san antonio mission tour by car

How to Tour the Exquisite San Antonio Missions National Historical Park

San Antonio is steeped in history and there is nowhere in the city where that is better found than San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.

This national park encompasses four of the five Spanish colonial missions established in the early 1700s. These missions were intended to spread the Roman Catholic faith among the Native American tribes in the area.

The missions also served as hubs for teaching farming and other trades, as well as instruction on how to become Mexican citizens. On the flip side, the missions did this at the expense of native culture. Still, the park has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

While the park maintains the grounds, the chapels of each of the missions are maintained as active Catholic churches and we even saw a wedding at one when we visited, which was cool!

You can easily visit all four missions in one day. You will learn a lot about early Texas history in the process. There is even a pair of trails that follow the San Antonio River and connect the missions. You can either bike or walk the trails and see even more parts of the park.

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Where to Start Your Tour of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park

I have included a Google Map so you can visualize the routing for visiting the four units of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. I feel this routing gets the most out of the visitor center and allows you to see the excellent exhibits at Mission San José. I have also pinned the other locations I mention in the article, including where we ate and stayed.

Mission San José

Start your visit at the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park Visitor Center at Mission San José. While this mission is more in the center of the park and not at the beginning of the trail, the visitor center has a bunch of great exhibits on the history of the San Antonio missions and their purpose, as well as an excellent film.

You can also pick up a map of the overall park that we found handy when navigating between the missions.

After checking out the visitor center, walk over to Mission San Jose. Inside the walls of the missions, you will find various exhibits on the workshops, the granary, the grist mill and the soldier’s quarters.

Be sure to check out the Rose Window on the side of the church. It is one of the best examples of Spanish Colonial ornamentation in the US. Also, make sure you check out the inside of the church if it is not being used for a service.

Mission Espada and Espada Aqueduct

From Mission San José, head south following the map to Mission Espada. Along the way, be sure to stop at the Espada Aqueduct. While the stop is relatively short, it allows you to see the most complete of the aqueduct systems in the park. This aqueduct transports water from the San Antonio River over a low creek to the farmlands of Mission Espada.

Continue to Mission Espada and check out the grounds. This mission is not as well preserved as Mission San José but it does have an excellent small church with a gift shop and a visitor center of its own. While the visitor center is quite small, it has a working loom.

While this mission had farms, it focused on teaching blacksmithing and weaving skills. Learning how to weave had a lasting impact on native artisans and the legacy can still be seen in San Antonio artists to this day.

While we were visiting the mission, there was a wedding at the church… it is just so cool to see these 300-year-old churches still in use to this day.

Mission San Juan

Circling back north from Mission Espada, head to Mission San Juan. This area operated a large farm and had a ranch located about 20 miles away, eventually supplying agricultural goods throughout the region, including to the other San Antonio Missions.

The National Park Service operates a demonstration farm at the mission. The farm gets its water from the aqueduct system and practices the same farming techniques used when the mission was active. We visited in the winter, however, so did not get a chance to see the farm in action.

Be sure to check out the small church on the grounds. While it isn’t as grand as some of the other missions, it retains a small church feel and is quite nice in its own right.

Mission Concepción

From Mission San Juan, head north towards the center of San Antonio to visit Mission Concepción, the oldest unrestored stone church in the US. It was also the site of the first major engagement of the Texas Revolution.

This is the best preserved of all of the mission churches and inside the church, you can still see frescos painted upon the walls and ceilings. Make sure you check out the inside of the church if it is not being used for a service.

Visit the Final San Antonio Mission: the Alamo

There are five San Antonio Missions… The San Antonio Missions National Historical Park only preserves four of them. The final mission is Mission San Antonio de Valero, which is better known as the Alamo.

If you head north from Mission Concepción, you will end up in downtown San Antonio where you will find the Alamo . This is the site of one of the most famous battles of the Texas Revolution. The defeat of the Texian forces here served as a rallying cry later at the Battle of San Jacinto, where the Texians won their independence.

Read more about visiting San Jacinto here.

The Alamo is considered a shrine and visiting the interior is free but does require a reservation. There are guided tours and living historians as well as in-depth exhibits on Texas history.

If you only want to visit the Alamo Church and see the exhibits inside, you could easily add that to a day of visiting the San Antonio Missions. You might feel rushed if you plan on seeing any of the other exhibits or taking a guided tour.

Other Things to Do in San Antonio

There’s a ton of other stuff to do in San Antonio. At the very least, you need to walk along the River Walk. San Antonio’s River Walk is one of the best urban parks we have ever seen.

If you are in town after dark, check to see if San Fernando Cathedral is doing the Saga that night. The Saga is a light show projected onto the front of the cathedral which traces the history and culture of San Antonio through the years.

There’s also the Briscoe Western Art Museum and the San Antonio Japanese Tea Gardens among so many other sites. Seriously, you could easily spend a week in San Antonio and not run out of things to do.

Where to Stay and Eat When Touring San Antonio Missions National Historical Park

Where to stay in san antonio.

We stayed on the north end of San Antonio at the Hilton Garden Inn San Antonio at the Rim . If we had to do it over again, we would have stayed closer to the city center to cut down on the amount of driving we did. The reason we didn’t? It was leading into New Year’s Eve and the Valero Alamo Bowl was the night we arrived, so the hotels in the center of town were quite expensive.

Read TripAdvisor Reviews | Book the Hotel

That said, the hotel was perfectly comfortable and we would gladly stay here again. It also made for a good base for going to the Hill Country to visit the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park.

Read more about visiting the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park here.

When we stayed in San Antonio on our first visit in April 2011, we camped at the San Antonio/Alamo KOA Holiday, which is on the east side of town and right across from a bus stop so you can take mass transit into town. It’s been a while, but we enjoyed the campground and would certainly camp here again.

Where to Eat in San Antonio

In terms of food, our first recommendation is to go to Pollos Asados los Norteños on the east side of town. This place serves Mexican-style chargrilled chicken and all the fixings. When you pull up, this place will only kinda look like a restaurant. Indeed, the outside looks a little sketchy, especially at night. But the food on the inside is so worth it… It was delicious!

We ended up getting a whole chicken to split and it was WAAAAY too much food, so just get half a chicken if it is just the two of you.

After visiting the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, we were looking for a quick lunch downtown and found La Mexicana right around the corner from the San Fernando Cathedral.

This quiet Mexican restaurant doesn’t look like much on the outside but the food was tasty, not terribly expensive despite its location downtown and the service was quick! We enjoyed our meal here and would eat here again.

Final Thoughts on Touring the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park

If you are looking for a great way to experience the Spanish colonial history of Texas, one of the best ways is to tour the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. Seriously, these missions offer a great way to see and experience the first colonial interactions in Texas.

You can easily see all four of the San Antonio Missions preserved by the park in one day via car. I would expect you could manage the same via bicycle but it might be a long day of riding.

But don’t miss the rest of San Antonio when you come to visit the missions. There’s just so much to see and enjoy. We have visited twice: once in 2011 and again in 2023. Honestly, we feel like we have barely scratched the surface of what this city has to offer. We highly recommend you plan to spend more time than you think you need to truly experience this city.

Travel Resources

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We typically stay at Hilton properties , so we use the Hilton website . You can find good Hilton Honors discounts or AAA discounts for a hotel there. We make great use of our free night certificates from our Hilton Honors American Express. Click here to book a Hilton property.

If there are no Hilton properties available, we use TripAdvisor to read reviews and book the hotel. We find we can get the best price that way. Click here to search for a hotel.

We recently partnered with Stay22 to add interactive maps to each of our destination posts. This will allow you to see a plethora of hotels and vacation rentals all in one responsive map of the area.

What if I need more space than I can get at a hotel?

We use Vrbo for the times when we have rented a cabin for a weekend getaway, like this cabin in Townsend, TN , or needed to rent a house for a large family vacation. We had a great experience with them in terms of refunding deposits when COVID hit and will continue to use them. Click here to search for a vacation rental.

Who do you use for rental cars?

As a general rule, we book with Hertz for rental cars. We have had nothing but good experiences with them. Plus, we really like unlimited mileage and not worrying about crossing state lines. We have even rented from Hertz overseas in both Slovenia and Croatia . Click here to book a rental car.

How about booking a cruise?

We have found some amazing prices for booking a cruise through Cruise Direct . We have saved a lot of money on our cruises compared to what we found elsewhere, making a last-minute Bahamas cruise even cheaper. Click here to book a cruise.

What if I want to rent an RV?

We highly recommend Outdoorsy for RV rentals. We rented a camper van for a week to visit Rocky Mountain National Park for the elk rut and Custer State Park for the Buffalo Round-Up and had a blast. The program was easy to use and we really enjoyed the freedom of having a camper van for that trip. Click here to rent an RV.

What do you use for booking tours?

We don’t often book tours. Typically, we like to do stuff on our own. That said, there are some experiences you can’t have any other way. So, when we do want to book a tour, we always check Viator first. Click here to book a tour.

Do you use anything to get discounts on the road?

We make extensive use of both Good Sam and AAA on the road. Good Sam is normally regarded as a discount card for RVers at campgrounds and Camping World but anyone can use the 5 cents off a gallon at the pump at both Pilot and Flying J. Click here to get a Good Sam membership. We have had AAA as long as we have been married and it has more than paid for itself in discounts at hotels, aside from the peace of mind of having roadside assistance. Add in paper maps and the ability to get an international driver’s license and it is more than worth it for any traveler out there. Click here to get a AAA membership.

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park: The Complete Guide

About the Park

Hike & Bike Trail

Mission San Jose

Mission concepcion, mission san juan capistrano, mission espada, mission san antonio de valero (the alamo), where to stay, how to get there, accessibility, tips for visiting, san antonio missions national historical park.

The first UNESCO World Heritage Site in Texas, the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park includes the city’s five Spanish colonial-era missions: San Jose, San Juan, Espada, Concepcion, and San Antonio de Valero (okay, the Alamo). The missions are easily accessible, and the Hike & Bike Trail makes exploring them easier and more enjoyable than ever. Read on to find out more about each mission, the trail, where to stay in San Antonio, and other need-to-know info before your trip.

In the early 1800s, the city of San Antonio grew around the five Spanish mission sites strung along the San Antonio River. These mission sites were set up like a mini-city, with cattle and farming operations and ornately structured churches. Today, the churches still hold regular services in these historic buildings, and they’re all open to park visitors during park hours.

Admission to the San Antonio Missions is free. The Contact Stations at Mission San Juan and Mission Espada are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the Visitor Center at Mission San Jose is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Hike & Bike Trail

The best way to explore the San Antonio Missions is by bicycle—the 15-mile "hike & bike" trail runs along the San Antonio River and connects all the missions. Each mission is about 2.5 miles from the next. The paved pedestrian trail (which is completely separate from traffic) is relatively flat and winds through old neighborhoods, past meadows of wildflowers, under roadways, and through various habitat corridors that support native plants, migratory birds, and other wildlife.

Download a map of the Riverwalk before you go (you’ll find water, restrooms, trail access, picnic tables, viewpoints, and more on this map). The city’s Mission Trail map can be found here , or you can get one at the Visitor Center (it’s right across the plaza from the Alamo).

You have a couple of options for renting bicycles. The best option is to rent a bike from the Blue Star Bike Shop . They have a wide selection of Electra bicycles, fixed gears, road bikes, and more available for an all-day rental. Technically, you could rent a BCycle bike , which has several BStation kiosks all along the trail—but you would have to remember to check your bike back into a BStation every thirty minutes to avoid additional fees.

Whether you decide to hike or bike (or drive), be sure to reserve enough time for a couple of pit-stops, aside from visiting the missions themselves: Start the day off by checking out Headwaters at Incarnate Word , a 55-acre sanctuary preserving the cultural and historical values of the headwaters of the San Antonio River. And, when you’re done with the trail, drop your bikes off next door and grab a brew and burger at Blue Star Brewing .

Also known as the “Queen of the Missions,” Mission San Jose is the most impressive (and biggest) complex of the bunch. Nearly restored to its original design in the 1930s by the WPA, it’s known for its Rose Window and incredibly detailed façade.

Known as the oldest unrestored stone church in America, Mission Concepcion appears very much as it did over two centuries ago. Some of the original frescoes are even still inside.

Once a flourishing trade center for Native American-produced crops, San Juan was a true self-sustaining community. Within the compound, local Indian artisans crafted cloth and iron tools and grew an array of pumpkins, grapes, peppers, beans, squash, and more.

This was the first mission founded in Texas, in 1690. It may be the smallest of the missions, but Mission Espada is just as beautiful as its larger sisters. And, its historic aqueduct (the Espada Aqueduct and Acequia System) is still in use today.

“Remember the Mission San Antonio de Valero” just didn’t have the same ring to it, apparently. One of the most visited sites in Texas, the Alamo houses exhibits on the Texas Revolution and Texas history, and visitors are invited to experience guided tours, interactive history lessons, and a stroll through the beautiful, well-kept gardens.

San Antonio is replete with great lodging options, from upscale hotels to quaint B&B’s. Here are (just a few) of the best places to stay in the city:

Hotel Emma. A destination in its own right, the immaculately designed Hotel Emma is located in the Pearl District’s restored brewhouse.
Mokara Hotel & Spa. This is easily one of the swankiest hotels in the city, just steps away from all the main action on the bustling Riverwalk.
Hotel Contessa. Palm trees, a prime spot on the Riverwalk, and a heated rooftop pool: Need we say more?
Hotel Havana. Designed by the uber-hip Bunkhouse Group, Hotel Havana boasts cozy Cuban flair and a tranquil Riverwalk setting away from the crowds.
The Oge House - Inn on the Riverwalk. This B&B is an exquisitely restored antebellum mansion in the heart of the King William Historic District.

The central location of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park makes visiting easy, no matter where you’re coming from. The mission trail is about 20 minutes from San Antonio International Airport (SAT). By car, the park is five hours south of Dallas, three hours east of Houston, and 1.5 hours southwest of Austin.

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park is committed to making everyone’s visit as enjoyable and accessible as possible. Each of the major sites in the park is partially wheelchair-accessible, and a wheelchair is available for loan at each site. Restrooms are wheelchair-accessible. There are also ranger-led tours at Mission San Jose on the paved paths of the mission. The San Juan Farm area of Mission San Juan Capistrano is composed of packed dirt paths, and at Espada Dam, the dam is visible from the parking lot.

Those in need of ASL interpretation should plan to email the park staff ahead of time to notify them of your visit. Blind or sight-impaired visitors are encouraged to ask the Visitor Center staff for a copy of the park brochure in braille or large print. The Visitor Center museum also has a relief map of the San Antonio River Valley and tactile exhibits of each mission church façade and compound. Audio recorded information is available through your cell phone, anywhere and anytime, by dialing 210-852-2407 for English or 210-857-2408 for Spanish.

Note that VIA, the San Antonio Transit Authority, provides accessible transportation throughout the city (busses are wheelchair-accessible). Regularly scheduled service between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. will take you to Missions San Jose, San Juan, and Concepcion. Bus #40 and #42 can also bring you within one block of Mission Concepcion and Mission San Jose.

If you have questions or suggestions about accessible facilities, the National Park Service recommends contacting the park’s Accessibility Coordinator via email .

Free parking is available at each of the mission sites.
Print out the Mission Trail map before you go, or simply get one from the Visitor Center.
Texas summers are very, very hot. If you’re planning to bike the trail, you’re better off doing so in early springtime, late fall, or winter. Bring plenty of water and wear strong SPF, no matter the season.
Look over the Things To Know Before You Come page on the National Parks site.

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