No trip to San Antonio is complete without visiting the River Walk–a pedestrian paradise created for the 1968 Hemisfair below street level in the heart of the downtown district. Shop, dine, and enjoy the gardens and fountains, as you stroll over bridges and through history along the cool and delightful San Antonio River. It’s charming any time, but I especially love the river as an escape from the summer heat.

You can walk across from the Alamo, park in the parking garage at River Center, or use the parking lot of St. John’s Lutheran Church on East Nueva Street where you can enter through La Villita, the original San Antonio village where the home of General Martin Perfecto de Cos still stands from the days before the revolution.

One of the best ways to get an overview of the River Walk and San Antonio History is by boat. In three or four places along the River Walk, you can buy tickets for River Boat Tours which run almost continually from 9 am to 9 pm every day of the week. Adult tickets are $8.25, seniors, military, and locals pay $6, and children 1-5 pay $2. The guides are well-trained and delightful and will do their best to keep you enthralled. As locals, we often take out-of-town guests on this tour, and I never fail to learn something new.