07/07/2012

San Antonio's Northwest passage: Where the fun is
By Helen Anders
Published: 11:40 a.m. Saturday, July 7, 2012
   
SAN ANTONIO This city is so packed with history, culture and amusements that it can overwhelm. Where do you go first? The good news for Central Texans is that we're so close that we can pop down numerous times and consume San Antonio in manageable bites. We don't have to go to the Alamo or River Walk every time.
For families looking for a summer getaway, try spending a weekend in the Northwest quadrant of suburban San Antonio — the part bounded by Texas Loop 1604, Interstate 10, Interstate Loop 410 and Texas 151. Within it you'll find a menu of theme parks, resort hotels and good restaurants from which to create a summer family escape that makes your crew happy.

At the top of this quadrant, off Loop 1604 just west of I-10, an area known as La Cantera (Spanish for quarry) was once, indeed, the site of a limestone quarry. Today, it's home to Six Flags Fiesta Texas (sixflags.com/fiesta?texas), which offers rides, live shows and a water park amid lush oak trees and limestone cliffs. New at the park this year is the SkyScreamer, a double-seat swing ride that spins you around within 25 feet of a quarry wall at 40 mph.

Admission to Six Flags is $58.99; it's $41.99 if you're less than 4 feet tall. There's no extra charge for the water park. You can get a big discount if you book online three days in advance, in which case your big-person ticket is only $38.99. Parking is another $17.

Another option: You can get the under-48-inches rate on big-people tickets and be delivered to the park on a free shuttle if you stay at nearby Westin La Cantera Resort and Spa, which also offers discounts for nearby SeaWorld San Antonio, Natural Bridge Caverns and New Braunfels' Schlitterbahn.

Resting on a hilltop and designed to evoke the iconic King Ranch, Westin La Cantera (16641 La Cantera Parkway S.; westinlacantera.com) offers activities for adults and kids alike: golf, tennis, a spa, a fitness center, a hiking trail, a Kids Club (where your children can be entertained while you have a day or night out), a Starbucks, beautifully landscaped pools including one for adults, a Discovery Junction park with kids' activities (bounce houses and more), and a library with books and games for a rainy day.

Francesca's, its restaurant, pulls in even the locals with its signature Steak Diane, and the clubby Steinheimer's Lounge offers wine tastings, live music on weekends and a margarita-and-manicure package on some Wednesdays. Rooms start at $249, and there's a $24 resort fee.

Also near Six Flags is a brand new mixed-use development called Eilan that includes a 165-room hotel with a fitness center, lap pool, spa, gardens and a fine-dining restaurant, Sustenio, by chef Stephan Pyles, one of Dallas' stars of Southwestern cuisine. There's a high-tech "golf simulation room" where you can practice your swing. Its rooms start at $215, with a resort fee of $25, and this hotel also offers discounts to Six Flags. Find out more about this one at eilanhotel.com.
Yet another good dining option in this neck of the woods is Paesanos 1604 (3622 Paesanos Parkway; paesanos1604.com; take the Military Highway exit off Loop 1604), the northern outpost of a San Antonio favorite. The buttery Shrimp Paesano is just as lovely here as it is in the other locations.

A stone's throw from Six Flags Fiesta Texas (by Texas standards — we're talking 15 miles) is SeaWorld San Antonio (10500 SeaWorld Drive; seaworldparks.com), where you can watch Shamu and his sea creature friends cavort. The big news at SeaWorld is its new Aquatica water park, which blends slide rides with stingrays and other aquatic life. Ticket at the gate are $59.99 for adults and $49.99 for children. Aquatica is an extra $20. You can get a $10 discount online. Parking is $15.

You can park your family right across Texas 151 from SeaWorld at Hyatt Hill Country Resort and Spa (9800 Hyatt Resort Drive; hill?country.hyatt.com), a limestone resort swaddled in live oak and post oak trees that's laid out like Bastrop's Hyatt Lost Pines but flaunts its own personality. The property's on the site of a farm, and it pays homage to its heritage with touches such as spa buildings fabricated with wood from the old buildings. You'll have your spa treatment in a building that, outside, looks like a barn (though you certainly can't tell that from the luxurious interior).

Pools include a Texas-shaped adult one and a lazy river that winds through the trees and around the property. You'll find golf, a Kids Club and several dining options, from casual to fine dining. Charlie's Long Bar is, indeed, long and offers a convivial adult environment at the end of the day.

Rooms start at $175.12. There's a family SeaWorld package, too. A room with two double beds starts at $459 and includes two adult and two child Sea World tickets along with breakfast for all. The resort fee is $22.

If you really want to save money doing the theme parks, you might decide to skip the resort thing and just do a chain hotel. There are many around the area, but a good middle ground is Balcones Heights, the neighborhood at the intersection of Loop 410 and Interstate 10. A Springhill Suites there (3636 NW Loop 410 Frontage Road; hssuitessan?antonio.com), has rates starting at $129, and the hotel puts you right next to the Balcones Heights Jazz Festival, a free festival at the amphitheater outside Wonderland of the Americas Mall every Friday night through Aug. 3. Free: That's a nice word after all those big numbers, right? Find out more about the festival at reachfortheheights.org/jazz-festival. There's a Dave & Buster's nearby for kid entertainment, too.

If you do stay in Balcones Heights, you're also just up Fredericksburg Road from a good, cheap meal at DeWese's Tip Top Cafe (2814 Fredericksburg Road), where you can enjoy home-cooked liver and onions ($8.95) or a cheeseburger ($3.59) followed by pie.

This location also puts you 10 minutes from the Alamo and River Walk, just in case you want to sprint on down there. But don't bite off more San Antonio than you can chew. There'll be other visits.

Contact Helen Anders ?at 912-2590

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