Texas: San Antonio, the Hill Country and Austin

Arrive in San Antonio

San Antonio International Airport (SAT) to your hotel by the River Walk

• Repas du soir
• Nuit : San Antonio
• Environ 15 min de route

Soir

Plan to land by about 3 pm so there is time to settle in before the group meets at 5:30 pm; later arrivals are met and brought to dinner. Your See Sight Tours guide, who leads day tours in this city, runs through the week: the bike ride to the missions, the early mornings, the Hill Country roads and the evening in Austin. Then we walk down the steps to the river, a loop of paths a floor below the streets, shaded by cypress trees and lined with restaurants, and sit down to a welcome dinner together. Afterwards the guide takes the group along the quieter stretch towards La Villita, the old neighbourhood of stone and adobe houses. Anyone tired after the flight can head back to the hotel, a few minutes away, whenever they like.

Compris

• Pick-up at San Antonio International Airport (SAT)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner on the River Walk
• An evening walk along the River Walk to La Villita

The missions by bike

Downtown San Antonio along the Mission Reach to Missions Concepción, San José, San Juan and Espada

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : San Antonio
• Environ 30 min de route

Après-midi

Lunch is Tex-Mex nearby. In the afternoon we ride on to Mission San Juan and finish at Espada, near the 1731 aqueduct that still carries water across a creek, about 12 km from downtown. The van brings everyone and the bikes back. The churches are active parishes, so on a Sunday we time visits around mass.

Soir

Late afternoon brings a river barge cruise, and the evening is free.

Compris

• Bike rental and helmet for the Mission Reach ride with your guide
• Mission Concepción, Mission San José, Mission San Juan and Mission Espada with the Espada aqueduct
• Tex-Mex lunch near Mission San José
• A river barge cruise through downtown San Antonio

Activités en option

• San Antonio Museum of Art
• An evening at the Tower of the Americas

The Alamo, Market Square and the Pearl

San Antonio River Walk to the Alamo, Market Square and the Pearl, then Boerne and Comfort to Fredericksburg

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Fredericksburg
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

Mid-morning we drive to Market Square, the Mexican market on the west side of downtown, for its stalls of papel picado, guayaberas and pan dulce.

Après-midi

Lunch is at the Pearl, the former brewery north of downtown, now a quarter of food halls and shops by the river. At about 1:45 pm we leave for the Hill Country on I-10, stopping in Boerne, a town founded by German settlers, and in Comfort, with its 1800s stone buildings, and reach Fredericksburg by about 4:30 pm.

Soir

The evening is free on Main Street.

Compris

• An early walk on the River Walk with your guide
• The Alamo at its first timed entry
• Market Square
• Lunch at the Pearl
• Stops in Boerne and Comfort on the drive to Fredericksburg

Enchanted Rock, Fredericksburg and Luckenbach

Fredericksburg to Enchanted Rock and back, then Luckenbach

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Fredericksburg
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Soir

Comanche and Tonkawa stories tell of the rock groaning at night, which geologists put down to the granite cooling and contracting. We are back in Fredericksburg for a lunch of your choice. The afternoon is free on Main Street: the Pioneer Museum, with its Sunday houses, is included, and the National Museum of the Pacific War, built around Admiral Nimitz's home town, is there for anyone who wants it. At about 4 pm we drive 15 minutes to Luckenbach, a general store, a dance hall and a bar under the oaks, where musicians often sit in a circle and play. German-Texan dinner together back in town.

Compris

• Enchanted Rock State Natural Area with your guide, day pass included
• Pioneer Museum in Fredericksburg
• An afternoon in Luckenbach
• German-Texan dinner in Fredericksburg

Activités en option

• National Museum of the Pacific War

Peaches, wine and down to Austin

Fredericksburg along US 290 to Stonewall and two wineries, then Johnson City and Austin

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Austin
• Environ 2 h de route

Après-midi

Then two Hill Country wineries, a tasting at each and lunch at the second, among the vines; your guide picks them for the day's group and season. We pass through Johnson City, where Lyndon Johnson grew up, and drive the last hour into Austin, checking in by about 3:30 pm. Then the springs: Barton Springs Pool, in Zilker Park, is fed by springs that keep it at about 20°C all year, so a swim is cool and clear even in November.

Soir

At dusk, from March to early November, anyone who wants joins the guide on the Congress Avenue Bridge to watch the free-tailed bats pour out; others rest before dinner. Farewell dinner, then a live music set in one of the city's clubs, cover charge included.

Compris

• A peach farm stop near Stonewall
• Tastings at two Hill Country wineries
• Lunch at a winery
• Barton Springs Pool entry
• The Congress Avenue bat flight with your guide, March to early November
• Farewell dinner in Austin
• A live music set in Austin, cover charge included

Activités en option

• Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, on a private or extended trip

Austin and home

Downtown Austin to the Texas State Capitol, then Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 18 min de route

Matin

A free breakfast, then at 9 am your guide walks the group up Congress Avenue to the Texas State Capitol, the pink granite building finished in 1888, whose dome stands taller than the US Capitol in Washington. Free tours of the rotunda and the chambers run through the day, and the grounds are lined with monuments to the state's history. The rest of the morning is yours: breakfast tacos, the shops of South Congress, or the Bullock Texas State History Museum a few blocks north. Check out by late morning, and our driver takes you to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), about 15 km south-east of downtown and usually a 20 to 30 minute drive. Your guide sees the group to departures. Book a flight leaving after about 1 pm. If yours leaves earlier, we arrange the transfer at the time you need. If you would like more time in Austin, we can book extra nights at the same hotel and move your transfer to the day you fly.

Compris

• Texas State Capitol with your guide
• Drop-off at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)

Activités en option

• Bullock Texas State History Museum
• Extra nights in Austin, booked on request