There is SO much to do in the cute little town of New Braunfels in the Texas Hill Country, and we had a blast exploring some of our favorite things during a long weekend! We had fun shopping, eating out and even playing in the river during our visit, but no matter when you’re there, I hope you can get some great tips from our experience!
Our long weekend was a little last minute, resulting from my son, a freshman at Texas State University in San Marco, breaking his arm and needing surgery. Our original plans were to spend the 4-day weekend in Hot Springs Arkansas at the Arlington Hotel, but as it turned out, we enjoyed 3 balmy days, one even in the low 90’s, while Arkansas never got out of the 40’s.
I love Schlitterbahn Resort year round, and while the waterpark isn’t open during the winter, the rooms are very affordable and still have access to heated pools and fun on-site activities! For $83 we had a two-bedroom suite with a full kitchen and 2 baths in the older section of the waterpark!
Since my son had surgery Friday morning, he was able to spend the rest of Friday recuperating at the room while our other kids played volleyball and swimming at the resort pools.
But New Braunfels is FULL of amazing little cottages in town and along the river! I love being in walking distance of the river, the restaurants and shops Downtown, and rarely using our car when we are there!
Being 19, our son wasn’t going to be down long, and by Friday evening he was ready to go do something! We headed to Downtown Social just off the Historic Comal County Courthouse Square, with fun food, games and bowling! The Braun’s Bread, stuffed with ham and fresh mozzarella was wonderful! We played on their giant scrabble board and had fun bowling! Even with a broken arm, our son bowled his best game ever! Click HERE to visit their website.
Saturday morning was a little colder, with some drizzle. My daughter and I braved the weather to walk down to the New Braunfels Coffee Company for breakfast, about a mile! They have great coffee and breakfast items!
Afterwards we hit up all the cute little shops in Downtown, like Once in a Blue Moon, which has the cutest clothes! I absolutely love their distressed flannel, which was all on sale! Click HERE to visit their facebook page!
Then we headed over to Got Toys to see their New Braunfels location. We already love their original store in Gruene, and found plenty of fun toys for the boys! Click HERE to visit their website.
My daughter can definitely out-shop me, and we walked down to the Dancing Pony Boutique where she picked up a couple of cute dresses. Click HERE to visit their website.
Last, at the suggestion of one of the ladies at the Dancing Pony, we head over to Lot 59, our first time but definitely not our last! We had so much fun looking through all their eclectic items! Loved this little shop! Click HERE to visit their facebook page.
By noon we heard from the boys, who were starving, and New Braunfels is known for their German food! We met at Alpine Haus, just a few blocks over from Lot 59, set in one of the oldest buildings in New Braunfels, and had an incredible lunch of jager schnitzel and rinder goulash! Click HERE to visit their website.
Had it been a sunnier day, we definitely would have been back out on the water, but since it was still overcast and cool, we considered a few of our options, such as the wonderful McKenna Children’s Museum or the FREE Fire Station Museum, but Animal World and Snake Farm Zoo won out! We spent the next several hours being thrilled by the fun animals presentations! To read more about our visit, please click HERE.
Although we weren’t quite hungry when we left, we headed over to a favorite in New Braunfels, Infernos Pizza Wood Fired Oven. They have amazing pizza and a patent on their hot Scorpion Pepper sauce! We ordered a couple of pizzas to go, and an appetizer to eat while we waited. It is SO good! Click HERE to visit their website.
To finish the evening, we headed to the Stars and Stripes Drive In, which is open year round and has 3 screens of first run movies! One of the things I love about the Stars and Stripes is that they allow you to bring in your own food and even ice chest! The kids bundled up in blankets to watch the movie, while we stayed warm(er) in the car to watch the Lego Movie 2: the Second Part, for the second time. While the drive in is always fun, there’s nothing better than watching a movie under the stars after spending the day on the river during the summer! Be sure and add it to your things to do this summer! Click HERE to read more.
Sunday Morning was absolutely beautiful, and we wanted to get out early and have some fun!
We walked down to Union Station, about a 10 minute walk from Schlitterbahn, to grab and incredible breakfast, then headed down to Prince Solms Park to play!
The water felt great and there were already people out on the river!
With a broken arm, my son couldn’t swim or tube, so he was stuck watching everyone else! The tube chute is open year round, and manned during the summer and weekend with lifeguards. You can go down once for free, or pay for a wrist band and stay all day to play! Click HERE to read more about the Tube Chute.
The Float In is located right at the Tube Chute, and offers burgers, drinks and much more! They were closed until Spring Break, but for more information, click HERE to visit their facebook page.
Before dropping our son off at Texas State to end our weekend, we headed over to the Texas Ski Ranch, a huge wakeboard park in New Braunfels, which offers snowboarding classes during the winter, as well as tubing on their hill! Since my son could’t go, we hung out with him while the younger kids had a blast tubing on the hill for $8/person! The tubing is open until March 4th, when it will close until next Fall. Click HERE to read more!
Keep Having Fun in the Texas Sun!
Michelle
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