The 65 Best Places to Drink and Stay in San Antonio
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The best places to drink and stay in San Antonio, according to the experts: Michelin Guide, Forbes Travel Guide, and AAA have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Hotel Emma comes out on top.
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Mokara Hotel & Spa and Isidore hold the next two places. San Antonio Current shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with Eater next.
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The bones of a 19th-century brewhouse, chimney stacks and all, give this mid-sized hotel its industrial-chic personality before you even check in. It holds a Michelin 2 Keys distinction and sits inside the Pearl, a riverside stretch that has become San Antonio's most interesting neighborhood, with farmers markets, a CIA campus, and a cluster of serious restaurants all within walking distance.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 2 Keys
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Recommended
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Iron four-poster beds and colonial furnishings fill a building that was, not so long ago, a saddlery. The Mokara is a boutique hotel on the River Walk with a Forbes Four Star rating, a rooftop pool overlooking the water, and a spa serious enough to count as a destination on its own. Ostra, the in-house restaurant, leans into international seafood. A compact, well-appointed stay for people who find the big chain hotels depressing.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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Rank 3. Isidore
Steakhouse
A live-fire hearth anchors the open kitchen at this midcentury modern restaurant in San Antonio's Pearl District, where the menu is organized around Texas ingredients and built for sharing, with a dedicated steak section and a Texas-focused wine list. The name nods to the patron saint of farmers, and the sourcing follows through. It holds a Michelin star and landed on the New York Times Restaurant List in 2025.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Star
- AAA AAA: Three Diamonds
- Esquire Esquire: Miracle of the Well · The Best Martinis in America
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Rank 4. Amor Eterno
Latin American Cocktail Bar
The awards
- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in San Antonio
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in San Antonio
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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Portraits of historical drunkards and ne'er-do-wells line the walls of this downtown cocktail bar, which sets the tone pretty efficiently. Long shared tables give the room a public-hall looseness, and the menu swings wide, pairing gin martinis and oysters with po'boys and tropical painkillers. The occasional burlesque night confirms that nobody here is pretending this is a quiet spot for serious reflection.
The awards
- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in San Antonio
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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Rank 4. Holy Diver Tiki Lounge
Tiki Bar
Tiki bar named after a Dio song, perched above a dive bar on St. Mary's Strip, with rattan furniture and proper mugs but none of the animatronic pageantry the genre has lately embraced. The drinks run from tropical classics to stranger originals, and the whole setup feels more like a cool relative's cluttered attic than a theme park. Which, given the name, is probably the point.
The awards
- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in San Antonio
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in San Antonio
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The cocktail menu here tracks Mexico's geography and history the way a graduate thesis might, except the drinks are good enough that you don't feel lectured. This compact Southtown cocktail bar rotates its program in chapters, currently deep in the years before Mexican independence from Spain. Mezcal meets manzanilla and poblano in one glass; spruce tip and tomatillo air appear in another. The minimal room handles both serious contemplation and a fun night out.
The awards
- Eater The Best Cocktail Bars in San Antonio
- San Antonio Current @ Bar Mixtli · The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in San Antonio
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News San Antonio Express-News: #8 · Top 10 San Antonio River Walk Restaurants
- Eater The Best Cocktail Bars in San Antonio
- San Antonio Current The 50 best bars in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #8 · Top 10 San Antonio River Walk Restaurants
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The awards
- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in San Antonio
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The cellar bar has been a notorious local nightspot for longer than anyone will admit, which tells you something about the Hotel Havana's bones. This boutique hotel on the Riverwalk keeps its century-old structure intact and layers on a pre-Castro Cuban romance that feels lived-in rather than themed. Rooms start compact but climb quickly toward something genuinely plush. A Michelin Selected Hotel, and one with actual character to justify the billing.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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A river taxi pulls up right to the front door, which tells you something about where this hotel sits on the San Antonio Riverwalk. Rooms run to walnut paneling, teal accents, and gold hardware, with the Presidential Suite adding a marble dining table and floor-to-ceiling city views for anyone who needs convincing. The rooftop pool has a tiki bar, Cavalier does upscale American brasserie downstairs, and the Convention Center crowd is a short walk away.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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Eight stone-walled suites with freestanding tubs occupy what was once a 19th-century schoolhouse dedicated to Friedrich Schiller, which is either poetic or a little on the nose. This 347-room boutique hotel blends that preserved historic shell with a tower that layers Bauhaus and Spanish colonial details in together. Ten floors up, the open-air Tenfold rooftop bar has unobstructed views over downtown San Antonio, which does a lot of the selling all by itself.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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Three 19th-century buildings on the National Register of Historic Places anchor this 253-room hotel spread across four and a half garden acres between Downtown and Southtown. The River Walk is a short walk, but the shaded pathways, big pool, and the Anaqua Garden Bar tucked under the trees make leaving feel optional. A daily tea ceremony under an ancient anaqua tree is the kind of quiet ritual guests mention long after checkout.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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Rugged wood, leather, and stone textures run through the modernist interiors here, giving the Thompson brand's mid-century aesthetic a quietly Texan edge. This sleek hotel towers above the River Walk, which means the city's restaurants, bars, and shops are essentially at the front door. It's a Hyatt property now, but the design identity has held. The Michelin Guide lists it among its selected hotels.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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The awards
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The awards
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Rank 19. Havana Bar
Speakeasy
The awards
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The awards
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The awards
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Express-News San Antonio Express-News: #11 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #11 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Current The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News San Antonio Express-News: #9 · Top 10 Outdoor Dining Restaurants
- San Antonio Current The 50 best bars in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #9 · Top 10 Outdoor Dining Restaurants
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
- James Beard Awards James Beard Awards: 2022 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
- San Antonio Current The 50 best bars in San Antonio
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: @ Cellar Mixology · The 50 best bars in San Antonio
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The awards
- San Antonio Current San Antonio Current: The 50 best bars in San Antonio