Preferred Destinations
High Country High Point
La Cantera Resort & SPA Offers Elevated Experience
By Tom Mackin
If you think Texas is flat, you will find ample proof that it’s not at La Cantera Resort & Spa, situated some 20 miles northwest of downtown San Antonio. The property is located almost on the very spot where the Texas Hill Country, a geographic slice of the Lone Star state that features elevation changes of up to 800 feet, begins. The resort’s 550 acres have something for just about everyone, but especially golfers.
The Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish-designed La Cantera Golf Club layout hosted the PGA TOUR’s Valero Texas Open from 1995-2009, and the course was most recently renovated in 2017. You can admire (but hopefully avoid) limestone rock wall outcroppings, a defining element of the Hill Country, that are frequent throughout the course. So are arroyos, creeks, and ravines that need to be carried and native grasses that line many holes.
“It’s fun to play, like a resort course should be, but it is not lined by homes and it hosted a PGA TOUR event, which means it’s not a creampuff from the back tees,” said Aaron Green, director of golf since 2018. “But it’s a completely different course from just one set of tees ahead of those. The fairways are generous, the greens are very large (especially on the par-4 16th) with quite a bit of undulation, and conditions are superb thanks to superintendent James Smith and his team.”
The course has a lot of characteristics found at other Morrish, and especially Weiskopf, designs, with plenty of risk/reward choices and four drivable par 4s for long hitters. The bunker-laden seventh is one of those, and it has the nearby Six Flags Fiesta Texas theme park as a distracting backdrop. After you putt out on the 10th green and get ready to tee off on 11, enjoy the panoramic view, that includes the city of San Antonio skyline, from one of the highest points in Bexar County.
Named the No. 1 Resort in Texas and the Southwest in the Conde Nast Traveler 2022 Readers’ Choice Awards, La Cantera comes with 496 rooms and an adults-only (ages 21-and-up) seventh floor that comes with a private check-in experience and complimentary valet service. There are also 34 boutique-styled villas that are a singular world within the resort. Guests there enjoy a separate bar, pool, personal golf cart, and personal concierge service.
The Loma de Via Spa & Wellness offers massages, skin treatments, and even an outdoor Cowboy Tub for two people. There’s also more than 115,000 square feet of event space, with 28 indoor/outdoor meeting spaces. The San Antonio Grand Ballroom has more than 17,000 square feet and views of the golf course, while the La Cantera Ballroom is more than 10,000 square feet with an outdoor space overlooking Plaza San Saba.
Dining options range from casual to gourmet at nine different eateries, highlighted by Signature Restaurant, voted USA Today’s Reader’s Choice 3rd Best Hotel Restaurant in 2021, which is open for dinner nightly and Sunday brunch. Also check out SweetFire Kitchen, Primero Cantina, and Grille 254. The latter, named for Tommy Armour III’s tournament record-setting score at the 2003 Valero Texas Open, is adjacent to the golf shop and offers a classic sports bar experience featuring Texas-made beers, scratch food, and extra-large televisions.
Not far away from the resort are myriad attractions, including San Antonio’s famous River Walk (explore the nearby Pearl Historic District), The Alamo, and historic UNESCO Missions, while the Texas Wine Country is within an hour’s drive to the north. The resort also offers a complimentary shuttle to nearby dining and shopping options, as well as to the nearby Six Flags Fiesta Texas amusement park. The latter is home to Dr. Diabolical’s Cliffhanger, a rollercoaster that reaches 150 feet in height. Then again, just being at La Cantera may be as high as you need to be in the Hill Country.
La Cantera Resort & Spa | San Antonio, TX. | (210) 558-4653 | www.LaCanteraGolfClub.com
