HemisFair Park★5.0

How to Get There

From San Antonio (1 mi): Head south through downtown toward South Alamo Street and continue to Hemisfair adjacent to the Tower of the Americas.

Overview

Hemisfair is the 96-acre downtown district that grew out of HemisFair '68, the World's Fair San Antonio hosted to mark the city's 250th anniversary. More than thirty nations and fifteen corporations built pavilions here under the theme "The Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas," and the fair left the city its two best-known modern landmarks: the Tower of the Americas and an extended River Walk that now loops into a small lagoon on the grounds.

Most of the temporary fair structures came down long ago, but a handful of pavilions survive with new lives, and the site itself was redeveloped in the 1980s into the landscaped urban park visitors see today, complete with fountains, cascading water features, and the Yanaguana Garden.

Things to Do

Visit the Repurposed World's Fair Pavilions
Several national pavilions still stand: Mexico's is now the Mexican Cultural Institute, and Texas's — the fair's largest — became the Institute of Texan Cultures. The former Convention Center Theater, now the Lila Cockrell Theater, also survives from the fair.

Stroll the Fountains and Lagoon
Wander the cascading waterfalls and fountains added near the base of the Tower of the Americas, and follow the River Walk extension to the small lagoon inside the park.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "HemisFair '68", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.