San Antonio SmartHunts®

San Antonio offers many landmarks and a diverse culture

SmartHunts® San Antonio scavenger hunt is an experience that will have your team buzzing with excitement. Blending fun, exploration, and corporate teambuilding, SmartHunts can customize your event to include much of what San Antonio has to offer, including a famous River Walk, The Alamo, unique food & drink, as well as highlighting the features of San Antonio’s mix of modern and historic culture.

SmartHunts takes your team on a scavenger hunt through this great city where they can discover their own San Antonio Texas-style.
Whether your team is local to the area, or visiting from out-of-town, the SmartHunts team can create a fresh experience for your group with fun our corporate scavenger hunts.

SmartHunts San Antonio scavenger hunt offers a unique corporate adventure tailored just for you and can take your group on any combination of San Antonio’s great River Walk & historical landmarks, including:

1. River Walk
   River Walk is the perfect destination for your SmartHunts’ San Antonio scavenger hunt!

   The San Antonio River Walk is a pedestrian promenade that sits one level lower than the street level and runs along both sides of the San Antonio River which winds and curves under quaint bridges and past countless shops, restaurants, and hotels. River Walk connects popular visitor destinations such as these listed below.

   The Alamo – scene of the 1836 battle for the Republic of Texas’ Independence from Mexico

   Alamo Cenotaph Monument – commemorates the Battle of the Alamo

   The Emily Morgan Hotel – Beautiful 13 story, 1924 Gothic Revival style with gargoyles, cast iron and copper ornamentation and purportedly…ghosts.

   The Buckhorn Saloon & Museum – opened in 1881, the oldest running saloon in Texas and where Teddy Roosevelt recruited his Rough Riders. Check out the Texas Rangers Museum inside.

   Majestic Theatre – designed by John Eberson in 1929, it’s the oldest atmospheric theater in San Antonio and a National Historic Landmark.

   Torch of Friendship Statue – Antorcha de Amistad – abstract sculpture symbolizing friendship and cooperation between Mexico and San Antonio

   San Fernando Cathedral – 115 Main Plaza – Colonial, Gothic Revival style – construction began in 1738 – Jim Bowie was married there in 1831 – the ashes of the Alamo’s fallen were interred there in 1836 – the cathedral was substantially enlarged in 1868 – stained glass was added in 1920. The cathedral is quite beautiful and still in use today.

   Saint Joseph Catholic Church – 623 E Commerce – Historic Landmark – Gothic Revival style 1871. Surrounded on 3 sides by Shops at Rivercenter shopping mall. In 1944 the Parishioners unanimously refused to sell the church to Joske’s Department Store, so he built around it.

   Hemisfair Park & Yanaguana Garden at Hemisfair – The 1968 World’s Fair was held at HemisFair Park in San Antonio and just happened to coincide with the city’s 250th anniversary. There are lots of restaurants and playgrounds and its 750 ft tall Tower of the Americas is a terrific spot to view San Antonio.

   Briscoe Western Art Museum – 210 W Market St – Dedicated to the preservation of western art, culture, and history – exhibits, events, festivals.

   Tower Life Building – 310 S St Mary’s St – 30 story octagonal Gothic Revival style office building built in 1929 – gargoyles – beautiful detail – great panoramic views.

   Kallison Walk Love Lock Bridge – hundreds of padlocks attached by newlyweds to the fencing on the bridge.

   Selena’s Bridge – aka La Mansion Del Rio Bridge – one of the several beautiful arched bridges spanning the San Antonio River – named after the late singer Selena. Designed by Robert Hugman.

   Rosita’s Bridge – aka Arneson Theater Bridge – named after singer Rosita Fernandez. Designed by Robert Hugman.

   Arneson River Theatre – completed in 1941 by the Works Progress Administration – designed by Robert Hugman – a charming 800 seat open-air amphitheatre whose stage sits on one bank of the river with seating on the opposite.

   La Villita Historic Arts Village – 18th century Historic Landmark covering one square block and featuring 25+ artisans’ shops, restaurants and galleries.

   City Hall, San Antonio – 100 Plaza De Armas – designed by noted architect Otto Kramer in the Italian Renaissance Revival style – completed in 1891.

   Spanish Governor’s Palace – 105 Plaza De Armas – National Historic landmark- mid 18th century Spanish Colonial style adobe structure – now a Spanish Colonial History museum.

   O. Henry House – 601 Dolorosa St – two room adobe house built in 1855 where famed American author O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) resided until 1885 – now a museum.

   Ben Milam Cypress – 105 S St Mary’s St – a 90’ tall Bald Cypress with a 25’ circumference that is 200+ years old, named for Alamo fighter Ben Milam who was killed by a Mexican sniper hiding in the tree.

   Milam Park – 500 W Commerce St – Lovely community green space with a walking trail, playground and gazebo

   Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks – 301 Alamo Plaza

   Hard Rock Cafe San Antonio – 3 floors with lots of patios and balconies – great river view

   Shops at Rivercenter – 849 Commerce – 100+ stores and restaurants – 4 floors – 1 million sq ft.
2. The Pearl
   The Pearl San Antonio is a district located in northern downtown San Antonio just off the north Museum Reach: San Antonio River Walk which connects the downtown segment of River Walk to the Pearl area. It’s a perfect place for your SmartHunts’ San Antonio scavenger hunt!

   The 23-acre former brewery site’s reinvention began in 2001 after the Pearl Brewery closed and now includes a diverse selection of unique, locally owned restaurants, bars, breweries, coffee shops, boutiques and hotels as well as a farmers’ market, a culinary institute, a large parklike courtyard and the historic Hotel Emma, formerly the Pearl Brewery.

   Some of the many points of interest include:

   I Love Tacos So Much Mural – 109 W Grayson St – San Antonio’s homage to Austin’s “I love you so much” mural, with a twist…

   Amphitheatre at Pearl – 303 Pearl Pkwy – 1,000 seat entertainment venue.

   Hotel Emma – 1894 – originally Pearl’s Brewhouse. 146 unique rooms. Gorgeous.

   Gustav’s Geysers – 99 Karnes St – In the Park at Pearl – Green space with a splash pad and umbrella shaded seating.

   The Grotto – N River Walk between Camden St and Newell Ave – A fun 3 story tall man-made grotto with waterfalls, stalactites, stalagmites, hand-carved adornments, a passageway, and a huge jaguar head.

   Pearl Stable – Historic 1891 draft horse stable to be converted into a 1,000-seat music venue and biergarten by the spring of 2023
   Camden Street Riverwalk Bridge – hosts 50,000ish Mexican free-tailed bats that summer there and emerge at dusk each night to feed on insects over and around the San Antonio River. It is an awesome sight.

   San Antonio Museum of Art – 200 W Jones Ave. Located in the former Lone Star Brewery. Celebrates 5,000 years of art and artifacts; including American, Egyptian, Roman, Greek, Latin American, African and Asian. Ancient to contemporary.

   The Pearl Brewing Company
   The Brewhouse Building was designed in the Second Empire style by August Maritzen, an architect from Chicago, and built for the Lone Star Brewing Company in 1894. Pearl lager beer was originally formulated in Germany and became the signature beer of the Lone Star Brewing Company.

   In 1902 the brewery became the San Antonio Brewing Association, in 1916 they’d grown to be the largest brewery in the state and within 4 years they got blindsided by prohibition. Emma Koehler had stepped into her husband’s role of running the business in 1914, after he was shot dead by his mistress, and she was determined to stay afloat. They muddled through, making near-beer and ice cream and even repairing cars and making signs.

   Finally, 13 years later, prohibition ended, and beer production began again but now, 4 years into the 10 yearlong world-wide Great Depression, they had to continue their side businesses as well.

   By 1952 economies were stable again, they changed the name to the Pearl Brewing Company and made Pearl Beer until 2001 when the plant closed.
   Pearl Beer is still made today by Pabst Brewing Company.
3. The Alamo
   Established in 1718 by Spanish missionaries, the Mission San Antonio de Valero was one of 5 missions in the area devoted to converting the local Native Americans to Catholicism.

   Later, when it became a Spanish fort, it was renamed Alamo, Spanish for Cottonwood.
   Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821 and the Alamo became a Mexican stronghold until 1835 when Anglo colonists and Tejano revolutionaries representing the Republic of Mexico kicked López de Santa Anna’s butt and took it from Mexico.

   Needless to say, López de Santa Anna was mortally embarrassed and returned 2 months later with 1,800 Mexican soldiers. When the 13-day siege/battle ended, 400-600 Mexicans soldiers had been killed and all of the nearly 200 soldiers inside the Alamo, including James Bowie, Lieutenant Colonel William Travis and Davy Crockett. It has been estimated that at least 14 civilians survived.

   The tragic defeat at the Alamo inspired the “Texians” and the following year they won their independence.

   Today the Alamo is preserved as a museum, and run by a private organization, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, which sees to its upkeep and preservation.