Location: San Antonio
Top Things to do in San Antonio
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Top 10 Things to do Good for a Rainy Day in San Antonio, Texas (TX)
Step to the beat of wafting flamenco music as you wander the downtown River Walk before sampling as much chili (San Antonio’s signature dish) as your taste buds will allow. A visit to the Alamo is an absolute must, as is taking in a show at the ornate Majestic Theatre. San Antonio Missions National Historical Park is dotted with 18th-century buildings and features, making for an enriching excursion.
Restaurants in San Antonio
1. Ranger Creek Brewing & Distilling
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 166 reviews
Ranger Creek is a combined brewery/distillery proudly located in San Antonio, TX. We offer a unique, educational Brewstillery Tour where you can learn how we make our beer and our bourbon on Saturdays at 12 & 2PM (Group size of ten to accommodate safe social distancing). This full tour is $10, which includes a detailed guided tour and 3 samples of our products. Our Beer Garden (outside) is open Fri 4-9 pm and Sat 12-9 pm.
2. Witte Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 611 reviews
The Witte Museum is Where Nature, Science and Culture Meet. Discover Texas Deep Time in spacious galleries located on a beautiful, riverside campus. Explore dinosaurs, Chili Queens and cattle kings, original Gallery Theater plays and so much more. Come discover YOUR Witte Museum.
Reviewed By BennettS_12
We visited the Witte to see their current art exhibition, which was fantastic. Then we were pleasantly surprised to learn they are more than an art museum with wonderrful interesting exhibits of native Texas history and wildlife.
3. The DoSeum - San Antonio's Museum for Kids
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 586 reviews
The DoSeum, San Antonio's museum for kids, serves as a “charging station” to power up kids’ minds and support the important work of schools and community organizations. Our exhibits and programs promote joyful learning, invite discovery, spark interest, and develop positive attitudes towards learning across critical content areas - including STEM, the arts, and literacy.
Reviewed By hornfan31 - Austin, United States
Wonderful children’s museum. So many activities. Great for kids and adults. Impossible to do everything in one day. Kids really enjoyed spy area. Stayed till closing.
4. McNay Art Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 888 reviews
The McNay Art Museum engages a diverse community in the discovery and enjoyment of the visual arts. Built in the 1920s by artist and educator Marion Koogler McNay, the Spanish Colonial Revival residence became the site of Texas’s first modern art museum when it opened in 1954. Today, 200,000 visitors a year enjoy works by modern masters including Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Edward Hopper, Joan Mitchell, Alice Neel, Georgia O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The 25 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds include sculptures by Willie Cole, Robert Indiana, Luis A. Jiménez Jr., Alejandro Martín, George Rickey, Joel Shapiro, Kiki Smith, Tom Wesselmann, and more.
Reviewed By pdashnaw - Georgetown, United States
This was our second visit to the McNay, and we were not disappointed. There is a tastefully curated mix of Impressionism, the Dutch Masters, Cubism, modernism and pop art among their Permanent collection, and lots of floor & wall space is allocated to traveling/special exhibits. One big innovation that has been added since our previous visit, is the ability to use your Smart Phone to listen to the audio commentary that used to require a separate device either rented, or checked out from the counter. Parking is easy and adequate, and the museum is in a delightfully urban area of the city away from the downtown. They have discounted rates for seniors and active duty military while teens and children are free. Check in advance before you head out though, the day we visited, there was another collection on display - big yellow things called school buses in the parking lot which means....
5. Steves Homestead
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 87 reviews
Take the docent-led tour of this Victorian mansion for a reconstructed take on the lifestyle of rich and famous San Antonio personalities in the late 1800s.
Reviewed By DaveJ708 - Texarkana, United States
The home is magnificent and the tour is well worth it to really appreciate the life of wealthy Germans in San Antonio of the 19th century. The tours are intimate (just my wife and I with the guide) and allow for questions and conversation. I suggest the self guided walking tours of the King William district with this house tour and an inexpensive lunch at the Gunter House.
6. The Guenther House Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 562 reviews
Majestic home belonging to the founders of the Pioneer Flour Mill.
Reviewed By TiaJK - Dallas, United States
This is an absolutely fabulous place for brunch. But be warned lots of other people know this! So plan to take the tour of the grounds and the house and do some shopping in their great little shop- but the wait is worth it! You can also take some fantastic photos while you wait- as the grounds are along the River and breathtaking!
7. Majestic & Empire Theatres
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,283 reviews
Established in 1929 and 1914, the Majestic & Empire Theatres are the historic Crown Jewels of Houston St., entertaining San Antonio in the heart of downtown for over 90 years.
Reviewed By RCTALLEY - San Antonio, United States
Love holding season tickets for the Broadway series. Fiddler on the Roof just now. SA can have a real big city feel on theater night. Dinner/drinks and the show. Highly recommend!
8. San Antonio Museum of Art
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 787 reviews
The San Antonio Museum of Art is housed in a historic brewery along the banks of the Museum Reach of the Riverwalk. The Museum offers important permanent collections of Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities, Asian art, Latin American art, contemporary art and American paintings. The museum offers a variety of programs. Visit our website for admission pricing and more information. Bexar County residents enjoy free general admission every Tuesday 4–7 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m.–12 p.m.
Reviewed By kzsull01 - Windsor, United States
My husband and I visited the San Antonio Museum of Art in San Antonio, Texas, on Thursday afternoon, November 8, 2018 and Friday morning, November 9th. The museum had a very impressive collection of paintings, sculptures, and many other types of artifacts all well curated and documented and housed in the historic Lone Star Brewery. The former Lone Star Brewery building had unique architecture and was very nicely retrofitted to accommodate the artwork of the museum. The museum had much to offer and our visit was quite educational and an excellent lesson in art, history, and culture. Our visit at the museum lasted about five hours in total, due to the amount of time that we had available to us, but it could have easily taken more time to be able to absorb and appreciate all the artwork on display. An added bonus to our visit was there was plenty of free parking conveniently located across the street from the museum. We recommend a visit to this museum if you are in San Antonio, and hope that you have the opportunity to enjoy it as much as we did!! We started our visit on the first floor with the Egyptian, Ancient Mediterranean, Greek and Roman Art. The Egyptian artwork included a comprehensive display of many types of interesting artifacts and objects, including figurines, papyrus, pottery, vessels, statuette funerary, mummy masks, a mummy coffin, ancient glass and even a falcon. Artifacts illustrating Religion in Ancient Egypt included jars, knives, bowls, necklaces, beakers and other offering objects were all beautifully displayed. We then toured the Greek World Gallery. This included information about the natural world and ideal forms and proportions. Greece in the Bronze Ages was depicted. Jugs, jars, flasks, bowls, urns, Greek Coinage, jewelry, gems, and funerary sculptures were included among the many items nicely on display. We then viewed the Roman World. Multiple aspects of this art was depicted, including Roman Funerary Sculptures, Art in the Roman Provinces, Roman Coinage, portraits and a depiction of Roman mythology as well as much more, all quite interesting. We then went to the second floor which had Asian Art, including Japanese, Southeast Asian, Korean, Himalayan and Indian artwork. A variety of artifacts were on display, among them were Scenes of the Life of Buddha, including a Crowned Buddha, as well as objects related to Brahma, the Dance of Divine Love on Pigments of Cotton, Yogini, Plaques with the Mother Goddess, the Wedding of Krishna, Radha - Object of Krishna’s Desire, and a Surya Shrine. Many bottles, bowls and jars were also on display, all worth seeing. The Japanese art illustrated the Magic of Clay and Fire through Contemporary Ceramics, including vessels, jars, vases. A suit of parade armor was also on display as well a shrine and multiple folding silk screen panels, including ‘the Hawk on a Branch with Chattering Monkeys’ in addition to vases bottles, dishes and pitchers, all quite nice. The third floor had a very comprehensive and quite impressive collection of Chinese artwork, including ceramics, imperial China artifacts and early China artifacts. Art from multiple Chinese Dynasties were on display, including Qing, Ming, Song, Northern Song, Tang, Sui, Northern Qi, , Northern Wei, Han, Eastern Han, Western Han, Western Jin and Eastern Jin and many more. The artwork included vases, bowls, dishes, cups, canisters, figurines, flasks, jars, wine pots, bottles, urns, robes, furniture, horses, soldiers, a money tree, earthenware, stoneware, pieces of bronze and much more. We completed our visit at the museum on November 8th very impressed with what we saw, but still had more galleries in the museum to explore on November 9th. We began our visit to the museum on November 9th on the fourth floor with the Art of Oceania. This was a very interesting gallery depicting ceremonial ancestor figures, a basketry figure of a wild pig from New Guinea, a basketry yam mask, and information on the Yam Festivals of the Abelam people of New Guinea as well as well as the Malanggan Festivals of New Ireland. The Oceanic gallery illustrated an interesting history of cultural exchange in the South Pacific. . We then crossed over the Sky Bridge and went through an interesting and unique exhibit by Marilyn Lafear on ‘From Sewing to Soldering’. We went to the Texas Gallery and enjoyed the Texas Furniture and Texas Art with Blue Bonnets, Landscape Paintings and Marble Bronze Sculptures as well as other pieces of contemporary artwork in the next galleries. We walked through multiple galleries with interesting artwork including sculptures, jewelry and more by modern designer Harry Bertoia. We then spent time viewing the Spanish and Colonial Art as well as the very impressive Latin American Art Galleries, including modern, contemporary and folk art. We really enjoyed viewing the various vases, jars, crowns, chalices as well as beautiful religious paintings. We then spent some time viewing the American Art, including Haystack Mountain in Vermont and paintings along Pennsylvania Avenue. In addition, we enjoyed viewing the pieces of European Art that were on display. . . We finally visited the special exhibit ‘Becoming John Marin, Modernist at Work’. We enjoyed his drawings, watercolors, etchings and oil paintings, including early landscapes and architecture. We liked his artwork in Venice, Paris, and in Manhattan, including the Brooklyn Bridge, the Telephone Building, the Woolworth Building and his depiction of a city in motion. We also liked his art regarding ‘Exploring America’, ‘Faces and Fantasies’, including portraiture, as well his artwork regarding the circus and his ‘Summers in Maine’. This was definitely a very comprehensive and interesting special exhibit nicely laid out with write-ups having good background information, all illustrating a unique perception of art. It was definitely worth seeing. . As you can tell, this museum has quite a bit to offer, much more than what is mentioned here. Again, we recommend a visit to this museum if you are in San Antonio and hope that you enjoy it as much as we did!!
9. Institute of Texan Cultures
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 444 reviews
This museum is dedicated to the contributions of different ethnic groups in Texas.
Reviewed By MarcellaS649 - St. Petersburg, United States
Many cultures, many stories and artifacts. Perfect for a rainy day and onto the tower of the Americas for lunch.
10. San Fernando De Bexar Cathedral
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 2,033 reviews
This cathedral was built in 1873 to replace the original founded more than one hundred years earlier.
Reviewed By Sgriffith02 - San Antonio, United States
The San Fernando Cathedral is a standout in the city, on the pedestrian Main Street Plaza, you can go in to see the old church, and at night, sit in the courtyard to watch the most amazing projected light show of history that you will see anywhere. Be sure to put this on the list of things you do - San Antonio has such a rich cultural history, you will come to love it more as you learn about it!
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