San Antonio’s Best-Kept Secrets: From Kayaks to Carousels

When I arrived at Padre Pio Park in San Antonio, I saw a blue heron standing so tall and still at the river’s edge that I thought it was a larger-than-life statue. I walked up to photograph it and just about had a heart attack as it indignantly took off, squawking.

San Antonio is surprisingly full of outdoorsy things to do. Of course, it’s blazing hot during summer, but there are many good reasons to go outside and enjoy Texan wildlife and green space the rest of the year.

Here are a few things I did during a December trip to San Antonio.

Biking the Missions

I had long wanted to visit all San Antonio’s missions on a non-motorized pilgrimage, preferably via kayak. That turned out to be a little too logistically complicated (it’s hard to lock up your kayak while touring missions), so I opted for biking instead.

San Antonio BCycle has a fleet of e-bikes available via bike share. You can also rent a bike from a shop. One of the big advantages of bike share is that you can return the bike to one of many different racks around the city. I opted to ride one way and then Uber straight to lunch from the farthest mission.

Allow yourself plenty of time at San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. Due to a lunch date, I only had three hours to bike nine miles and visit four missions. The missions deserve more than such a cursory glance.

Still, I got a feel for each of them, from grand Concepcion to the strangely flat façade of San Juan, which was built to be temporary. The last of the four, Mission Espada, was especially beautiful and tranquil, with flowers and hummingbird feeders everywhere.

Kayaking in San Antonio

One morning during my San Antonio trip, Ryan LaReau, general manager of Texas River Company, met me at Padre Pio Park with a kayak. Texas River Company offers two standard kayaking options in San Antonio.

There’s a short, one-hour cruise and a more adventurous four-hour, 6.5-mile option. The latter includes some portaging and navigating more than 20 chutes that guide you like a river staircase to the lowest point at Espada Dam.

My trip was a meandering 0.8 miles from Padre Pio Park to the VFW Bridge and back, checking out the many birds and turtles. This isn’t the cleanest part of the river—there’s a lot of trash—but the bird life makes up for it. I saw herons, anhingas, even an Egyptian goose.

Ryan recommends spring and winter as the best paddling seasons. “Once it gets above 85 degrees air temperature, you’re going to be smoking hot on the water out in the kayaks,” he said.

During the summer, Texas River Company is open from eight until noon. Then it’s time to get off the water and into some shade.

Yoga with Mobile Om

On a chilly evening, I joined about 30 other people for yoga downtown in Travis Park. Mobile Om offers free, beginner-friendly classes outside the usual yoga studios. I enjoyed doing yoga surrounded by the holiday lights filling the park.

Take a San Antonio River Cruise

A river cruise with Go Rio is the classic San Antonio tourist experience. You board on the San Antonio River Walk and traverse the manmade canals. The city’s canal system began in 1720 and has gone through many iterations to provide water for drinking and agriculture.

Nowadays, we don’t have to drink out of the canals (thank goodness), but instead, we can ride a tourist boat while a captain/guide tells tales of San Antonio’s history.

The eco-friendly electric boats run narrated cruises from 10 AM to 10 PM year-round, weather permitting. I took a nighttime cruise for the best Christmas light viewing during my December visit. San Antonio does a phenomenal job lighting up the trees along the River Walk.

San Antonio Tours & Excursions

Stroll Through a Japanese Garden

The Japanese Tea Garden in Brackenridge Park is a lovely place to walk, and admission is free. You’ll find bridges, lily ponds, a waterfall, pathways between flowers, and hand-built stone structures.

Noticing that the entrance gate says “Chinese Tea Garden” inspired me to Google some history. Turns out that the garden was part of a cement quarry until 1908. Prison workers created the garden in 1918 to bridge the old quarry and the San Antonio River.

In 1919, the park commissioner invited artist Eizo Jingu and his family to live in a house in the gardens. Jingu was involved with a tea association. In 1926, he opened a tea and snack place called the Bamboo Room in the garden. His daughters served tea dressed in traditional kimonos.

Jingu died of a heart attack in 1938, leaving his widow Miyoshi and seven children to run the garden. But the family was evicted soon after World War II started. A Chinese family moved in, and the name was changed to “Chinese Tea Garden.”

In 1984, the name reverted to the Japanese Tea Garden. But the Chinese sign remains due to its historical and artistic significance. San Antonio has put money into the garden in the last 20 years, so it’s in nice shape.

Play at Kiddie Park

Generations of San Antonians have ridden the historic rides at Kiddie Park. Established in 1925, the park is celebrating its centennial this year, but in a newish location. In 2019, the whole park was relocated to sit just outside the zoo gates.

There’s no admission fee to enter the park. You pay by the ride. Most of the rides are child-sized for ages two to twelve, but parents can also ride on the 1918 Herschell-Spillman Carousel.

Director of operations Will Sledge gave me a tour of the historical carousel during my visit. We ogled hand-carved horses and a lone zebra. “The bench is my absolute favorite,” Will says, pointing out a carved bench with Uncle Sam’s likeness.

It’s clearly modeled after our first president since Uncle Sam has George Washington’s prominent nose. “If I had to pick a favorite horse, it’s the black horse we have here with the white tail. It’s just pretty, and it looks classic.” His daughter favors the zebra.

She, like many San Antonio kids, had an early birthday party here.

Ride the Zootennial Carousel

While the Kiddie Park carousel charms with its historic hand-carved horses, the Zootennial Carousel inside the zoo wows guests with color and variety.

I saw animals I’ve never seen on a carousel, such as a Texas horned lizard, red panda, lemur, okapi, gator, jackalope, manatee, and an Ethiopian wolf. It was a hard choice, but I figured when in Texas, ride the horny toad. The carousel opened in 2019 to celebrate the zoo’s centennial—hence its name.

If You Go

While San Antonio sprawls, the downtown and River Walk area is compact. I was able to walk and bike to many places, with an occasional Uber thrown in. Depending on your plans, you might not need to rent a car.

Be sure to plan your activities around the weather. San Antonio heat is no joke. And if you’re going to use the bike share, bring your own helmet. For more inspiration, check out the Visit San Antonio website.

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Author Bio: Teresa Bergen writes about adventure, eco, vegan and sober travel. She’s on a mission to kayak or SUP in every US state and Canadian province. Teresa is the author of Sober Travel Handbook and Easy Portland Outdoors.

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