San Antonio named one of best U.S. destinations by Travel + Leisure

Travel + Leisure magazine has ranked San Antonio as the sixth-best U.S. travel destinations on its 2024 World’s Best list.

The ranking was determined by Travel + Leisure readers around the world, who voted on their favorite spots based on the criteria of food, shopping, sights, culture and value. Readers cast some 700,000 votes, heavily favoring U.S. cities with a strong sense of history and identity.

Naturally, readers highlighted San Antonio’s historic landmarks, including the Alamo and the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. They also mentioned the River Walk, which one reader described as “probably one of the nicest places we have ever visited in the States. It was exceptionally maintained and absolutely beautiful.”

In respective order, the U.S. cities that beat out San Antonio were Charleston, North Carolina; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Savannah, Georgia; Honolulu; and New Orleans. However, the Alamo City had the distinction of besting well-known metros such as New York, Chicago, Boston, Nashville and Fort Worth — the only other Texas city on the list. San Antonio earned a Reader Score of 83.20, edging out Cowtown by .01 point.

This marks a significant improvement for San Antonio over last year’s ranking, when our city came in 10th place behind the likes of Chicago, Nashville and New York.

Texas is one of only two states to have more than a single city on the 2024 list, the other being New Mexico.