San Antonio Travel Forum

I read that you can walk the missions national park, but some say a vehicle is mandatory. Which is it? If you are a healthy adult is it better to see the missions on foot than in a car? I think you experience more walking about than sitting in a car and driving from place to place if the distances are not that great.

Perhaps what is meant is that you need a car to drive between the 4 missions (or how many there actually are), and you get out and walk the grounds at each mission when you arrive...it's what we did...

Bill

Got it. I thought we could start at the Alamo and walk from there, but I may be mistaken. We'll make sure to have a car available, thank you!

See http://www.nps.gov/saan/pphtml/maps.html for maps of the park and area. The main park area stretches over 8 miles. You know that the Alamo is in downtown San Antonio, but at least the first missions to the south are in residential (blue collar) neighborhoods. I doubt many people make that walk...of course, that could be because we're all Americans and come with cars. ;-)

From the map, Mission Concepcion is something like 2 miles from the Alamo, and it seems a lot farther. Well, in any case, even if it is possible to walk between the missions (without getting lost), I don't see how walking through residential neighborhoods would enhance the experience...better to park at a mission, walk in the gate through the walls, and try to forget the outside world ;-)

Note, I see you are doing research (good); before you visit the Alamo, get a good picture in your mind of how big the original mission was. What we call the Alamo now is just the chapel and some gardens; the mission site was considerably larger, as you'll see at the other missions...

Bill

Definitely drive. It's quite a distance to walk and you go through some not so nice neighborhoods. Plus, if you go during summer, the heat would be too intense.