type establishments that might give us a more local experience.

So please do recommend the following:

Houston Accomodation
Austin Accommodation (Will have a look at W Hotel thanks Austin)
In Sanantonio we are staying at the Westin Riverwalk as it has been booked by the company.
Houston and Austin and San Antonio great eating experiences
Music - blues venues
Must see tourist spots

Thanks again.

You will enjoy the Westin Bwino! It's a very nice hotel on a quieter section of the Riverwalk, but still easy walking distance to the middle of everything. My favorite middle-of-the-road costwise restaurant on the Riverwalk is Boudros. I like Saltlick for barbecue when you are in the Austin area. It's out from downtown, but kind of a pretty drive IMHO.

Someone has mentioned seeing New Braunfels when you are near San Antonio, but really it's just a little town with not a lot going on (also the town where the kids in our neighborhood go to school). There is one really fun section to it though, which I highly recommend. It's called Gruene, and has Gruene Hall, an old dance hall still in operation with live music most days, and most days it is free. It is SO Texas,, picnic tables for sitting around, big windows to let in breezes (and tolerable even in August we find). Janis Joplin got her start singing there and new artists are still being discovered there. Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings have both sung there (if those names mean anything to you) among others. Behind Gruene Hall you can eat at the Grist Mill overlooking the river. Very casual with both inside and outside dining. Gruene is a don't miss while you are in San Antonio with free time! It's one of our favorite places to go on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Crawfish is a very LA thing, but perhaps Houston is close enough that they have some good authentic Cajun restaurants. I've only seen it dumped out on newspaper when we lived in New Orleans and its really hard to find them cooked properly (we have found anyway) outside of Cajun country. Most don't cook it with near enough crab boil, and they can be pretty bland unless spiced up properly. Cooked properly though, they are <u>some kind of good!</u>!

You've got a good attitude about the heat and that's half the battle. Hope you have a wonderful trip!

You want to go somewhere that does a crawfish boil. Crawfish are also known as mudbugs.

Sometimes Pappadeux's or Pappa's Seafood has crawfish boils or shrimp boils available. This is a chain restaurant, but we enjoy them.