Texas Scenic Drives: San Antonio Missions Trail

State of Texas

It must be noted up front that the San Antonio Missions Trail in Texas, a 25-mile loop south of San Antonio, is an urban drive that weaves its way at times through city traffic before reaching more open countryside dotted with farms.

But the five missions -- the Alamo, Concepcion, San Jose, San Juan, and Espada -- and other historic structures, set in parklike grounds, provide scenic beauty enough. And each is a cool and relaxing oasis of quiet. Scattered along the San Antonio River, which the drive follows south from the city, the missions form San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.

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The Alamo, established as a dusty outpost of the Spanish Empire in 1718, was the first of San Antonio's missions to be founded. It assumed legendary status in March 1836 when a small garrison of Texas independence fighters, including Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, fought to the death rather than surrender to a Mexican army. Texans enter its cool adobe walls as if paying homage at a shrine.

The other four missions are less political but no less interesting. Each is different, but they all served the goal of introducing the local Tejas Indians (after whom Texas is named) to Spanish society and Christianity. Franciscan friars founded the four between 1718 and 1731, gathering scattered tribes into church-oriented communities near the river.

map of the San Antonio Missions Trail
Follow this map of the San Antonio Missions Trail to see five historic Spanish frontier missions, including The Alamo.

These and Spain's many other New World missions went into decline during the Napoleonic wars in Europe, and their lands were redistributed in the 1820s when Mexico gained its independence from Spain. In Texas, preservation efforts began in the 1930s.

Find more useful information related to Texas' San Antonio Missions Trail:

  • San Antonio: Find other things to do in the city that's home to San Antonio Missions Trail.
  • Scenic Drives: Are you interested in scenic drives beyond Texas? Here are more than 100 scenic drives throughout the United States.
  • How to Drive Economically: Fuel economy is a major concern when you're on a driving trip. Learn how to get better gas mileage.

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Highlights of the San Antonio Missions Trail

The Alamo is one of the biggest attractions along the San Antonio Missions Trail in Texas, but it's far from the only one. Read more about other Missions and attractions in and around San Antonio. Begin your tour at The Alamo and wind your way through to Mission Espada.

The Alamo: In the heart of San Antonio on Alamo Plaza, the sun-baked Alamo is the most historic spot in Texas, known as "The Cradle of Texas Liberty." Founded as the city's first mission in 1718, it served as a fortress in 1836 when Mexican General Santa Anna's army attacked. A total of 189 defenders died here.

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Today, only the chapel and the barracks remain, encircled by beautifully landscaped gardens. A hallowed site, The Alamo houses mementos of Texas history, including Davy Crockett's beaded buckskin vest with onyx buttons. A museum in the garden courtyard explains the origins of Texas, first as a republic and then as a state. It is maintained by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

Paseo del Rio (River Walk): The Paseo del Rio is an urban treasure, a masterful use of the city's river frontage. Cloistered 20 feet below street level in the midst of the busy commercial district, it winds for 2.5 flower draped miles along both sides of the San Antonio River. Lovely arched bridges vault the slender river, and brightly painted motor barges pass beneath, carrying visitors. Milky green in color, the river is barely the width of a two-lane city street. Throngs stroll the cobblestone walks day and night.

El Mercado: A few blocks east of the river, El Mercado, San Antonio's historic Market Square, claims to be the largest Mexican market outside of Mexico. Inside a barnlike building, numerous individual stalls crammed along narrow aisles sell the typical tourist wares of Mexico -- ceramics, serapes, sombreros, baskets of all sizes, pottery, leather goods, hand-worked silver, giant pinatas, and Mexican sugar cookies and other treats. Covering two city blocks, Market Square has been the site of a public market for more than a century.

Institute of Texan Cultures: A museum of Texas history, the Institute of Texan Cultures in HemisFair Park explores the culture of 27 ethnic groups who helped settle the state with exhibits, photos, and multimedia presentations. The University of Texas at San Antonio sponsors it.

San Antonio Museum of Art: Of interest on the Missions Trail is the San Antonio Museum of Art's collection of Spanish colonial artworks and its Mexican and other Latin American folk art. The museum occupies a former Lone Star Beer brewery, which was remodeled into a dramatic showcase of art.

Mission Concepcion: This mission, the first on the Missions Trail, preserves a lovely stone church built in 1755 with typical Spanish-colonial features: thick walls, Moorish windows, a pair of tall bell towers, and a solid stone staircase. It is the least restored of San Antonio's missions, looking much as it did more than two centuries ago. Its interior decoration is considered the finest of all the missions. The highlight is a ceiling painting of a starburst depicting God as a mestizo, a person of mixed European and American Indian ancestry. It is located in what is called the "God's Eye room," the mission's library, named for the decoration.

Mission San Jose: Down the trail, San Jose, founded in 1720, is the largest and best preserved of the missions. Known as the Queen of Missions, it houses a visitor's center for the Missions Trail. A 20-minute presentation depicts the early life at the mission. Inside its high walls is a huge open courtyard around which are numerous structures, including a large granary that could hold 5,000 bushels of corn and the living quarters for the American Indians.

In the mission's heyday, they may have numbered 300. Adobe hornos, or ovens, are scattered over the grounds, and in the far corner stands a magnificently ornate church that is still used for parish services. Each Sunday at noon, a Mariachi Mass is held, and visitors are invited. The church's wood doors were carved in 1937 to duplicate the ones removed in the 1880s. Its Rose Window is regarded as one of the finest representations of Spanish colonial ornamentation in the country. Elsewhere on the grounds, you can see a remnant of the acequia, or irrigation ditch, that brought water to the mission's farm fields.

Mission San Juan Capistrano: Much simpler than the first two missions on the trail, San Juan Capistrano, established on its present site in 1731, offers its own rewards. A Romanesque arch marks the entrance to the courtyard, which is a quiet place to relax. Its little chapel supporting a bell tower is still in use. Built in an area of rich farm and pasturelands, the mission was a major supplier of produce for the region. Among the beneficiaries were the presidios, the military garrisons that helped protect the missions from raids by invading Apache and Comanche Indians. Look for the self-guided nature trail.

Mission Espada: Seemingly as remote as it was in 1731 when it was established, Mission Espada preserves segments of the historic acequias, the irrigation system built to provide water for crops. A marvel of Spanish colonial engineering, the Espada Aqueduct, completed in 1745, was built to carry water from the San Antonio River across a small creek. It is still used to bring water to fields near the mission.

These missions reflect fascinating moments in the growth of America, from Spain's dreams of empire to the fight for Texas independence.

Find more useful information related to Texas' San Antonio Missions Trail:

  • San Antonio: Find other things to do in the city that's home to San Antonio Missions Trail.
  • Scenic Drives: Are you interested in scenic drives beyond Texas? Here are more than 100 scenic drives throughout the United States.
  • How to Drive Economically: Fuel economy is a major concern when you're on a driving trip. Learn how to get better gas mileage.

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