The La Villita historic area of downtown, located along the River Walk, has been converted into an arts and crafts community with many small shops now selling interesting gifts and souvenirs. A few blocks to the south, the King Williams Historic District contains hundreds of finely preserved Victorian homes. Visit the Guenther House in that area early in the morning and stop at their restaurant for the best breakfasts in the city. El Mercado, or Market Square, on the western edge of downtown, is the largest Mexican market in the USA. There, you can buy beautiful hand crafted pottery, jewellery, art and clothing at bargain prices.

Several other Latino cultural attractions are located in this area including the Spanish Governor`s Palace, the Navarro House Museum and San Fernando Cathedral. In the vicinity of Alamo Square, are several interesting museums and cultural attractions including the San Antonio Children`s Museum and the Hertzberg Circus Collection and Museum. The Buckhorn Saloon and Museum is the most curious. It is an old-time western saloon and restaurant with a museum of animal horns, cowboy memorabilia and strange artefacts. The 750-feet-high Tower of the Americas sits amidst beautiful HemisFair Park a few blocks southeast of downtown. You can ride to the top observation deck for a few dollars, or you can dine in the tower restaurant overlooking the city.

The University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures at San Antonio is located next to HemisFair Park, and the Alamodome sports complex is across the freeway next to the Sunset Station entertainment center. San Antonio Missions National Historical Park is located in the southern suburbs of San Antonio. It contains the remains of four Spanish Missions in various states of preservation. Mission San Jose is the best preserved with its entire compound reconstructed as it would have looked in colonial times. It enables you to see how the mission operated as a self-contained farming and manufacturing community with houses for hundreds of pacified Native American Indians. There are several theme parks on the outskirts of the city.

SeaWorld San Antonio with its aquatic shows is located about fifteen minutes west of downtown. The Six Flags Fiesta Texas theme park and the Splashtown water park are located about 15 minutes north of the city center. Schlitterbahn, thirty miles north along route 35, is quite interesting. This German-themed water park complete with replica castle and one of the biggest and best water rides in the country, sits in the middle of the German colony of New Braunfels. Restaurants in this little town feature bratwurst and apple strudel along with the usual Texas barbeque. There are plenty of opportunities for year-around golf or tennis at the many courses in the San Antonio vicinity. Horse racing can be seen at the Retama Park racecourse about fifteen minutes northeast of town. Horseback riding is available at many ranches and stables outside of the city.

You`ll be amazed at all there is to see and do with so many attractions in San Antonio. Call it the Fiesta City or the Alamo City; each of San Antonio`s nicknames reveals a different truth. Visitors come here to kick back and party, but they also come to seek Texas`s history -- some would say its soul. They come to sit on the banks of a glittering river and sip cactus margaritas, but also to view Franciscan missions that rose along the same river more than 2 1/2 centuries ago.