2 Best Sights in San Antonio, Texas

At the heart of San Antonio, this one-time Franciscan mission established in 1718 as Mission San Antonio de Valero stands as a revered repository of 300 years of Texas history. It is a monument to the 187 Texan and Tejano (Texans of Mexican descent) volunteers who fought and died here during a 13-day siege in February and March of 1836 led by Mexican dictator General Antonio López de Santa Anna. The Texan army lost, but the defeat inspired an April victory at the Battle of San Jacinto with the rallying cry "Remember the Alamo," spurring Texas toward independence from Mexico. Today the historic shrine (Alamo Church) and Long Barrack are the only structures remaining from the 1836 battle. Admission to those two are free, but you must have a timed ticket (reserve online or on-site) to keep crowds at a minimum inside the shrine. Once inside, be sure to see the Church's Sacristy Exhibit, an immersive journey through time all the way to its role as a sanctuary for women and children during the siege. You can also upgrade from the free tour to the "A Line in the Sand" self-guided experience ($20), which includes the audio tour, the Alamo Exhibit, and entry to Alamo Church. For the ultimate history lesson, take the "Remember the Alamo Guided Tour" ($45) led by Alamo History interpreters; it's 45 minutes long with a 30-minute guided walking tour and time for Q&A. This tour includes entry into the church and the Alamo Exhibit in the Ralston Family Collections Center, where you can explore artifacts from the Phil Collins Collection and others in 10,000 square feet of gallery space with more than 500 artifacts on display (rotated out of a collection of 5,000). You can also purchase tickets separately to the Ralston Center. The ongoing construction around the Alamo is part of a multi-year (through 2027) $550 million renovation and redevelopment of Alamo Plaza, including plans for a Plaza de Valero pavilion, a reconstructed walkway from the Hyatt Regency Riverwalk hotel to Alamo Plaza, a new education center (150,000 school children visit the Alamo each year), and a $185 million visitor center and Alamo museum in the historic Crockett Building across from the plaza.

A National Park Service site and the only UNESCO World Heritage site in Texas, the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park is located on the Southside about 10 minutes south of downtown. Except for the Alamo, San Antonio's missions constitute the park and all four are active Catholic parishes to this day. Established along the San Antonio River in the 18th century by Franciscan friars, the missions stand as reminders of Spain's most successful attempt to extend its New World dominion northward from Mexico. The missions had the responsibility of converting the natives (primarily American Indians) to Catholicism. The missions were also centers of work, education, and trade. They represented the greatest concentration of Catholic missions in North America, and were the basis of the founding of San Antonio. The four missions from north to south are Mission Concepción, Mission San José, Mission San Juan, and Mission Espada. They are roughly 2½ miles apart from one another, but driving between them is easy—they are connected by Mission Road and Mission Parkway—and there is free parking at each mission. Admission to all missions is free. The visitor center and store for the park district is at Mission San José. Pick up a map of the grounds there and ask about upcoming special programming; the park is regularly alive with community gatherings, artists working plein air, festivals, and more.