On San Antonio’s River Walk, a Sleek Hotel From a Fussier Era
The Wildsam Field Guide to San Antonio — with hand-drawn maps
and sketches — which the hotel commissioned from the trendy guidebook series, was included in the room.
At the upriver end of the River Walk in San Antonio is the Hotel Emma, a 146-room boutique hotel
that upends visitors’ perception of this low-key city.
With duck confit, molasses and sour cream, the spiced waffle — like the bagel with egg, bacon, caramelized onion
and jalapeño cream cheese — made for a decadent, delicious breakfast.
The Hotel Emma’s inspired design and location make it a fitting vantage point for
seeing the city’s fresh Mexican and Southwestern influences in design and art.
Old beer vats have been made into surprising round banquettes inside the lobby bar.
The seven-story hotel stands at the north end of the River Walk, once a pedestrian
dead zone, which has emerged as the happening, 16-block Pearl District.
