San Antonio loding question
 

We are visiting S.A. in January. I have located a VRBO with the address of 214 S. Monumental Street. Could you please tell me if this location is close to the Riverwalk, Alamo area? And also if it is in a safe part of town? I am not implying that S.A. is not a safe city - but I am a visitor and know nothing about your city. Thank you for your help.

As a general rule: anything south/SW of I-35 in San Antonio is not a good neighborhood. This is south of I-35.

Go on maps.google.com and you can see the location, photos of the house, and actually "walk" down the street to the Riverwalk and see the entire route.

It's about 1.5 miles. I would not consider that comfortable walking distance as a tourist, especially if you want to go back and forth during the day.

dump area avoid lots of scammers on vrbo craigs list

look into extendedstay america places or cheap central hotels

betterbidding.com aroundtheriverwalk is ok but a few blocks

over gets druggy seedy dodgy quickly.

Thank you very much. This was what I was thinking as well. It is so difficult when you do not know a city to pick good lodging. Is it advisable to stay in the Riverwalk area or closer to the airport or medical center area?

I don't get your question?

Why are you going to San Antonio?

If you're visiting the airport, stay near the airport.

If you're going to the medical center, then stay near the medical center.

I'm sorry that I was confusing. We are going to San Antonio as a visitor to see the Alamo, Riverwalk, Missions, etc. Just trying to find the best, safest area to stay. Thank you.

It is tough when you dont know a city, yellowrose! Medical center is out in Timbuctu, commercial and ugly. The airport isn't much better, and sorry to seem so negative, but that address you gave is in a neighborhood that is neither very nice nor convenient to the Riverwalk. I'd stay in the Medical center even before I'd consider staying there!

Try to stay downtown close to the Riverwalk. I think you will be much happier. The only downtown neighborhood (as in a house that might appear on vrbo) I would consider for a stay would be the King William District, and even that can get dicey in the outling reaches. There are some relatively inexpensive hotels on the Riverwalk--a Holiday Inn, a Druty Inn, both very reasonable hotels. Good luck. I hope you find what you are looking for, but please DO abandon that Monumental St house!

By the way, DH, who was a Riverwalk hotel GM (neither of the hotels I mentioned to you) until his retirement earlier this year, said you should be able to get some good rates in January, unless a citywide is booked, January is not a good month for San Antonio hotels. You are lucky in that January 2013 will be the first January in years that the river won't be drained for cleaning...I guess because they did such extensive work on it this January. Again, hope you find what you are looking for!

I was checking on Priceline tonight and if you check on the Riverwalk area for hotels - it is south of I-35. ChristieP mentioned that things south of I-35 were generally not the best area to stay. Now I am more confused. Is the Riverwalk area and the Downtown area different areas of town?

I don't get that remark about south and southwest of i35. I suggest you tell us your budget and/or do a little checking on Riverwalk hotels and suggest a few, and we can tell u our thoughts.

Riverwalk area and downtown are very safe. I've walked by myself through good and the not so great areas and never had the slightest worry. West of 37 is the majority of "downtown" as well as Riverwalk and they are good safe areas providing you stay relatively close to the CBD and Riverwalk. 35/37 are more a north south direction as they travel through downtown. The highway system is a mess downtown IMO, with I35, I37, and I10, forming a square around the better area. Stay east of the downtown section of I35 once it has turned south, west of the downtown section of I37, and north of the downtown section of I10. A map should clarify what I'm trying to describe.

Found a good map. You are looking to stay in the beige area. http://www.visitsanantonio.com/visit...d.aspx?id=7012

I couldn't open your map unfortunately - it said a file was damaged! I really appreciate your information though. You really seem to understand what I was asking. I was able to look at the map and figure out the area you were talking about - it is pretty much the same area that Priceline has outlined for it's Riverwalk hotels. OO I really appreciate your help.

Yellow rose, the map will really help you. See if you can get to it this way. Go to this link http://www.visitsanantonio.com/visit...aps/index.aspx then click on the "downtown map". Both these links are cut and pastes from their site so you should be able to get in.

I still can't open it up. I am going to shut down for the night. I will try and open it at work tomorrow. I have looked at hotels all evening! What do you think of the St. Anthony Riverwalk Wyndam, The Menger and Holiday Inn near the River walk? Thanks again for your help.

The Menger has the best location of the 3, right next door to the Alamo. It's an old historic hotel. I've seen their public spaces only, and they have charm. Are the rooms kept up? That I couldn't say, but am sure you can find online reviews. That's one of the drawbacks of a local answering hotel questions! Few of us ever stay in them. Its certainly one of the better tier of hotel.

The St Anthony is another old grande dame historic hotel. I've never been in, but can say of the 3 you mention, it has the worst downtown location, directly across the street from a homeless park. That doesn't make it unsafe...the downtown homeless have always seemed benign, and certainly are well policed, so I wouldn't worry about them, but not sure you want to look at that as you come and go. I've never been approached by anyone begging and I walk downtown a lot.

The Holiday Inn is further out. Never seen their rooms, but have been to a function there. It's public spaces are nice for a Holiday Inn, I was surprised, but of the 3, it is the furthest out. It's just an OK hotel. I suggested that when you were looking at the house and I thought price was a major factor. (You can see the house on zillow--it's a $74,000 house with a $64,000 house next door. It can't rent for very much!)

Here's another thought. This hotel is new (an old renovated department store) and nicely done. I have not been in, but DH was given the tour before they opened. He says the rooms are nice. It's TownePlace Suites, a Marriott property. Here's the link http://www.tpsriverwalk.com/ It's located just up the street from the hotel he was running (Hyatt Regency), and only a few steps from the Riverwalk.

Try this for getting into that link I was trying to get you to for maps. It's a good website for tourists...lots of info other than the maps. Input visitsanantonio.com into a google search. Should bring it up. On their homepage, look at the top menu for "Plan", then that drop down menu brings up maps.

Try the Hotel COntessa. They have specials from time to time. Lovely rooms and all suites. The only place I stay when I go there.

Thanks so much for the help. I will look into the Mariott place and Hotel Contessa tonight. Though I will NOT spend the whole evening looking like I did last night, :)
OO would you ask your DH is it is accepted to haggle with the hotels to get a cheaper rate - is it best to just go to hotels.com or something like that. I can't name my own price as we need rooms for different periods of time as the other couple going with us not staying as long.

Hotel Contessa looks very nice - but is way over our budget. Thanks Austin.

Yellow rose, the flagged properties are not going to haggle because they operate under a contractual agreement with wholesale and opaque sites to honor a specific rate for a specific date. Going below that they can actually end up owing the wholesaler or opaque site money. That's from the horse's mouth :) By flagged hotel I mean the majors such as Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Westin, etc.

Look for discounts, AAA, AARP, etc. Different dates have different rates simply because of occupancy for those dates. Hotels.com would be a good site because your group has different arrival/departure dates.

I'll be curious to learn where you end up!

Oh, another thought. If you are a Costco member, they have rate deals with certain chains, including Hyatt.

We don't have Costco here, but we do have AAA.

I like the looks of TownPlace Suites. It is ranked #3 on Trip Advisor. I need to talk to my sister in law, but looks really good to me .

Contessa is less than $130 per night - less than the Menger, and a suite.

Glad you found something yellow rose!

I'm sure you are aware that TripAdvisor rankings have little bearing on a hotel's actual ranking among other hotels, and #3 doesn't mean it's the 3rd best hotel in town. It isn't, but it is nice for what you get...which seems to be more what those rankings are all about.

I like (and had mentioned) Austin's Contessa too. It gets terrific reviews, and I like its location in a quiet section of the Riverwalk, but I think you gain with Townplace Suites because it's the "new guy in town" so still working on pulling occupancy rates up, and underselling the room rate which it hopes to use, once it has established itself. The Contessa went through similar gyrations when it first opened.

The Contessa looks very lovely - the best rate I can find for them right now is $130/night. The Menger is $74.00/night. TownePlace Suites are $69.76/night. They are having a special right now.

Wow. That is cheap for Menger. I compared a weekend in January and founfpd $130 and $148

Sounds like the Townplace are a great deal for suites.

We are booked at TownePlace Suites. I will let you know what we think of them after the trip. Hubby wants to spend one night at Corpus Christi, so now will look for a place there. May wait till we get there as I don't think it will be very busy during the week in January.

Wanted you all to know that we arrived in San Antonio on Tuesday. The TownPlace Suites are great. 00 I am so grateful to your husband for his advice and recommendation. We are very close to the Riverwalk - just about a block. And the same distance to the Alamo. My sister in law and I walked to the drug store on the Riverwalk at midnight and felt perfectly safe. We saw the missions yesterday (in the cold!) and are heading to TX hill country today. Will see the Johnson ranch, etc. Tomorrow we will go to Corpus Christi to see an aircraft carrier and the ocean. Thank you for all your advice. I have never had bad advice on Fodors.

Hi yellow rose!! Thank you SO much for letting us know! It's great to hear that TownPlace worked out for you--it certainly is a prime location. I'm only sorry that the weather has been cold--we are in FL now but DH told me it was to be 25 for a low in SA, either today or tomorrow. That is unusual! Too bad, as for the most part, it's been a beautiful winter there this year. Hopefully the sun is shining at least. Enjoy, and have fun in Corpus. I've never been there! :)

Yay! Glad you had so much fun in San Antonio! Honestly, you can skip the Johnson Ranch in winter unless you are a big LBJ fan. It's great to go there in the spring and see the wildflowers, but the rest of the year it's just so-so. Drive a little but down the road and go to Lukenbach, or one of the wineries along 290 Texas' "Wine Road" instead. You should have lovely weather for the res tof your trip!

we enjoyed the drive to the Texas white house and also walking a trail down to the river. we saw photos where it can flash flood. that was scary. my hubby and bil are history buffs. we enjoyed seeing the jet lbj flew in on and also the house tour. i enjoyed it immensely. 00 the weather was wonderful today and remember we are from the north anyway. my sis in law and i wandered around late on the riverwalk tonight with just sweaters on. cant stress enough how great this hotel is. perfect location and super helpful people.

We are having a cold snap here now too. It's funny to see peope still in shorts and t-shirts when it's mid 50's, and inevitably they are the ones who get into the cars with Quebec license plates. :) Me, I'm in a heavy fleece and long pants.

I'm so glad you are enjoying your stay yellowrose, and again happy the hotel worked out so well. I'm always hesitant to recommend places lest what I want and someone else wants are entirely different, but I was 100% positive you were not going to be at all happy in that vrbo house!!

We took a day trip to Corpus Christi today. My brother and sister in law leave tomorrow. But we are here till Tuesday. We saw the missions, the alamo, Johnson City. We need some ideas. Monday is going to be very beautiful and hot - what should we do? Is there anything in the vicinity that would be good to do in the nice weather? I read something about the Guadalupe river and state park. Any ideas would be welcome. Thanks

You might take a trip up to Natural Bridge Caverns. Obviously, with a cave, the weather doesn't matter, but the formations in the caves are just beautiful. It is a guided tour and the ceilings are tall....no stooping, and the paths are paved. We've even taken our toddler grandkids there and they did fine. We had friends with us from the UK one year and they felt the caverns were the highlight of their San Antonio trip. Take I35 north to Natural Bridge Caverns Rd, and drive north to the caverns. They are very well marked. You'll pass my neighborhood on your way to them. :) http://www.naturalbridgecaverns.com/ Click on the video overview.

From there you can make the side trip to Gruene. Home of Gruene Hall, oldest dance hall in TX and there is still live music there every weekend. It is a cool little town too, although now well "found". Still it retains its old character and has some cute shops. Eat at the Grist Mill overlooking the river if the weather is nice. It's all ultra casual. If you go, I do hope they have someone playing in Gruene Hall. It is almost always free...just walk in, sit down and listen. Dance if you feel like it. It was (is) one of the fun things we'd do on a Sunday afternoon, and have heard some terrific music there! http://www.gruenetexas.com/

You might enjoy a drive up to Austin and a visit to the LBJ Library on the campus of the University of Texas. It's only about 1 hour away.

If you haven't done so, take a walk around the King William District - it's an area of beautiful homes, many being restored, that was settled by German immigrants, I think in the 1800s. We also really enjoyed Natural Bridge Caverns and poking around Gruene, as well as Austin (mostly to eat and listen to music, although we did also visit the state Capitol, which is impressive.

Great idea sf7307! King William District is beautiful! The best of the restored area is King William St itself, as well as Madison, the street that parallels it one block over. Drive through and look at he gorgeous homes--nearly impossible to imagine it had become rundown and shabby, with those homes sub-divided into apartments. If you are there early in the day, stop and eat either breakfast or lunch at the Guenther House (on Guenther St at the foot of King William).

Also, if you haven't been to El Mercado, that's worth a stop too.

The McNay Art Museum would be another good afternoon. Most of it is housed in a beautiful old estate, but there's been a new addition built as well. I love old architecture so the museum is a double treat for me, picturing how they lived in that era.

HehHeh...you'll have to stay another week! :)

We ended up driving through the King William district. We also went to Gruene and ate at the Gristmill and walked through the dance hall. Very interesting. When we left San Antonio on Tuesday it was 78 and when we got home it was 14. Byt Friday we had -40 wind chills. Enough said!