San Antonio Accolades
San Antonio Recognized as a Destination Worth Visiting
San Antonio is widely known as a favorite vacation destination, with more than 41 million people visiting the city each year. The city’s rich culture and history, burgeoning culinary and cocktail scene, world-class hotels, resorts and meeting spaces, exciting attractions, unique events, affordability – and more – have received praise from established organizations and media outlets. These accolades include:
WalletHub ranked San Antonio at #5 in their 2023 "Best Winter Holiday Destinations."
For the “2021 Best Vacation Rankings,” U.S. News & World Report ranked San Antonio as the #1 in “Best Places to Visit in Texas” and in the top 15 in “Best Weekend Getaways in the South.”
In its “The 50 Best Vacations for Kids in the U.S. for 2021,” PureWow listed San Antonio as #7.
WalletHub’s “2021’s Best Summer Travel Destinations” survey found the San Antonio metro area in the top 15 in the country for providing the best experience for travelers’ budgets.
In a 2021 survey by AT&T’s The Wave, the San Antonio Riverwalk ranked as the Texans’ Favorite Tourist Attraction.
TravelingMom.com named San Antonio to its “25 Top Teen Destinations for 2021.”
On a study of the top searched and booked destinations in March 2021, Trivago found San Antonio as one of the “top seven U.S. destinations” – and only one of two non-beach locations and the only in Texas.
Family Vacation Critic highlighted San Antonio as one of the “50 Best Family Vacations in America” in 2021.
Travel Daily News, sourcing data from ETIAS, named San Antonio to the top 10 in its “The Top Staycation Locations in the U.S.”
Named to AFAR Magazine’s prestigious list of “Where to Go in 2020.”
Recognized as #5 in the Best Big Cities in the U.S. category – the only Texas city, big or small, selected for the awards – in Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards 2020. Additionally, Hotel Valencia Riverwalk (#4) and Hotel Emma (#7) were chosen for the Top 20 Hotels in Texas category.
Selected for ConventionSouth’s 2020 Readers’ Choice Awards. Additionally, Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort & Spa, JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa, San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk, The St. Anthony Hotel and Wyndham San Antonio Riverwalk were also honored by the awards.
Voted to TripAdvisor’s Travelers’ Choice 2020 Best of the Best, Popular Destinations – United States.
J.D. Power ranked San Antonio International Airport among the top 15 overall and top 10 in medium sized airports in its 2020 North American Airport Satisfaction Study.
Food & Wine included Bakery Lorraine and La Panadería in its “Top 100 Best Bakeries in America” for 2020.
San Antonio’s The Jerk Shack chosen for GQ’s “Best New Restaurants 2020” and Esquire’s “Best New Restaurants 2019.”
For the 2020 James Beard Award’s Best Chef: Texas category, Steve McHugh (Cured) was named a finalist. Previously in the 2020 cycle, McHugh, Esaul Ramos (2M Smokehouse) and Alex Paredes (Carnitas Lonja) were named semifinalists.
Named to Condé Nast Traveler’s “2019 Readers’ Choice Awards” in the Top 10 Large Cities in the U.S. category.
Ranked in the top five of Money Magazine’s “20 Best Places to Travel 2019.”
Chosen for TripAdvisor’s “2019 Travelers’ Choice Top 25 Destinations – United States.”
San Antonio’s Ruby City contemporary art center selected to Time’s “Greatest Places 2019” list of 100 remarkable worldwide destinations.
Highlighted as part of the list of Forbes’ “The Top 15 Places to Travel In 2019.”
O – The Oprah Magazine chose San Antonio with its many reasons to visit for its “10 Affordable Weekend Getaways in 2019.”
Number one on Forbes’ “The 18 Best Budget Travel Destinations For 2019.”
Selected San Antonio for the fourth spot on Food & Wine’s “32 Places to Go (And Eat) in 2019.”
AARP Travel Center Powered by Expedia named San Antonio among the Top 10 Vacation Destinations for Single Travelers 45+.
The 2019 edition of SmartAsset’s Most Affordable Travel Destinations in the U.S. ranked San Antonio as the fourth-most affordable for a family of four and third-most affordable for individual travelers.
In its inaugural list of “Where to Go in 2019,” TripSavvy selected San Antonio in the top 3.
The Alamo was recognized as the Best Historic or Cultural Venue in the state in the 2019 Texas Meetings & Events Best of 2019 readers’ choice awards.
In 2018, San Antonio was named the Best City for Conferences for a fourth consecutive year by Smart Asset, an online financial technology company that uses data-driven tools to help individuals make important financial decisions.
National Geographic Traveler’s editorial board picked San Antonio as a “Best of the World” destination for 2018.
Travel & Leisure chose San Antonio as one of its “50 Best Places to Travel in 2018.”
Expedia’s Viewfinder Travel Blog picked San Antonio as one of “18 cities that must be seen in 2018.”
Frommer’s names San Antonio as a “Best Place to Go in 2018.”
San Antonio also was chosen by Fodor’s Travel for their “2018 Go List.”
Thrillist named San Antonio to its mid-year roundup of “The Best Places to Take a Trip for the Rest of 2018.”
Readers of Condé Nast Traveler voted San Antonio as one the “Best Large Cities in the U.S.” in the 2018 Readers’ Choice Awards.
Hotel Emma, part of the historic Pearl brewery district, was bestowed the AAA Five Diamond Award. Hotel Emma is one of two hotels in Texas to receive AAA’s top service rating award.
Morgan’s Inspiration, the world’s first ultra-accessible™ theme park, was named to Time Magazine’s inaugural “World’s Greatest Places” list in 2018.
TripAdvisor awarded The Witte Museum and Morgan’s Wonderland with its 2018 Certificate of Excellence for maintaining outstanding ratings from users, placing the San Antonio attractions among the top-performing 10 percent of businesses on the review site worldwide.
San Antonio voted as one of the “Top Large Cities in the USA” in Condé Nast Travelers’ 2017 Readers’ Choice Awards.
On its list of 10 “Best US cities to visit in 2018,” DK Eyewitness Travel picked San Antonio for the top spot.
Based on the quantity and quality of reviews and ratings for hotels, restaurants and attractions, gathered over a 12-month period, as well as traveler booking interest on TripAdvisor, San Antonio named to the 2018 Top 25 in the TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice awards for U.S. Destinations.
In 2018, San Antonio is ranked No. 1 in SmartAsset’s “10 Best Cities for Meetings,” for the third consecutive year.
San Antonio appears at the top of Smarter Travel’s “11 Best U.S. Cities to Visit in 2018.”
Architectural Digest names San Antonio one of the “Top 5 Best Places for Design Lovers to Travel” for 2018.
Expedia includes San Antonio in its “17 Places You Must Visit in 2017” list.
Family Vacation Critic, TripAdvisor’s family travel site, included San Antonio among its top 10 Best Cities for Families in 2017.
San Antonio is home to two of USA Today’s Best Texas Attractions poll, including The River Walk at No. 1 as well as The Alamo and Spanish Colonial Missions at No. 6.
San Antonio is No.5 on Travel + Leisure’s America’s Friendliest Cities 2017 list.
Flipkey by Trip Advisor featured San Antonio as one of the “15 Best Girls’ Weekend Getaways Across America.”
Upscale Magazine named San Antonio one of the “Top 10 Cool Cities for Millennials to Love” in 2017.
The Southtown Arts District in San Antonio was listed among the five most walkable neighborhoods in America according to residential real estate site Trulia in 2017.
The San Antonio River Walk won the prestigious 2017 Thiess International Riverprize. The annual prize is considered the most coveted international recognition of river and watershed restoration, stewardship and management.
TravelSquire.com included San Antonio in its Cities Plus Culture category in Top 28 Destinations to visit in 2017.
San Antonio included in top 25 of WalletHub’s “Best Foodie Cities in America.”
Room 5, travel blog for hotel booking site Trivago, named San Antonio to its list of the Top 5 Family-Friendly Destinations in the United States.
GoPetFriendly.com selected The San Antonio River Walk as the best pet-friendly site in Texas.
In 2017, U.S. News & World Report ranked San Antonio No. 23 on its list of Best Places to Live in the USA.
For a second consecutive year, Chef Steve McHugh of Cured is named a 2017 finalist for Best Chef-Southwest by the James Beard Foundation.
Rico Torres and Diego Galicia, chefs and owners of San Antonio’s progressive Mexican restaurant Mixtli, are named among the 2017 list of 12 Best New Chefs in the country by Food & Wine.
The Esquire Tavern is recognized by the James Beard Foundation as a 2017 semifinalist for Outstanding Bar Program.
Eater names Laura Loomis, Pitmaster at Two Bros BBQ Market, to its Eater Young Guns 2017 list recognizing up and coming stars in the culinary industry.
Food & Wine names Hotel Emma among the world’s 40 best food-centric hotels. 2017
San Antonio named the Most Romanic City in the United States by Amazon in 2017.
Travel + Leisure names San Antonio among the country’s top 10 destinations in the magazine’s 2017 Best Awards.
Also in 2017, San Antonio was named the Best City for Meetings for third consecutive year by Smart Asset, an online financial technology company that uses data-driven tools to help individuals make important financial decisions.
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