San Antonio suggestions
 

IWill be spending a week in April in San Antonio for work/pleasure. I need hotel recommendations near Sea World with good access to highway. Preferably a suite hotel or one with a kitchen and pool. Would like to keep it around $125/night. Anyone familar with Comfort Suites - SeaWorld, is this in decent neighborhood?

Will be spending the week working hard and the weekend for pleasure herding a bunch of professionals. Aside from Sea World and River Walk, any recommendations? There will be a group of us, ranging in age from late 20's to late 50's. The young ones all want to drink, the old ones want to eat (LOL). Looking for recommendations for places to do both, as well any "can't miss" sites, thanks!

LBloom ~ We stayed at Drury Inn & Suites North, they have ten locations in San Antonio, not sure if they have any close to Sea World. It was a great hotel, pool, whirlpool, fantastic hot breakfast.

As far as things to do, esp with the difference in ages, there is a post "Suddenly Single in San Antonio" that we & others commented on that you may find helpful, posted Nov 2011. Have a great time, we wish we had stayed longer.

No one is familiar with San Antonio? Looking for information (see OP), especially about Comfort Suites - Sea World, is this in good location for single woman for a week? Thanks!

I'm not clear on your question. You are coming to work and then go to Sea World on the weekend? Does your work involve Sea World? If not, what is your work location? Will you have normal 8-5 work hours?

I do not like that location but don't know anything about that particular Comfort Suites. No way would I stay there if your work does not involve Sea World. Stay someplace nice and drive to Sea World on the weekend.

FYB, the work location I will have to go to M-F is 5 min from Sea World, so would like to stay near there, but NOT if it's in a bad neighborhood. The office is near Westover Hills Blvd and Rogers Rd. near the Hyatt Resort. Will have access to rental car. Just don't know anything about SAT, is there a nicer area you can recommend that would be no more than 15-20 min drive? The Hyatt does not have space available for the timeframe I need. Thanks!

I stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott Westover Hills/SeaWorld back in October. It was a nice hotel with an indoor/outdoor pool and a free shuttle to SeaWorld. The area seemed fine to me. Very commercial. There was a shopping mall and a lot of restaurants about a mile north of our hotel. I remember seeing a grocery store too.
There is a nice Valero station within walking distance of the Courtyard too. We were able to purchase breakfast items and snacks for our stay.
I would book the Courtyard or the Fairfield Inn (right next door) in a heartbeat, if we were in the area again.

LBloom, if that is convenient to the work location, I will defer to mapngo on that hotel. If you were working downtown or on the far north side, it would be very inconvenient, especially in rush hour traffic. And on its own, its not a picturesque or charming area.

I just saw that you are coming in April. Be aware that Fiesta is in April and hotels could book up so make your arrangements asap. If you are going to be here during Fiesta, there are tons of things associated with it-NIOSA (drinking and eating), arts fairs, parades, river parade:

http://www.fiesta-sa.org/

can't help with the hotel but for what to do...

there are wineries in the area (www.texaswinetrail.org). real ale brewery is also close by and they do tastings on friday at 1pm, i think (check the brewery to be sure). there's a HUGE outlet mall down i-35 off of exit 200 in San Marcos. the little town of Gruene, TX near New Braunfels isn't too far from you and is a fun place to visit for both age range you mentioned. They have market days every 3rd weekend from feb to thursday which can be fun (www.touringtexas.com/gruene). The dance hall is fun at night and it's historic (www.gruenehall.com). Make sure you eat at the river grill and ask for outside seats - like having dinner on a tree house overlooking the river! there's also natural bridge cavern (www.naturalbridgecaverns.com) and the wildlife ranch (the latter like a mini safari) www.wildliferanchtexas.com

that's just what came quickly to mind. i'll post more if I think of it.

the market days was supposed to be "from february to november", not to thursdays. iPad auto correct drive me mad!

Hi LBloom,

Unfortunately, where you'll be staying / working there isn't much to do aside from Sea World. And trying to get to other areas, such as the hill country and back during the week, can be a drive from hell because of heavy congestion in the area (Loop 1604). That area has been built up with neighborhoods and shopping centers with very little infrastructure to support the load.

Where you'll be, there are a lot of places to eat and if you have time to head downtown it's @20-25 min drive. The Missions Trail (National Park, not baseball) is on the way and very near downtown. Beautiful, historical sites. Dependent on how much time you have and how ambitious you are you could see both the Riverwalk and The Missions in one day.

Back north, Loop 1604 and I-10, there is a beautiful outdoor shopping center, The Shops at La Cantera that you and the other "older" folk ;-) might enjoy. From there the German settled town of Boerne is a relatively short drive.

I hope this helps. We lived in San Antonio for 20 years, not far from where you're staying, but moved a few years ago.

You'll want to see the Alamo, the Riverwalk and perhaps the missions. There are lots of good malls/restaurants in San Antonio, but for a group, we have always found the Quarry to be a good destination. Also, not everyone realizes that the Alamo is located a very short walk from the Riverwalk. You can plan to do both on the same day. Enjoy your trip! Saige