Not renting a car in San Antonio...
 

My dad wants me to find out if we can get by with not renting a car in San Antonio for our trip next month.

We will be flying in to Austin, so what would be the cheapest way of going from Austin airport to downtown San Antonio?

Also, I wanted to see the 4 Missions near San Antonio. Are there any bus tours or anything that can take you to the Missions?

RENT A CAR ... You will have "The Spirit Of Mobility". I recommend Advantage Rent A Car. They have locations at AUS and SAT. Easy drive between both cities. Pretty detours thru the hill country or a side trip for tubing Guadalupe River.

www.dmbtraveler.blogspot.com

I think that would be near impossible not to have a car in San Antonio. Rent your car on Priceline.

If you just want to see the Alamo, the Riverwalk area, the missions, etc, it looks like there are trolley and bus tours available. I googled the words "bus tours to San Antonio missions" and got a pageful.

San Antonio also has a couple of theme parks. Access to them by bus seems to be also plentiful. Google "bus to San Antonio theme parks".

If you want a Texas city with rail transit that goes to its major attractions, your choices would be either Dallas, or Houston.

For the Austin airport to downtown San antonio, it looks like your option is really Greyhound. There is an Amtrak train from Austin going south, but it is scheduled at 8:30 PM, and its ability to be on time is problematic.

Why don't you just fly into San Antonio and avoid the problem?

Once you are in SA you can reach downtown area tourist spots without a car. For other sites such as the missions there are organized tours (e.g., Grey Line) but the trade-off will be having to work on the tour operator's schedule and not your own. Also, not sure if the tours go to all of the missions.

Getting from AUS to downtown SA is a different story - without a car it is a major PIA and not inexpensive. You would need to cab from the airport to the Greyhound station (neither brief nor cheap)in Austin then ride to SA, then get to your hotel. Even if you opt to not have a car while in SA, I'd recommend renting at AUS and driving to SA where you could return it after checking in to your hotel. Probably won't cost much more maybe even less than going by bus and will be quicker and easier.

I rarely rent cars when I travel. BUt there are a couple places I think they are nearly a *necessity*. The great state of Texas is one of them (Los Angeles the other).

RENT THE CAR. The cost of doing alternative transportation from Austin alone will be more than the car rental would cost!!

If your destination is San Antonio, why are you flying into Austin? I'd either fly into San Antonio, or plan to rent a car.

Sometimes there are great airfare deals into / out of Austin.

And sometimes into San Antonio.

A few years ago, my wife and I took a trip to Texas, visiting Austin, San Antonio, and Houston. Being from California, we automatically rented a car, but in San Antonio, we stayed in a hotel next to the Alamo and a short walk to the Riverwalk. The valet at the hotel parked our car and we didn't see it or need it for 2 days. For sight seeing we took the hop-on hop-off trolley. It's really a good deal, because you can ride this thing all day, getting off at the attractions they cover, taking as long as you want, and getting back on a subsequent trolley. We could have gone 2 days on this. We've done the same thing in San Diego, even though we are quite familiar with the area. Here's the link.

http://www.viator.com/tours/San-Anto...10-3498TROLLEY

Agree it is easy to get by w/o a car in downtown SA - but OP needs to get from Austin to San Antonio, and renting a car is the best option. Once in SA they can return the vehicle to avoid parking fees.

I have the same issue. I really don't see why I can't take the greyhound from San antonio and then cab it from the Austin drop off location. The bus is relatively short and I don't mind paying for the cab, I simply do not want a car.

One certainly <i>can</i> take Greyhound from SA to Austin then cab to wherever you are going, I just don't recommend it. Buses are fairly frequent and scheduled travel time for the bus is 1.5 to 2 hours (may be affected by traffic at rush hour) fare $20-27 per person. Austin airport is just over 10 miles from the Greyhound station, cab would run about $25-30 plus tip, transit time will vary depending on traffic. Doing this would likely add over an hour to your transit time, as on the bus you would pass the airport and have to backtrack from the station.