A family-friendly guide for spending your Spring Break in San Antonio, Texas complete with a fun itinerary for kids of all ages and abilities and parents looking to enjoy their vacation.
Family-Friendly Guide to San Antonio
In March 2022, my family decided to head south for Spring Break – this time to San Antonio, Texas. It was going to be another long road trip but nothing we couldn’t handle! Check out a few of our other long road trips we’ve taken in the past:
Every March, when our kids are out of school and when we’re all itching to get away from the unpredictable Midwest weather, we try to take a little Spring Break vacay.
We haven’t been brave enough to fly with them (the girls would be fine; our son has some sensory issues and is a wild card so we’ve been putting it off…) so we usually look at a map and decide which direction to drive based on how much time off we have and the “type” of vacation we want. Beach? Mountains? Desert-esque?
7-Day Itinerary for San Antonio, Tx
Kansas City is a great place to start seeing as how you can drive in pretty much any direction and cross multiple state lines in a matter of hours. Heading North in March is a gamble; we’d done Colorado Springs the year before; and we’d hit the beach a few times already so Texas it was!
Day 1 – Texas or Bust
The first leg of the trip took us from KC to an overnight stay in Dallas, TX. We checked into a hotel for the night and grabbed dinner at The Rustic.
This place was such a vibe with a large indoor seating area, really neat outdoor space, live music, good food and drinks, and several decent options for the kids. Definitely recommend if you’re in the area!
Day 2 – The Silos
We woke up in Dallas and started down the road about an hour and a half towards our next stop: The Silos!
I may or may not have pushed for the Texas trip if it meant I had the chance to stop at The Silos – it was probably the highest thing on my list, ha! Thankfully for us, Slovacek’s was also on the way…
I think they’re known for their sausages but do not drive past this place without stopping for their kolaches. So delicious and the perfect breakfast for the road. We also tried their cinnamon rolls. Literally everything in this store looked amazing and I wish we could have tried one of everything.
On to The Silos! We browsed the cutest shops, grabbed snacks, and drank sweet iced tee. It was as wonderful as it sounds! After spending a little bit of time here, we loaded back up and headed towards Austin where we planned to stop for a late lunch/early dinner.
Traffic wasn’t terrible and we eventually made our way through and around Austin and stopped to eat at The Salt Lick for some Texas barbeque. The Driftwood location was another vibe with a big outdoor seating area and live music that started while we were there. The kids were able to dance and run around a bit which was lovely before we drove over to our next stop.
We wanted to drive through the Texas Hill Country and lucky for us, I found a great way to truly experience the countryside…
…by hiking up Old Baldy smack dab in the middle of Wimberley, TX!
I mean, why wouldn’t we hike up 218 limestone steps with three small children?! Yee-haw! There was minimal complaining and really great panoramic views of the area at the top. Our toddler hiking backpack came in clutch again. Definitely recommend!
After that, we finally (!) made it to our cute Airbnb in San Antonio for the rest of our vacation.
Day 3 – River Walk
We wanted to spend our first day in town exploring the River Walk area so that’s what we did! The weather was wonderful so it was the perfect time to be out walking around.
We grabbed brunch at Schilo’s (get the pancakes!), got margaritas to-go, found ice cream, took an iconic boat tour, and visited The Alamo. We didn’t really have an agenda (besides needing to board the boat at a certain time) so everything was at our own, leisurely pace. It was great!
It was actually quite warm by the afternoon and the kids were begging to go swimming. Our Airbnb didn’t have a pool but luckily, we weren’t too far from an amazing park and splash pad which made everyone happy. We grabbed pizza from Dough, took it back to the condo and called it a night.
Day 4 – Six Flags
The next morning we got up and headed out for Six Flags Fiesta Texas! Our kids are still pretty young so the standing in line and waiting that comes with an amusement park is always a gamble. We had a few instances this day where we waited for a ride only for it to get shut down for one reason or another before our turn.
So it was actually kind of a bust! We made the most of it but looking back, I wish we would have done SeaWorld instead of Six Flags!
Day 5 – The Historic Pearl
We headed back out to explore some more areas of San Antonio on Day 5. First up, the historic Pearl. This district was so nice – lots of open spaces for the kids to run around, plenty of places to grab a drink, a large food hall with various options for food, and several shops and boutiques to check out. We grabbed some beers and snacks for the kids at the Food Hall at Bottling Department and grabbed a table outside to hang out for a bit.
The paved paths of the River Walk extend to this area from downtown so after a little while, we walked new-to-us section to stretch our legs before moving on to visit the Japanese Tea Garden.
It was March and a little cloudy this day so there weren’t a ton of blooms or anything like that but it was still a lovely walk around the park. The kids got bored pretty quickly but I’d still recommend stopping by if you’re in the area!
Next we headed back towards the downtown/Alamo to hit up Ripley’s Believe it or Not! We meandered around the museum for a while – definitely lots of different things to look at so it kept everyone entertained for a bit. Since it was our last night in town, we then grabbed dinner at Casa Rio right on the banks of the river. The atmosphere was 10/10 and the food was good, too!
Day 6 – Morgan’s Wonderland
Besides The Silos, I was also most looking forward to visiting Morgan’s Wonderland for the first time during our trip! We stopped here on our way out of town. Morgan’s Wonderland is the first ultra-accessible theme park built for people with disabilities; our son has Down syndrome so getting the chance to do something specifically geared towards him and his abilities was beyond amazing.
It’s not large or overwhelming and we spent a few hours enjoying the attractions. Another definite recommendation if you have a child with disabilities or not – it was just so refreshing to be in a space truly meant for everyone.
We had a pretty decent drive ahead of us after our visit with plans to make it to Oklahoma City for the night so we hit the road after lunch.
Day 7 – Oklahoma City
We were itching to get home but made one last final leg of the trip – and a pitstop at Buc-ee’s for the first time! – to meet up with friends in Oklahoma City. Some of our neighbors were here for a softball tournament so we broke up the long drive home with a stop here overnight. We eventually made it home the next day, wrapping up another great family road trip!
Final Thoughts About San Antonio
Overall we really enjoyed our time in San Antonio! I thought there were plenty of things for a young family to do and several different areas of town to explore. It was nice to mark a new state off the list for myself and the kids and the weather ended up being beautiful so it felt like a true “Spring Break” vacation with the warmer weather.
Things To Do in San Antonio, Texas
Here are a few other things I had on my list when I was initially planning our trip. I tend to jam-pack our days full but am quickly reminded that our kids sometimes can’t handle going all day long!
Activities
- San Antonio Missions National Historical Park
- Old Town Trolley Tour
- San Antonio Zoo
- Sea Life Aquarium
- Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch
- The DOseum Children’s Museum
- Hopscotch – this place looks neat!
- Natural Bridge Caverns
Restaurants & Bars
- Elsewhere Garden Bar & Kitchen
- Sam’s Burger Joint
- Rita’s on the River
- Boeing Center at Tech Point
- San Antonio’s Incredible Pizza Company
- Best Quality Daughter
Long Road Trip Tips
Here are a few lessons learned and/or tips gleaned from our trips over the years that I like to incorporate into our road trips:
- In addition to snacks, pack quick and easy lunches to eat in the car to cut down on stop time.
- Book overnight stays with hotels that offer a free, hot breakfast to make mornings easy. Remember to bring a separate “go-bag” with a few things everyone will need overnight and leave the rest of your stuff in the car.
- Renting an Airbnb or VRBO with a full kitchen is the move! If one isn’t available, a hotel that offers a one-bedroom suite or separate sleeping space is great, too.
- Picking up a few groceries can help keep costs down – we like to eat breakfast at “home” if possible and pack lunches when we can to limit how much we’re eating out. This always helps keep us in budget.
- Remain flexible – routes may have to change, activities might need be nixed but in the end, it all works out.
If you’re headed to San Antonio soon, I hope this itinerary is helpful!
