Teachaim0

2 ladies will be in SA in Sept., arriving on Tuesday, and departing on late Saturday. We will rent a car for the end of the week to travel out of the city. I've read about many day trips-LBJ Ranch, Hill Country, Natural Bridge, Fredricksburg, New Braunfel, Austin, etc., but they're in 2 different directions. Can you advise which direction to travel for an overnight stay (many things to see along the way) vs. a day trip and returning to SA? Thanks for your expert advise!

follow_your_bliss

Both Austin and Fredericksburg (note the spelling is different, to help with searches) are a long drive. I think there's more to see and do in Austin to warrant an overnight stay but it depends on what you want to do. I live not far from the Natural Bridge Caverns and the caverns and New Braunfels/Gruene are an easy day trip or stop on the way to Austin.

So my suggestion is to stop at NB Caverns and New Braunfels or Gruene on the way to Austin and stay in Austin. But let us know more about what you're interested in and we can help you out.

swisshiker

Just an FYI for Austin: September 11 & 25 are home games for the Longhorns. Could be pretty tough/expensive to find a room here that weekend.

(fyb: so many times I've driven by the Natural Bridge Caverns but have never visited. Now I'm curious and will have to check it out! Thanks for the reminder!)

Teachaim0

Thanks for the correct spelling and the info on the game. One of those weekends is when we would be in Austin, should we go that route. What we're interested in? We're 2 newly retired ladies. No hiking or strenuous exercise, but shows, music, good food, spas, site seeing, etc are all on our radar. Thanks.

Teachaim0

Thanks for all your help making our trip one of our best! Breakfast and lunch at Guenther House in SA was delicious, and the boat ride in the Riverwalk was a relaxing way to spend our first evening. The people in SA were so friendly, offering their help almost every time we stopped walking. We took a trolley tour, which was a good way to get around and see the city. We spent 2 days in SA, then rented a car and headed out of town. The Natural Bridge Caverns was so much fun. Dinner in Gruene at the Gristmill was a unique setting. The outlets in San Marcos, touring the LBJ ranch,and an overnight in Fredericksburg was great fun. I wish we'd had more than one night there. If you go, the Rockbox Theatre is a must see show!!

follow_your_bliss

Glad you guys had a great time. How was your weather?

Gretchen

I realize this ia all past but dear heavens, Fredricksburg and Austin are a "LONG WAY". What kind of Texan are you!!! An hour to Austin and an hour to F'sburg. LOL
It would have been a nice little triangle to go to Fredricksburg for the night, then back to SA via Austin.
Fredricksburg is antiquing heaven, and there is a lovely nature preserve near Austin.

follow_your_bliss

Gretchen, you are right, you are a little late, but if you read the original post, you will see that she was asking advice about staying overnight vs. day trips. I don't consider Austin OR Fredericksburg to be a good day trip destination from SA--there is too much to do in either. I think it would be a waste of time to stay in San Antonio, drive to Fredericksburg for the day then return to SA. Same with Austin. You are spending 3 hours a day just driving to get to and back from the destination.

I don't agree with your assertion that it would be a "nice little triangle" to stay the night in Fred and go to Austin on the way back to SA, unless you really just wanted to say you've been to Austin and not do much.

And next time, feel free to omit the snotty comment about my Texanhood--we don't joke about things like that!!!

sf7307

FYB, I once did a day trip to San Antonio-Gruene-Austin-San Antonio. Maybe we didn't get to see "everything", but we had a lovely day poking around Gruene, saw part of a UT/Stanford baseball game, visited the Capitol, walked up and down 6th and had a drink and listened to some music, dinner at the Salt Lick, back to SA. No interest in seeing bats in Austin anyway, so we would have skipped that regardless. It was a perfect day trip IMHO.