San Antonio B&Bs, San Antonio Riverwalk Hotels

San Antonio’s emphasis on tourism and conventions is clearly evident in its downtown core, its skyline dominated by a number of high-rise, multi-room hotels. While a number of the downtown San Antonio hotels are good, solid, Marriott and Hilton-level mainstays with easy access to either the convention center or the River Walk, there are also a group of hotels that offer travelers something extra memorable. With so many hotels in the city’s downtown core—many of which have gone fully non-smoking—there are choices for those who gravitate toward the historic, the modern or the ultra-luxurious.

Historic Hotels

St. Anthony Hotel

The St. Anthony Hotel is one of the oldest hotels in San Antonio, built in 1909, and still features a marquee out front that evokes a bygone era. Despite modern amenities, it emphasizes a gilded past in the chandeliers and bronzes that adorn its public spaces, and incorporates a hybrid of modern and antique adornments in its guest rooms. Rates start at $169. 300 E Travis, tel. 210-227-4392. www.wyndham.com

Havana Riverwalk Inn

Built in 1914 and designated a state and national historic landmark, the Havana Riverwalk Inn allows for an additional layer of escape that feels more like Cuba than the United States, and is located on one of the quieter, more picturesque sections of the River Walk. The rooms incorporate stately antiques, hardwood floors, exposed brick walls and are even adorned with aging, sepia-toned photos. Club Cohiba, located in the hotel’s basement, is one of the city’s best bars, with a speakeasy feel and a full drink menu including a variety of martinis, as well as dynamite mojitos shaken with fresh mint. Rates start at $105. 1015 Navarro, tel. 210-222-2008. www.havanariverwalkinn.com

Emily Morgan Hotel

The Emily Morgan Hotel, across the street from the Alamo, started its life as the Medical Arts Building in 1924, housing doctors’ offices, and carries the Gothic stateliness also seen in its sister building, the Nix Hospital, still active as a medical center several blocks over.

 

• Chandeliers and marble floors adorn the lobby of the St. Anthony Hotel.

Courtesy of St. Anthony, A Wyndham Historic Hotel

The Emily Morgan opened as a boutique hotel in 1984 and features feather beds, Jacuzzi baths and even allows pets. In addition to the usual amenities you’d expect of a top-flight hotel (a pool and fitness room), the hotel includes a cozy library which also converts to a cozier-than normal meeting room. Rates start at $189. 705 E. Houston St., tel. 210-225-5100. www.emilymorganhotel.com

Menger Hotel

The Menger Hotel is even closer to the Alamo, stationed right next door to the Cradle of Texas Liberty, and is almost as old, dating back to 1859. Curiously, both Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant have stayed at the hotel, as have Theodore Roosevelt, Babe Ruth and Mae West.

Though much of the Menger’s charm lies in its history and its location, including the hotel’s famous bar (dating back to 1887 as a replica of a well-known London pub), it has also incorporated spa services and downtown San Antonio’s largest heated swimming pool to keep it competitive with its contemporary neighbors. Rates start at $189. 204 Alamo Plaza, tel. 210-223-4361. mengerhotel.com

 

• The exterior of the Fairmount Hotel.

Courtesy of the Fairmount Hotel

The Fairmount Hotel

The Fairmount Hotel, located across from HemisFair Park and next door to La Villita shops and restaurants, is another century-old building (dating to 1906) that has recently been renovated to boutique pampering status. Remarkably, the hotel was slated for demolition in 1984 before the city decided to move the entire hotel—3.2 million pounds of brick and mortar—to its current location five blocks from where it originally stood.

The Victorian architecture of the Fairmount includes a number of balconies attached to guest rooms, unusual for downtown’s collection of historic hotels. The guest rooms keep to a plush, antique style more in line with the past than the present. Rates start at $144. 401 South Alamo, tel. 210-224-8800. www.thefairmounthotel-sanantonio.com

La Mansion del Rio

La Mansion del Rio, located on one of the River Walk’s prime locations as well as behind the city’s aptly-named Majestic Theatre, is built on the original location for the city’s first college, hence the College Street address and the El Colegio bar just off the lobby. The hotel itself is done in Spanish colonial architecture, with nicely rustic touches offsetting the modern amenities.

 

• La Mansion del Rio is a great historic hotel located on the River Walk.

Courtesy of La Mansion del Rio

For guests lucky enough to have a riverside room, its balconies offer some of the city’s best views of the River Walk. And while the hotel has its own qualities to offer—such as an indulgent courtyard pool with bar service and a restaurant with one of the city’s best Sunday brunches—its affiliation with the Watermark Spa across the river makes the La Mansion even more valuable to guests. Rates start at $189. 112 College St., tel. 210-518-1000. www.omnihotels.com

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