Historic Menger Hotel

My wife was keen to stay at the historic Menger Hotel, so we did. What a lovely place and great location, next door to both the Alamo and Rivercenter Mall and Riverwalk. A mixture of old world charm and modern features. Wonderful paintings and other historical exhibits. Lovely courtyard garden. Elegant dining room. Our room overlooked the Alamo Plaza.

But the room is where it goes a bit mediocre. The room was small and a bit cramped. The bathroom fixtures were outdated and inelegant. The ceilings showed age signs. The bed was firm and comfortable (if you like a firm mattress).

On the more modern side, the workout room, outdoor pool and spa were very nice. The high-speed internet connection in the room was free and fast.

If you are going for the history, you may love this hotel. I business travel a lot (4-5 days at a time) and mostly by myself. Because of the small corridors and rooms and crampted and antiquated bathrooms, I would not stay here. I prefer the Rivercenter Marriott where the rooms are roomy, modern and very plush.

Pros: History, location, some nice amenities, old world charm, nice courtyard garden
Cons: Rooms small, crampted. Bathroom facilities inelegant, in need of update

I generaly only share restaurants worth sharing, at least to my culinary taste. I like off the beated path places that attend to the customer in every way. I love the charm of "haunted hotels". Most of them not worth sharing. The Menger is not only full of history, next door to the Alamo, Teddy Rosevelt drank here with the Rough Riders .... that sort of stuff, but the place is just neat ! BUT....................
The hotel is devided into two ( or more ) sections added on over the years. The newer section leaves a little to be desired. Those rooms are small and not that comfortable. The Old section is very cool. High ceilings, spacious, old floor to ceiling windows. I'd try to be sure I got a room in the old section overlooking the courtyard. On a recent stay, there was a violent thunderstorm at 3 AM. One might have thought Santa Anna himself was coming over the wall. It was very cool. There are also wonderful haunted stories about a paticular room on the front of the hotel. See the concierge ( Edwardo or Ernesto.... ???) has all the skinny. On the night I stayed, during the 3AM thunderstorm, I crawled into a big hot water bathtub to soak and watch the lighting. The tub got half full and the water just continued to run........ never filling. Very errrie.
Try it ..... its cool and its reasonable.

Pros: the charm
Cons: the new section

The Menger is a great old hotel. Just steps away from the Alamo and to Rivercenter Mall. This historic San Antonio hotel is rumored to be haunted.

Pros: Location
Cons: Old and Haunted