Routes:

Austin to San Antonio

thanks to James (KingLeo), Jack & and the late Fred Meredith for contributions to this page
back to Routes | Maps

You can easily bike from Austin to San Antonio (or San Marcos) by taking back roads and avoiding I-35 completely. The route generally parallels I-35 and adds only five miles or so to the trip.

Our map (at right) and our cue table below will take you as far as San Marcos. Following that are text-based directions for the rest of the trip.

Click on the map for a printer-friendly version of the map. Also, note that the mileage markers in the cue table are estimates.

Note: The beloved, late Fred Meredith pointed out that Congress is probably a better choice than S. 1st Street. A good place to switch from Congress to S. 1st St. is around Slaughter Lane. You can take Ralph Ablenado which connects the two streets; as you're going south on S. Congress it's the last street on the right before you get to Slaughter. It's at the top of a hill with a convenience store on the corner. Jack adds: "W. Dittmar is also a good route between S. Congress and S. 1st—north of Ralph Ablenado & Slaughter Ln. Slaughter has bike lane stripes, I believe, between S. Congress and S. 1st, but it's a large, highly-trafficked, divided road."

	Mileage		Road	Notes
1.	0.0		From S. 1st at the river, head south on S. 1st. (OR take Congress Ave. instead.)	S. 1st is rather busy. Some cyclists prefer S. Congress instead, which is a few blocks east of S. 1st and parallel to it, though some prefer S. Congress. You can bypass both of these and go through neighborhoods from downtown to Ben White Blvd. by using a cycle map of Austin. Once you hit Ben White you'll need to choose either S. 1st or S. Congress, though.
2.	10.5	<	onto 1626
3.	10.7	>	onto Old San Antonio Rd.
4.	14.9	>	onto Loop 4	There's a large grocery store on Loop 4 just to the left of the intersection.
5.	16.6	>	onto 2770 / Jack Hays Trail	The turn is just past the center of the town of Buda. At Hwy. 150 there's a convenience store. After 150 the road becomes 136 / Old Stagecoach Road. When you get to the 5-way intersection, continue straight. Five miles after that there's a beautiful little county park on the Blanco River called 5-Mile Dam, which in itself is a nice day trip destination. It's a very popular hangout spot for students from SWT University in San Marcos. After the park you cross under the railroad at a T intersection with a triangle. Keep right and that will be Post Road into San Marcos.
6	28.7	>	onto 140 / Old Post Rd.	Turn right at Bobcat Stadium and on into town. San Marcos is an interesting town to ride through. It's a college town, which has a large number of cyclists, but the main roads aren't too cycle friendly. Just go easy, and you'll be okay through here.
7.	32.7		Arrive in San Marcos, TX

From San Marcos to San Antonio:

Look for Moon Street in town, and turn left. Take Moon Street down to Hopkins, turn right, and shortly it becomes West Hopkins as it leads you on out of town.

Out of San Marcos, Hopkins turns into Hunter Drive, which takes you past Purgatory Creek, Wonder World Drive, and MCarty lane, at which point it becomes Ranch 2439 when you reach the next county line. Shortly over the county line, you'll go through another one of those tiny little hamlets, this one called Hunter. After Hunter, another name change: now it becomes Ranch 1102. (Don't you just love all these name changes on basically just the same road?)

Ranch 1102 becomes FM 1102, and then leads you down into the northern part of New Braunfels. When you pass Gruene Steet, you're in German town :), and the road you're on is now called Common Street. Take Common to Liberty, which is right at the entrance to the tubing rental place on the Comal River, where you must make a left turn. Come down to W. San Anotonio St, make a right, and go across the bridge over the Comal River. Then just stay on San Antonio all the way through the rest of New Braunfels.

Just out of New Braunfels is State Loop 337. Turn left here, and this will be another spot where you actually touch I-35 for a moment. If you want to cross I-35 here, there's a big Texaco station at this spot, which makes another good rest stop opportunity. When you're done, get back across I-35 and pick up Ranch 482, which vectors away from the frontage road

Follow Ranch 482 out past Selms Rd, Rush Lane, and Schwabb Rd. Shortly after Schwabb Rd, look for a hard right turn, which is Old Nacadoches Rd. Follow this till it becomes Ranch 2252, and it will take you past Schneider Ln, Bat Cave Ln, and Marbach Ln. You're getting into northern San Antonio now, and you'll pass State Loop 1604, Tupperwein, and Perin Beitel. At this point, you're there - navigate from here as per your own desires.

Back to Routes | Maps