Thought this may deserve a separate thread from the tourney one...

Alright San Martians (or Marcoan?), give me some insider tips on fun things to do in and around the city. I've been to the area a few times, although it's been awhile. I'll be travelling with two friends, all of us in our late twenties.

Good food joints? Places to grab a drink? Breweries? Outdoor activities (if weather cooperates)? Best place to buy some beer (Specs)? Any trouble using Uber? You guys selling beer this weekend at the ballpark? Also, any no-no's with drinking around the ballpark if we decide to do a little tailgating? Like no glass bottles or drinks have to be in cups or any of those silly types of rules?

We're staying at a house near the corner of Moore and Rogers St so we shouldn't be too far from potential activities. Also we don't do shopping or are big wine drinkers, so the outlet mall and the hill country wineries will be very low on the priority list.

Thanks in advance.

go float down that river and git drunk!


Not from SM, never been, but that's the funnest thing I've seen any of the TXST fans talk about on here. Should be some good brisket round there somewhere too!

Family like to get to Gil's Broiler for a Manske Roll. Need one to survive shopping at the outlet stores there.

http://nebula.wsimg.com/d12201850ea76597...oworigin=1

(05-25-2016 02:55 PM)CajunFan3406 Wrote:  Thought this may deserve a separate thread from the tourney one...

Alright San Martians (or Marcoan?), give me some insider tips on fun things to do in and around the city. I've been to the area a few times, although it's been awhile. I'll be travelling with two friends, all of us in our late twenties.

Good food joints? Places to grab a drink? Breweries? Outdoor activities (if weather cooperates)? Best place to buy some beer (Specs)? Any trouble using Uber? You guys selling beer this weekend at the ballpark? Also, any no-no's with drinking around the ballpark if we decide to do a little tailgating? Like no glass bottles or drinks have to be in cups or any of those silly types of rules?

We're staying at a house near the corner of Moore and Rogers St so we shouldn't be too far from potential activities. Also we don't do shopping or are big wine drinkers, so the outlet mall and the hill country wineries will be very low on the priority list.

Thanks in advance.

If you have some time during the day, Gruene Hall is pretty nice (Gruene, TX). If you like live music and a cold beverage of whatever persuasion of some food it's pretty nice. From what I remember at the time, Gruene is historically German settled area and is a relatively small place to walk around with a a number of shops and artisans. It reminds me of Old Town Spring north of Houston (Spring, TX) if you're familiar with that area.

Gruene Texas

Gruene Hall

First of all, welcome to the Land of Milk and Honey!

The weather forecast has been changing (pretty drastically) the past few days but it seems to have settled on 40-80% of rain Thursday thru Sunday. That being said, you should most definitely make some time to float the river.




Two choices to float the San Marcos River:
1. Lion's Club. They'll hook up you with a tube aand cooler for about $15/person. You put in at City Park (right by campus & Bobcat Ballpark). The float is short (~1-1.5 hours) down to Rio Vista Park but you can float it as many times as you want. A bus will pick you (and your stuff) up and take you back to Lion's Club.


Rio Vista Park

2. Don's Fish Camp. Google for directions. For about $15/person, Don will take you a few miles up stream in a bus and drop you off and you float back to your car. This float is usually geared less towards families and more towards college students.


SM River near Don's

You can also go down and float in New Braunfels:
1. Comal River. Rent from one of the river outfitters. I'd recommend Texas Tubes because it's right on the river -- good parking, no walking.


Comal River


2. Guadalupe River. There are 100 different ways to float the Guadalupe but for visitors I'd recommend the Horseshoe. River Sports Tubes on Hwy 306 is good. It's in the middle of the Horseshoe so it's a close walk to the start and a close walk from the end.


Guadalupe @Horseshoe

For San Marcos restaurants, I'd recommend:
-Mexican: Herbert's Taco Hut (get the cheese enchiladas)
-BBQ: Hays County or Black's
-Pizza: Pie Society or Valentino's
-Burgers/Bar Food: Tap Room
-Breakfast: Dos Gatos Kolaches or
-Nice: Root Cellar

Nightlife:
Check out the square (downtown SM). There are ~15 bars with a few blocks around the county courthouse. You'll find one that you guys really like. The only bar off of the square that I'd recommend checking out is Zelick's. Mostly because you're staying right down the street, but also because you might like the upper-20's crowd a little better.

Other things in San Marcos:
If you're interested in these things, go check them out. If I included them on this list, they're worth it...again - only if you're interested.

Cars: Dick's Classic Car Museum - they have a Tucker 48 with 0.4 miles
Shopping: San Marcos Outlet Malls - two huge outlet malls across the street from each other - literally a mile of outlets
Hiking/Outdoors: Purgatory Creek Natural Area or Spring Lake Preserve - miles and miles of hill country trails
Geology/Caverns: Wonder World - dry cave, formed by an earthquake
Hydrology/Water: Aquarena Glass Bottom Boats - see the springs bubble up from the aquifer that the feed crystal clear San Marcos River
History: LBJ Museum - he was a terrible president, but he belongs to us

1. Leave


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As far as food goes San Marcos offers a lot of good variety, these are my favorites.

Best Burger and a beer: Taproom
Mexican food: Garcias or Chimmys
Asian food: Wok & Roll, Kobe Japanese Steak House
BBQ: Black's BBQ
Pizza: Pie Society
Breakfast: 2 way tie Dos Gatos Kolache's and Lolita's Breakfast tacos. You really can't go wrong here.
The food truck spots are also pretty good if your feeling adventurous
Places that used to be good but kinda suck now: Herbert's and Valentino's
Other good spots: Grins, Gils, The Railyard, Spud Ranch, tres hermanas, Louie's Oyster House & Beer Garden, Fuego Tortilla Grill

More specific answers to the questions that OP asked:


Best place to buy some beer: Liquor Outlet has an impressive selection that you won't find at HEB. Otherwise, just go to HEB.

Breweries: There is a new Brewpub that opened on LBJ, just south of the square (across from Sean Patrick's). I'm not sure of the name and I haven't been there so no recommendations. Other than that, the Tap Room and Sean Patrick's are good places to find local brews that you won't find out of the Austin area.

Beer at the stadium: Yes, being sold all weekend b they will ID anyone and everyone. An 85 year old man in front of me had to find his ID in his wallet earlier this year.

Tailgating: NO GLASS, don't get too wild, and pick up your trash and you won't have any problems. The cops won't check your cooler for glass so you can have it, just pour it in to cups. There will be a small tailgate along Charles Austin Drive right out in front of the 3rd base entrance. This is usually TXST player's parents and former players. There will be more tailgates in the parking lot in right field (between the Ballpark and the football stadium. Not-so-insider secret -- There is a port-a-potty behind the RF fence so you won't have to walk all the way around the stadium if you're tailgating for a while.

Uber/Lyft: Both operate without problems in San Marcos. However, if you find yourself in Austin -- good luck. There is also a late night taxi stand at LBJ and Hopkins. If you're drinking on the square (and you should), the walk to Zelick's and then Moore/Rogers isnt un-do-able. (1/2 mile probably).

Let me know if you have anymore questions.

(05-25-2016 04:17 PM)WolfBird Wrote:  1. Leave


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(05-25-2016 04:25 PM)tx.state Wrote:  Godzilla is a good guy, and his recommendations are mostly good...

However Garcia's serves TV dinners and Chimmy's is as Tex-Mex as Taco Bell.

Haha to each their own. Garcias chips and dip and Chimmy's fajita nachos are what makes them for me. I like Los Cucos as well but I usually recommend local restaurants over chain when people come visit. As strange as it may be I feel like San Marcos is missing a real stand out mexican food place.

Forgot to add Zooka's Burritos to my list. If anyone goes you definitely want it mixed and don't let the buffalo sauce's name fool you, it's the hottest sauce they have and you order it by the line.

If you are bringing the family, you are in for a treat. My family used to make several trips to the area over the years. We used to stay in either San Marcos or New Braunfels when we made 3-day weekend trips to the area. Both cities are in the smack-dab middle of a whole lot of family based activities. Below are some of the ones we really enjoyed.

Caves and Caverns http://hillcountrytexastravel.com/hill-c...ave-tours/ - If you like caves and caverns, there are a bunch of them in the surrounding area. One is in town. Several are within an easy drive.

Glass Bottom Boat http://www.meadowscenter.txstate.edu/Edu...Boats.html - The glass bottom boats at Texas State's Meadows Center for Water and Environment is interesting as well as relaxing. The center is right across Aquarena Springs Drive from the baseball stadium.

Schlitterbahn http://www.schlitterbahn.com/new-braunfels/rides - Schlitterbahn Waterpark in New Braunfels is a great place if the weather cooperates. At least, we used to have a good time there. The waterpark is about a 30 minute drive down I-35 towards San Antonio. It has been several years since my family visited the park so things may have changed, but the main thing I liked about it was that it incorporated the adjacent Comal River. It had a completely different atmosphere than the other water parks we have been to.

Austin - Austin is 30 miles north up I-35. The LBJ Presidential Library
http://www.lbjlibrary.org/ as well as a ton of other stuff is an easy drive away.

San Antonio - San Antonio is about 50 minutes to the south of San Marcos. One could spend several days there. Things we liked to do included touring the old Spanish missions that are part of the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park https://www.nps.gov/saan/index.htm or enjoying the River Walk http://www.thesanantonioriverwalk.com/ or Fiesta Texas Amusement Park https://www.sixflags.com/fiestatexas and Sea World https://seaworldparks.com/en/seaworld-sanantonio/

(05-25-2016 02:59 PM)boroeagle2 Wrote:  go float down that river and git drunk!


Not from SM, never been, but that's the funnest thing I've seen any of the TXST fans talk about on here. Should be some good brisket round there somewhere too!

Like I said, weather permitting on something like that. And time permitting as well. Hopefully Cajuns are playing midday on both Saturday and Sunday.

(05-25-2016 03:24 PM)CajunAmos Wrote:  

(05-25-2016 02:55 PM)CajunFan3406 Wrote:  Thought this may deserve a separate thread from the tourney one...

Alright San Martians (or Marcoan?), give me some insider tips on fun things to do in and around the city. I've been to the area a few times, although it's been awhile. I'll be travelling with two friends, all of us in our late twenties.

Good food joints? Places to grab a drink? Breweries? Outdoor activities (if weather cooperates)? Best place to buy some beer (Specs)? Any trouble using Uber? You guys selling beer this weekend at the ballpark? Also, any no-no's with drinking around the ballpark if we decide to do a little tailgating? Like no glass bottles or drinks have to be in cups or any of those silly types of rules?

We're staying at a house near the corner of Moore and Rogers St so we shouldn't be too far from potential activities. Also we don't do shopping or are big wine drinkers, so the outlet mall and the hill country wineries will be very low on the priority list.

Thanks in advance.

If you have some time during the day, Gruene Hall is pretty nice (Gruene, TX). If you like live music and a cold beverage of whatever persuasion of some food it's pretty nice. From what I remember at the time, Gruene is historically German settled area and is a relatively small place to walk around with a a number of shops and artisans. It reminds me of Old Town Spring north of Houston (Spring, TX) if you're familiar with that area.

Gruene Texas

Gruene Hall

Yup been to Gruene before. Definitely a neat place.

Thanks to all for the suggestions. Will definitely refer back to this thread when we are trying to find stuff to do/eat/drink.

And hopefully this will prove helpful to anyone else who is coming into town for the tourney.

(05-25-2016 05:48 PM)CajunFan3406 Wrote:  Thanks to all for the suggestions. Will definitely refer back to this thread when we are trying to find stuff to do/eat/drink.

And hopefully this will prove helpful to anyone else who is coming into town for the tourney.

For a "taste of home," Middleton Brewing is having a Crawfish Boil on the 28th. Serving starts at 1pm. $7.50 a lb. or $30. For 5 lbs. served with sweet corn and red potatoes. Live music from Tracy Weinberg, Bandreu, and Zydeco Blanco . .

Y'all enjoy!

Also, you can, of course, bring the swim gear and take a plunge in the river at Sewell Park, between games. I used to do that all the time.

Things people do in San Marcos when it rains:

1. Drink.
2. Complain about not being able to do stuff outside.

(05-26-2016 02:52 PM)Godzilla Wrote:  Things people do in San Marcos when it rains:

1. Drink.
2. Complain about not being able to do stuff outside.

What about when its not raining, but raining 10 miles south so the NCAA makes you stop play?

(05-26-2016 02:56 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(05-26-2016 02:52 PM)Godzilla Wrote:  Things people do in San Marcos when it rains:

1. Drink.
2. Complain about not being able to do stuff outside.

What about when its not raining, but raining 10 miles south so the NCAA makes you stop play?

Herbert's for Mexican. Though all those are more Tex Mex than Mexican