San Antonio

This modern, prosperous city retains much of its Spanish heritage with its fiestas, buildings and lifestyle and is the number one visitor destination in Texas. The city's Paseo del Rio shopping and entertainment area is unique.

Sightseeing: In 1836, the Alamo was the site of a furious battle between a handful of independence-seeking Texans (led by Davy Crockett) and a large Mexican army. Today it is a shrine to Texan courage and patriotism. The six-storey-high IMAX Theater tells the whole story of the Alamo in a gripping film. Brackenridge Park, nearby, embraces the headwaters of the San Antonio River and groves of ancient oaks. San Antonio is also home to two major theme parks – the world's largest marine-life park, Sea World of Texas; and Six Flags Fiesta Texas, which features continuous live stage shows and the world's highest and fastest wooden roller-coaster.

Excursions: Pack-trips and working ranch holidays are widely available in the hill country to the west of San Antonio, near Bandera, one of the oldest Polish communities in the USA, founded in 1852 as a cypress shingle camp and site of a Mormon colony established 1854. New Braunfels, between Austin and San Antonio, was founded by German immigrants in the 1840s. Today their descendants celebrate their heritage with traditional German festivals. Corpus Christi on the Gulf of Mexico, an ideal pirates' hideaway in the 1800s, is now a major seaport and resort, famous for its fishing and windsurfing competitions. Just off the coast is Padre Island, a narrow 170km (95 miles) barrier island with watersports, fishing centres and an impressive expanse of protected National Seashore, wildlife refuges and birdlife sites; it is connected to Corpus Christi by a causeway. McAllen, in the far south of the state, is noted for its Mexican flavour and shopping facilities.