Window-shopping under the lights
San Antonians love the Christmas holiday season and start celebrating it from Thanksgiving Day in late November. Kick off the winter vacation in San Antonio’s
River Walk, where
200,000 holiday lights hang from stone bridges, graceful tree limbs and the outlines of lamp-posts, shops and hotels. City streets and driveways are lined with hundreds of luminarias, little lanterns containing glowing candles. Riverside stores fill their windows with lavish displays, and
Alamo Plaza is outfitted with an oversize Christmas tree, all welcoming the arrival of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Winter at the theme parks
San Antonio’s theme parks take advantage of the city’s fascination with holiday festivals, decorating their amusements with twinkling lights, Santa Claus displays and holiday trees.
SeaWorld San Antonio dresses Shamu, its performing orca, in Santa’s red and white cap for a winter show featuring holiday lights and music. Holiday-themed concerts and rides, Christmas cookies and hot chocolate are part of the celebration at
Six Flags Fiesta Texas. And in nearby New Braunfels the
Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort trucks in snow and ice equipment to help winter visitors get in the spirit of the season with sledding and ice-skating.
New Year’s festivals
On New Year’s Eve, live music, Latin American folk dancing and food booths line the streets around
La Villita, San Antonio’s old town, and
HemisFair Park, site of the 1968 World’s Fair. Multiple stages fill the air with Latin, American and German music. Don’t return to your winter hotel in San Antonio before midnight. The evening finishes with a night sky blazing with fireworks, a psychedelic backdrop to the 750-foot Tower of the Americas.
Steaming bowls of chili
Come in out of the crisp winter air and warm up over a bowl of hot chili, a Tex-Mex menu favorite. There’s no single way to make chili, and comparing the bowls from one restaurant to another is half the fun. Whether the dish includes tender chunks of beef or a mix of vegetables, sizzling hot peppers or mild beans, a creamy white base or a tomato broth, San Antonio’s chili will satisfy your appetite and warm you up. Look for the best chili at authentic Mexican restaurants
Mi Tierra at Market Square,
Casa Rio on the River Walk or
Tomatillos near Brackenridge Park.
Festive Latin music
Celebrate the holiday season with Latin American music festivals. Hundreds of mariachi bands and soloists meet in the
Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza for a week each November, competing for music awards and participating in mariachi workshops. Throughout December, Market Square
is the site for
Fiestas Navideñas, a month-long festival with Mexican crafts and Latin-influenced Christmas music. Check out the
Mariachi Mass held every Sunday at Mission San José. Always festive, the weekly service features authentic holiday music in December.
Holiday light show
A million twinkling lights usher in the holidays at
Light the Way, a Christmas tradition at San Antonio’s University of the Incarnate Word. Walk or drive through a campus of reindeer, crèches, university buildings and gardens, all outlined in tiny white lights.
