Advice needed for San Antonio Riverwalk area.

[RNMOM]

I know, I often see posts asking for travel advice and think to myself 'look it up yourself!'. Well, I have spent the better part of a week online each evening going over and over this stuff and I am just more confused.

We have lots of points on Hilton and Holiday Inn from my DH's travel with work and want to use them for a night or two next month as we drive down to Houston for a wedding. I have been on both Holiday Inn's site and Hiltons then on Orbitz to get ratings for the individual hotels. Let me tell you this is not easy as they are all called "riverwalk". The Crowne Plaza is doable but gets pretty bad reviews on Orbitz. Like lots of bad comments. The Hilton Palazio Del Rio looks nice but kinda fussy. Both charge about $22 a night to park. Geez.

On top of that I can't find a detailed map of the riverwalk. I would like to know the restaurants and shops along the river so I can figure out which hotel is going to be closest. The few maps I find have no ability to be expanded or are just cartoonish and not very helpful. Why can't everyone do things like Disney does???

If anyone has suggestions I would appreciate it. I am wondering if joining AAA would be helpful for this information too.

 

[Planogirl]

Actually, the Hilton is pretty nice IMO and I never felt like it was particularly fussy. Of course, YMMV. The Hyatt Regency San Antonio is nice and well located but it can be noisy because of that location. The Holiday Inn Riverwalk is located a little away from the fuss but it's an easy walk. Check out La Mansion del Rio - it's definitely a nice place. There are also the two huge Marriotts that are right next to each other. These are definitely in a great location.

Here's two websites: http://www.sanantonioinsider.com/ and http://thesanantonioriverwalk.com/ They both have maps but with our ailing computer I haven't ever checked them.

Parking is a major rip off in San Antonio! One thing about the nicer hotels, the parking rates are higher too.

 

[gm]

Hilton palacial Del Rio is in the perfect spot to stay. rivercenter mall is right there and you can walk out to the river from your hotel with many many restaurants on the riverwalk with not alot of walking. It is the perfect location to stay at. I have stayed there before and loved it. There is a parking garage behind the marriott riverwalk that charges cheaper. I remember a year back it was like $8.00 for all day parking. But last time we went, we parked for $5.00 behind the marriott rivercenter next to denny which has an extended parking lot with an attendant. hope that helps

 

[Green Tea]

The river is kind of everywhere down there, so there is no cluster of restaurants; they are just along both sides all along the walk.

 

[jsmith]

We stayed at the Omni La Masion Del Rio for a week in June-awesome place but NOT cheap-they were charging something like 30 bucks a night for parking-but there was a public garage across the street that was 11 dollars a day-guess where i parked?. We had a great time-resturants and most of the things we wanted to do right in the river walk were with walking or water taxi distance of the hotel-for the missions and sea world we drove. Try Beudros texas bistro-awesome food at what we thought was pretty reasonalbe price (170 for 4 adults with drinks tax and tip).

 

[Green Tea]

I was coming back to suggest Boudro's for dinner as well. It is my favorite spot down there. You have to order the Guacamole tableside.

 

[RadioNate]

I happen to have a Riverwalk map sitting right here.

The Hilton is a better location than the Holiday Inn. Parking is what it is at the hotels. They are all high (but believe me nothing compared to other cities - $45 a night in Chicago in July.)

There are restaurants lining the entire riverwalk on both sides so nothing is terribly closer to anything else. The Holiday Inn is on the actual river (vs the Riverwalk) so it is more on the quiet side and further away from the bulk of the hustle and bustle.

If you have never been, it is not that huge of an area. Everything is easily walkable in my opinion.

The Hilton is closer to the RiverCenter Mall which is the bulk of the shopping. There are some stores down on the RiverWalk but nothing major. Trinkets and things, mostly.

The Hyatt is actually the hotel in the most hustle and bustle location. Then maybe La Mansion. From your choices, I'd go with the Hilton.