What to do 1st night in San Antonio??
 

We will have been traveling all day and should get in to San Antonio by 6 pm. After checking into hotel what should we do?( Three women friends, only there three nights.)Thought we'd go to Riverwalk and find a nice restaurant with lots of atmosphere,scenic and good food. Would be nice to have some entertainment also. Any suggestions??? Thank you in advance.

Three of us traveled to SA in Nov. and the first night we walked to the revolving restaurant for dinner. It was very good, very nice view. I think our favorite thing to do was s bus tour of the Hill Country, Fredricksburg, LBJ Ranch, etc...beautiful and interesting. One of the nights we ate on the Riverwalk and along the Riverwalk there is a stage area where they were having a Mexican dance review...it was wonderful.

Eat at Paisano's (Italian) and then go to the Landing for drinks, jazz and people watching on the Riverwalk. Check mysanantonio.com for information on events. If you are there on Sunday, go to the Mariachi mass at Mission San Jose. For Mexican, try La Margarita or Mi Tierra in the Mercado (Market) area.

Thank you Karen and Linda for the advice. Unfortunately we probably won't do the Towers Restaurant because my friend doesn't like heights. But do want to try Paisano's and the Landing for jazz.Also lunch at either La Margarita or Mi Tierra. Do you think we should make reservations for these places? We are staying at the Gunter Hotel on E. Houston Street. Will we need to get a cab to go to say Paisano's for dinner that first night? Also is its location a pretty first impression of Riverwalk or should we try Boudro's first? Any other suggestions would be very much appreciated. We will be leaving Wednesday. Just hope we have pretty weather with no rain since we plan to do a lot of walking. Thanks for any and all input you could give us.

Paisano's is an excellent choice for your first night in San Antonio. Eat outside (inches from the riverwalk)--they have portable heaters outside if it's chilly and even provide wonderful Mexican ponchos to keep you extra warm outdoors. The food is fabulous--we ate there twice during our visit. La Margarita and Mi Tierra are great for lunch--we didn't need reservations when we were there. Take a boat tour of the Riverwalk. Very interesting and fun. Make sure (really and truly) that you see the IMAX show on the Alamo BEFORE you step foot into the Alamo...it will mean so much more if you do this. I thought I knew it's history but was weeping by the end of the IMAX movie. The theatre is right beside the Alamo in the shopping mall. Have a FUN trip!

You should be able to walk or catch a trolley bus. I usually eat at the Paisano's in Alamo Heights so I can't speak to reservations on the Riverwalk. Just walk up to La Margarita or Mi Tierra. They are very close so if one doesn't work, the other should. In Dallas, we will have rain Wed & Thurs but that doesn't mean it will be in SA. Temperature is in 70's. The trip to Hill Country is nice. You could drive yourself (take the Airport fwy from downtown) to Johnson City, then go toward Fredericksburg (see LBJ's family home and further down the TX White House). It takes about 1-1/12 hours depending on whether you stop in Johnson City. Unfortunately, you are a little early for the beautiful wildflower display on the roadsides. Other sites to check are savisit.com and traveltex.com. You will have a great time.

Thank you both for replying. I did call Piasano's and they would only take reservations for parties of 10 or more. There seems to be a convention in town the same time we will be there that is bringing in 12,000 people. I'm getting a little worried about long lines everywhere we go. Do you know of any other good restaurants that might take reservations? Or should we just try to eat extra early or extra late? Also what would be a good itinerary for a rainy day? Every weather website I have been to has a different forcast. Should we bring mostly lightweight spring clothes or some winter ones? Again, thank you for all your help.

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