Quick And Easy Air Travel to San Antonio - Courtesy www.virtualbirdseye.com
The land and terrain of San Antonio is outstanding making the city a natural pleasure place to move around in. The city includes in its domain certain distinct natural features like the hill country, the plains and the lakes. This part of Texas is well known for its Prairies and South Plains but best of all the city sports a wonderful river meandering through it. These geographic traits make San Antonio a beautiful city.
Besides its historical backdrop the city is a wonderful confluence of diverse cultures marking it out to be an interesting and exciting place to visit. Its also a relatively safe city but you should always exercise some caution and thats true of anywhere. Learning to find the best means to arrive here and to move about confidently is essential in order to have a great time.
If you plan to come here by plane then San Antonio International Airport can be reached quickly in about 75 minutes from Dallas/Fort Worth or less than an hour from Houston. Of course you could get information about air travel from other destinations as well. Transportation from the airport to the city center is available by shuttle and also by taxi. Free shuttles are also there from the airport that drop of people at a city bus stop that comes downtown for a dollar.
Catch the Train to San Antonio - Courtesy www.railpixs.com
The train is also a pretty good option and you have Amtrak, SAS, 350 Hoefgen and the Texas Eagle provides services from everywhere to come to come to San Antonio. If you have time and want to enjoy the typical South landscape then the train journey is just your thing to do. Even so a car journey will give you the same pleasure but with more leeway.
Most visitors to San Antonio arrive by either I-35, I-10, or US 281. I-10 comes from El Paso to the west and Houston to the east. I-35 comes from Austin to the north and Laredo to the south. US 281 connects with Brownsville to the south and Blanco and Johnson City to the north. I-37 completed some years ago shortens the drive to Corpus Christi on the Gulf of Mexico. Besides local buses you have Greyhound plying its services too, taking you right down to the downtown areas.
San Antonio located in the middle of Texas is of course land locked. But there are boating opportunities available around San Antonio because of the abundance of rivers in the area. The River Walk, in downtown San Antonio offers River Taxis that ferry people to hotels, restaurants and shops along its banks. Its a delightfully charming way of enjoying the city and seeing all that it has to offer.
San Antonio’s bus system is known as the VIA Metropolitan Transit, that also runs the downtown streetcar service thats also actually a bus. Bus fares are very nominal depending on the service. There are 4 different types of routes: Express, Skip, Frequent, and Metro. Express routes run from the sub-urban areas (mostly Park and Rides) to downtown. Most of them run about once every 30 minutes.
Skip service runs along the streets with high traffic. They are called Skip routes because they usually Skip bus stops that are serviced by the frequent routes. Skip routes also usually run about every 30 minutes. Frequent routes can be found on high traffic roads and as the name implies, the stops are very frequent, about once every 15 minutes. Metro service is usually found in neighborhoods around the city, frequency varies with each route, but they usually run about once an hour. Discount fares are available to children between the ages of 5 and 11, senior citizens 62 and older, Medicare recipients, persons with disabilities and students.
San Antonio Intercity Commute - Courtesy z.about.com
The most interesting choice available especially for tourists is the #7 Sightseer Special that runs every hour daily for a dollar (one way) and links the various museums and attractions north of downtown. The attractions include Botanical Garden, Witte Museum, San Antonio Zoo, San Antonio Museum of Art with Downtown. The four (Red, Yellow, Purple, Blue) downtown Streetcar lines also run about every 10 minutes from Alamo Plaza to the Market Square area, Alamodome, HemisFair Park, and the King William Historic area. With so much to see and enjoy travel comforts and commuting options abound in San Antonio making it one of the most commuter friendly tourist destination.