San Antonio Riverwalk Class B Parking

[gksmith]

We are planning on visiting San Antonio's Riverwalk area soon. How is the parking in that area for Class B's? We might even want to stay overnight in a hotel, needing overnight parking. Any RV parks close by?

Thanks!

[XLent]

There are a number of open air parking lots without apparent height restrictions. We used one yesterday, near the Alamo. No hassle parking; just use a credit card in a machine and place the printed receipt from the machine on your dash.

[Ron J. Moore]

Been there afew years back, plenty of free parking and never had a problem. Enjoy - it is really special. Ron

[SteveJ]

We went a few years ago. We stayed at a KOA at the edge of town. There is/was a city bus line that stops at the front gate and goes directly to downtown. Easy peasy. Have fun, cool place

[Winston]

Originally Posted by SteveJ

We went a few years ago. We stayed at a KOA at the edge of town. There is/was a city bus line that stops at the front gate and goes directly to downtown. Easy peasy.

We second this option having been there earlier in the year. Very convenient with that bus . . . and this KOA park is exceptional - - one of the best we've seen.

[InterBlog]

TLDR: Riverwalk parking is complicated and it depends very heavily on when and where you go. Have patience and be prepared to hunt through different lots for a parking spot that is suitable for your rig.

I've had to park our Class B downtown SAT perhaps a dozen times in the past year, and the timing of each trip is not up to me. Depending on prevailing events, it has taken up to 30 minutes to find a spot near our destination.

There is a great deal of misinformation on the internet. Key "public" parking lots have been converted to contract lots, and the internet is not updated to reflect that. So if you are not paying attention when you pull into them, what you will encounter is a gate and a card reader and then you're stuck with the unenviable task of a reverse maneuver back into active traffic.

If it's a busy time with special events going on (and San Antonio has a LOT of special events), most lots will have attendants to collect money directly from drivers. They may turn away a Class B due to its size. In this example below, if I wish to choose this particular lot, I know from experience that I have exactly one parking spot from which I can choose.

The Class B that was stolen from the retired couple two months ago was taken from a different pay lot a stone's throw from this one pictured below. Don't leave valuables - and especially don't leave your spare key - inside your rig in locations like this.

Theft story:

https://www.kens5.com/video/news/loc...ed/273-8182303

[SteveJ]

Originally Posted by Winston

We second this option having been there earlier in the year. Very convenient with that bus . . . and this KOA park is exceptional - - one of the best we've seen.

Pretty slick, eh? On the way back we jumped off of the bus at the HEB market to get a few things. We got a transfer ticket from the driver.

Will probably swing by this spring on the way back from AZ.

[michaelingp]

Any more details on the theft, such as how the thieves disabled the alarm? Were the thieves apprehended? It seems like on such a busy street, somebody would have noticed something awry.

[rvsprinterguy]

Originally Posted by michaelingp

Any more details on the theft, such as how the thieves disabled the alarm? Were the thieves apprehended? It seems like on such a busy street, somebody would have noticed something awry.

I'm also really curious about the details of this theft.

[InterBlog]

The news danced around that topic, but I suspect what happened is that the perps broke in and promptly located The Other Key Fob, the one that was NOT in the driver's pocket. They could not have started the engine without it.

I go nuclear on my husband when I catch him leaving his key fob in our rig (I am the primary driver, so I always have mine with me). That's just dumber than dumb.

Those new Airstream Interstate owner-retirees are very lucky that they didn't recover their rig smashed to smithereens. Imagine a couple of street punks driving a super-heavy Sprinter-EXT with no experience with that kind of vehicle, in a dense urban area, and fleeing the scene of a crime besides. They're all lucky, perp and owner alike, that the whole affair didn't turn out much worse.

[InterBlog]

Oh, BTW, the restaurant that the couple ate at and which is mentioned in that news story, Casa Rio, is pretty good IMO, and extremely reasonable on the prices. It's traditional San Antonio "Mexican" food (but SAT puts its own spin on it). I like the Commerce Street tacos.

Edit: And another BTW, we always keep our IP camera streaming in urban environments such as what is discussed here. The topic is explained on pet-related threads, but video monitoring is useful for general security also, not just where pets are concerned.

Livestream screen grab example:

[Hatteras Jim]

We did public transportation in SAT as well as in San Fran, Oklahoma City, Boston, Las Vegas, Vancouver and Key West. If you are a "Senior", you can usually get a very good rate. Forget which city it was; but the campground host discouraged us from parking downtown due to breakins, especially in RVs. If you stand in one place long enough staring at a bus or train map; someone always seems to stop and help. It helps if you are in your 60's as well!
We also did the bus in Hawaii instead of doing Taxis.
Don't forget other forms of transportation such as Uber. More expensive than a bus or train; but you will enjoy yourself while sightseeing, instead of worrying about your home on wheels.

[mlts22]

I was in that area a couple weeks ago. I found decent surface parking behind the Convention Center/Grand Hilton, although it isn't overnight (closed 12:00 AM to 6:00 AM.) At the time, I had a garage-able vehicle, so I just hit the Riverbend garage for $10 a day, while people in the Hilton garage were paying 2-4 times that.