San Antonio

San Antonio is an inland city and the Gulf of Mexico is about two and a half hours away by car, too far for beach life to shape a stay. What it has instead is Texas river swimming. In New Braunfels and San Marcos, both under an hour north, the Comal and San Marcos rivers are clear, spring-fed and cool all year, and floating them on an inner tube is a summer ritual.

Canyon Lake and Medina Lake add reservoir swimming, and the Hill Country has natural swimming holes under limestone bluffs. In the city itself, swimming means hotel pools and water parks. Come for a beach and you will be disappointed; come in summer with a taste for rivers and you will find a good afternoon.

This is the home ground of Tex-Mex, and eating here means breakfast tacos wrapped in handmade flour tortillas, puffy tacos, enchiladas under chili gravy, barbacoa on Sunday mornings and big plates of fajitas. The best of it is in modest family places on the West and South Sides rather than along the River Walk, where menus lean towards visitors. Central Texas barbecue, brisket smoked for hours, is part of the local diet, and interior Mexican cooking adds depth beyond the Tex-Mex staples.

The Pearl, a former brewery north of downtown, gathers a farmers' market and more ambitious restaurants, and Southtown has a looser café and taqueria scene. Panaderías sell pan dulce across the city. Beyond Mexican and Texan food the range is narrow, but within its specialism San Antonio is a real reason to come hungry.

San Antonio's heritage comes from its time as a Spanish frontier settlement, and it holds the largest group of Spanish colonial missions in North America. The Alamo, a mission chapel that became a battle site in 1836, stands in the middle of downtown. Four more 18th-century missions, San José, Concepción, San Juan and Espada, line the river to the south, and together with the Alamo they make up a UNESCO World Heritage Site. San José is the grandest, with a carved rose window and restored walls, and Espada still has its old irrigation aqueduct.

Downtown adds San Fernando Cathedral, the Spanish Governor's Palace and the River Walk, a sunken, tree-shaded path along the San Antonio River. The King William district has 19th-century mansions built by German merchants. For art, the San Antonio Museum of Art has strong Latin American and ancient collections, and the McNay shows modern painting in a Spanish-style villa. Two or three days covers it well.

Going out here is relaxed and fairly early. The River Walk is lined with patio bars and margarita terraces that fill with conventioneers and visitors, pleasant for a drink by the water but not much of a scene. Locals head to the St. Mary's Strip, Southtown along South Alamo Street, and the Pearl for cocktail bars, beer gardens and old Texas icehouses, the open-sided neighbourhood bars where people drink cold beer outside on warm nights.

There are dance halls and Tejano clubs, and a handful of dance clubs, but bars close at 2am and the city is not known for late nights. It suits a visitor who wants a good evening out, not one who travels to party.

The city sits where flat South Texas brush country meets the Texas Hill Country, a landscape of limestone hills, live oaks, cypress-lined rivers and caves. Government Canyon on the city's edge has miles of hiking and mountain-bike trails, and the Mission Reach of the River Walk is a long paved cycling route linking the missions. North of the city, Natural Bridge Caverns and Cave Without a Name show off the underground side of the limestone.

Further into the Hill Country, the Guadalupe River is good for kayaking and fishing, and spring brings fields of bluebonnets along the back roads. Enchanted Rock, a pink granite dome, is about two hours away. Summers are long and very hot, so hiking is best from October to April. There are no mountains or wilderness of real scale nearby.

The Hill Country towns are the best reason to drive out. Fredericksburg, about an hour and a quarter away, is a German settlement town with a long main street and the centre of Texas wine country, with wineries along the road east of town. Gruene and New Braunfels keep German roots and an old dance hall, and Boerne, Comfort, Wimberley and Bandera, a self-styled cowboy capital, are small, easy stops.

Austin, the state capital, is about an hour and a half away for its Capitol, museums and music. The LBJ Ranch and the tiny settlement of Luckenbach are on the Fredericksburg road, and Castroville, an Alsatian colony town, is half an hour west. Almost everything needs a car, and the list is pleasant rather than remarkable.

San Antonio is one of the easier American cities for a trip with children. On the edges of the city are two large theme parks, SeaWorld San Antonio with its marine shows and water rides, and Six Flags Fiesta Texas with roller coasters set in a former quarry. Morgan's Wonderland is a theme park designed for children with disabilities and their families.

In town, the San Antonio Zoo and the Witte Museum, with its dinosaurs, sit in Brackenridge Park, and the DoSeum is a hands-on children's museum. River Walk boat cruises are easy for small children, and the Alamo works as a story most children enjoy. River tubing and water parks fill summer days. Restaurants are casual and welcoming, but the attractions are far apart, so a car is close to essential, and July and August heat needs planning.

Downtown is compact, and the River Walk makes walking between the Alamo, hotels, the cathedral and the Pearl pleasant and shaded, away from traffic. The missions to the south can be reached by bike along the river path, which is one of the nicest ways to see them, and VIA buses cover the main corridors.

Beyond the centre this is a car city. There is no metro or light rail, buses are slow and infrequent for a visitor's purposes, and the theme parks, the zoo's neighbours across the north side, and anything in the Hill Country are spread along highways. Most visitors who leave downtown hire a car or rely on ride-hailing.

The most distinctive shopping is at Market Square on the western edge of downtown, where El Mercado sells Mexican crafts, embroidered dresses, pottery, papel picado and piñatas in a setting that feels like a Mexican market. La Villita, a small historic quarter by the river, has artists' studios and galleries. Western wear, boots and hats are a local speciality in specialist shops around the city.

Otherwise this is mall country: a large shopping centre on the River Walk downtown, upscale open-air malls on the north side and big outlet centres in San Marcos and New Braunfels. The Pearl has a handful of independent boutiques. Shopping is easy and practical, but not a reason to visit.

By American standards San Antonio is good value. Hotels are plentiful thanks to the convention trade, and away from the River Walk rooms are moderate. Eating local is cheap: tacos, Tex-Mex plates and barbecue cost much less than restaurant meals in the big coastal cities, and the missions are free to visit.

The costs come elsewhere. Most visitors need a hire car, tipping and sales tax add to every bill, theme parks are expensive for a family, and riverside hotels and restaurants charge for the view. Overall it is middling for a Western destination, cheaper than most American cities but not a budget trip.

The formal stage is centred on two buildings. The Tobin Center, built inside the shell of the old Municipal Auditorium, hosts the symphony, Opera San Antonio and ballet, while the Majestic Theatre, an ornate 1929 movie palace, takes touring Broadway shows. The Arneson River Theatre puts on summer performances with the audience seated across the river from the stage.

The more distinctive side is Tejano and conjunto music, accordion-driven Texas-Mexican dance music that the city treats as its own, heard in dance halls, at the long-running Tejano Conjunto Festival and at Fiesta each spring. Mariachi bands play around Market Square and in restaurants. It is a decent programme with real local character, but not a scene that people travel for.

San Antonio has no bathing culture of its own. Relaxation here means the spas of the large golf and Hill Country resorts on the north side of the city, and hotel spas downtown. The pace is easygoing, and a slow morning on the quieter stretches of the River Walk or among the Japanese Tea Garden's ponds is restful, but summer heat makes long, lazy days outdoors hard work. A visitor looking for rest usually books a Hill Country resort rather than staying in town.