Nestled on the fringe of the Texas Hill Country, at the end of a quiet downward winding road in the heart of San Antonio’s vibrant modern shopping and entertainment district, La Cantera, is the Tuscan-inspired, award-winning, amenity-laden, luxury boutique retreat, Éilan Hotel & Spa.

Located on the premises of the Éilan, a luxury mixed-use residential, office, restaurant, and retail property, Éilan Hotel & Spa is a AAA 4 Diamond luxury resort with an onsite AAA 4 Diamond restaurant, Sustenio Restaurant & Bar. Within a 2-mile radius of the hotel,  you can visit an amusement and water park, golf on a championship course, enjoy major shopping and a variety of dining and other entertainment venues. By using the hotel’s shuttle service and exploring the numerous dining and entertainment options available in the La Cantera District, you can check into the hotel, vacation like royalty and never have to drive or leave the district your entire stay.

AWARDS

Every year since 2012, Éilan Hotel has been a recipient of AAA’s 4 Diamond Award. It’s one of only 14 San Antonio hotels to have earned and maintained the 4 Diamond distinction every year since 2012, or earlier. To earn the AAA designation, a hotel must first pass an inspection to determine if “…they are clean, comfortable, hospitable places for (AAA) members to stay and dine.” If they pass the inspection, they earn diamond levels based upon the type of experience they offer. According to AAA, a 4 Diamond hotel rating is considered, “Refined…a notable splurge for a special occasion.”   

TASTE OF TEXAS WINE & CHEESE

 

Are you an oenophile (lover of wine, aka wine aficionado or connoisseur)? Texas ranked as one of the 2018 top 10 wine regions of the U.S. with 319 wineries at last count (the next judging is July 21-22, 2019).  Wine Road 290, a stretch of scenic U.S. Highway 290 with 19 wineries, is about 70 miles from the Éilan but you don’t have to drive to the country to taste Texas Hill Country Wines. 

 

 

Every day at 3:00 p.m. Éilan Hotel guests enjoy complimentary wine tastings in Sustenio Restaurant & Bar. Hill Country’s Becker Vineyards’ award-winning wines are served with a charcuterie plate of meats and cheeses. If you love wine and/or trying new experiences, you’ll want to try it.  

 

SUSTENIO RESTAURANT & BAR

 

While you’re at the wine tasting, make your dinner reservations at Sustenio Restaurant & Bar, which is also a AAA 4 Diamond award-winner. Their cuisine is an amazing juxtaposition of earthy, locally-sourced Hill Country ingredients, humble comfort dishes, and traditional Texas cooking style – cast iron skillet over a fire – mixed with innovative, sophisticated recipe re-designs and cooking techniques to create familiar but unique, contemporary and award-winning cuisine.  

 

 

 

 

The berry cobbler is made in small cast iron pots with ripe berries, snickerdoodle crumbs and topped with blackberry ice cream.  

See link at the end of the post for more on Sustenio.

 

MERCATO CAFÉ

The Mercato Café, an Italian Market & Deli, on the 3^rd floor of the Éilan Hotel, features light meals and gelato to-go or enjoy café-style on the promenade. Or, sip fresh-brewed Starbucks while browsing their Talavera pottery, Mexican pewter ware, and gift items. 

THE SPA AT ÉILAN

With 10 treatment rooms, the Spa at Éilan can accommodate some entire families or wedding parties, as well as individual guests. It offers 5 signature treatments (packages of combinations of different services), 8 massage therapy modalities, including the Éilan signature massage, deep tissue, sports, and pregnancy massages and the Rasul Steam Experience, a self-guided private steam experience with a body scrub, mask, and moisturizer.  Also on the menu are facials & body treatments, waxing, manicures, pedicures, style bar – shampoo, blow out and style services or combos (no cuts),  and makeup application. Come as you are, leave refreshed, renewed and ready for your day and your stay. See the link at the end of the post for more on The Spa at Éilan.

 POOL AREAS

The resort’s pool areas were named Texas Monthly’s 2012 “Best Resort Pool(s) in Texas”. The hotel pool area lives up to every vacation wish list with plenty of tables and chairs, chaises, complimentary cabanas, jacuzzi, restrooms, and seasonal snack bar. The pool itself is segmented into different angled areas so loungers shouldn’t have to be disturbed by splashers. The fenced children’s pool keeps the littles contained and entertained with guerilla water guns. Fitness swimmers can practice their strokes in the indoor, heated Junior Olympic-size lap pool on the 2^nd floor of the hotel. Pool towels are available at the front desk. When finished, just leave the used towels in the pool area for the staff to collect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FITNESS CENTER & TENNIS COURTS

For additional fitness options, there are two full-sized tennis courts to the immediate right when facing the hotel main entrance.  Plus, there’s a 12,000 square-foot fitness center on the second floor. San Antonio is a foodie town. By availing yourself of the fitness opportunities at the Éilan, you can explore the delicious food offered at Sustenio Restaurant & Bar and other great area restaurants and maintain your fitness routine and physique.

SHUTTLE SERVICE

One of the best amenities at the Éilan is the free shuttle service.  When I first heard about the shuttle, a picture of a bright, colorful Éilan brand-wrapped bus schlepping a load of noisy tourists around popped into my head.  So the first time we used the service, it was a very pleasant surprise to see a late-model black Chevy Tahoe stop in front of us.  Then, a polite young uniformed driver stepped out from the driver’s seat, opened the back door for us and offered his hand to help us step up into the climate-perfect interior before sinking down into plush leather seats.  When we reached our destination, the driver again got out, opened our door, helped us out of the Tahoe, and made sure we had his cell phone number so that we could call him to pick us up when we were ready. And, we had the Tahoe all to ourselves. Not that I necessarily mind sharing a ride but that’s the level of luxury service the hotel offers. 

On a practical level, the shuttle service means that you don’t have to get in your car, try to figure how to get wherever you’re going and deal with the San Antonio traffic, which like Austin’s, can sometimes be described as a moving parking lot. You can enjoy a fabulous vacation without having to drive until it’s time to leave. Everything you would want for your vacation is within the 2-mile shuttle service area. Everything, that is, unless you want to visit historic San Antonio, which will require you to either drive yourself in your own or a rental car or call a cab or an Uber. See the links at the end of the post for resources to get around San Antonio without your own car.

The shuttle service runs from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. There is not a separate phone number for the shuttle service.  The front desk will arrange a shuttle for you within a 2-mile radius of the hotel. The shuttle does not pick up or drop off at the airport. Call the front desk: 210-598-2900.

WEDDING & MEETING VENUE

Éilan Hotel is San Antonio’s top wedding venue and proudly offers its facilities for weddings of all cultures. Outdoor weddings are held at the Event Lawn, Cielo Terrace or the Rose Garden. The beautiful grounds are also a popular background for local quinceañera, prom, and graduation photographs. The hotel has a ballroom, board room and flex spaces that can accommodate up to 400 people for all kinds of events. Request info or a wedding rate.

ROOMS

Rooms are clean, fresh, and elegantly appointed. Superior linens wrap you in a cocoon of luxury you won’t want to unravel.  Fresh-brewed gourmet coffee in bed or on your balcony, room service (if you wish).  All the hotel basics are upgraded, just as you would expect from a luxury hotel.  All have 42″ LCD TVs with premium channels, High-Speed WIFI, Keurig coffee makers, in-room safes,  desks, nice bath products, plush towels, magnifying mirrors, hair dryers, as well as Carrera marble floors & tiled showers. The website doesn’t state that all rooms have mini-frigs, but ours did. 

Room types include the Classic King, Premier and Designer Junior Suites.  The differences between the room types comes down to basic luxury (Classic King), luxury with a view (Premier), or super luxury and added space (Designer Junior Suites). We stayed in the Premier.

The view from Room 923 down to the Piazza, the Promenade, across I-10 to The Rim shopping center and beyond.

The only thing lacking for some guests, especially Bluegreen timeshare owners who are used to staying in condos, is space.  But with all the amenities on-site and in the area, you aren’t going to be spending a lot of time in your room.  Mostly, you’ll simply shower, dress and rest in your room. Otherwise, you’ll dine out, swim, sun, spa, golf, visit Six Flags and/or one of the shopping and entertainment centers. That’s what you do when you vacation at a luxury resort. And you might add an excursion downtown to visit old San Antonio and the Riverwalk.  

However, if you want to enjoy all that the Éilan Hotel & Spa resort and the La Cantera District offer, but just can’t make a hotel room work for your group, no matter how convenient and luxurious it is, don’t worry because…

FUTURE RESORT PLANS

The hotel was acquired in April 2018 by Bluegreen Vacations, a timeshare company based in Florida. Employees said the company plans to acquire the residential apartments located on the Éilan development grounds adjacent to the hotel and convert them into condos. This will give the timeshare owners access to family-friendly units with additional bedrooms and living space in alignment with the property type most commonly held by the organization.

 GOOD TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

• The sign at the road that you turn down to reach the Éilan is small and easily overlooked.  The road is just past the Éilan sign. 
• Valet parking is available at the hotel, as well as self-parking in an uncovered lot on the hotel grounds. Guests parking in the self-parking lot are responsible for the security of their vehicles.  At the time of our visit, the hotel did not provide security for the self-parking lot.  We experienced no problems but did later hear that all four tires of one guest’s rental car had been stolen overnight. 
  • Valet parking prices are as follows:
  • Guests using the Éilan facilities but not staying overnight – $15
  • Bluegreen Owners – $20
  • Bluegreen Marketing Guests – $25 (prospective Bluegreen owners on a “free” or reduced rate stay)
  • Non-Bluegreen overnight guests – $35
• The hotel is a split-level structure.
  • Main entrance lobby – 4^th floor
  • The Spa – 4^th floor
  • Sustenio Restaurant & Bar – 3^rd floor
  • Mercato Café  – 3^rd floor
  • Forza, the fitness center – 2^nd floor
  • Indoor heated lap pool – 2^nd floor
• The shuttle service runs from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. There is not a separate phone number for the shuttle service.  Call the front desk and they will arrange for a shuttle for you within a 2-mile radius of the hotel. The shuttle does not pick up or drop off at the airport. Call the front desk: 210-598-2900.
  • Historic San Antonio – the Alamo, etc. –  is located outside the hotel shuttle service area but worth a visit.  Enterprise Rent-A-Car is within the shuttle service area. See links for Enterprise below.
• The hotel’s website lists a virtual golf room as one of its amenities.  During our stay, the golf room door was locked. When asked, employees said that a previous guest had broken the equipment and, at that time, there were no plans to repair or replace it.
• A map of the Éilan development depicts a trolley line and train tracks are visible on the grounds.  However, an employee told us that the trolley service had been discontinued years ago and that the property management had just left the tracks in place.
• Some ninth and fifth-floor rooms have balconies but you have to request them.  Our balcony over-looked the Piazza with sweeping views towards The Rim Shopping Center and beyond. See photo below.
• Éilan is located in the vibrant La Cantera District between La Cantera Golf Club and Six Flags Fiesta Texas, close to The Rim, The Shops at La Cantera & UTSA (the University of Texas at San Antonio).
• The hotel is located on the Éilan grounds, along with apartments, office spaces, shops, and restaurants like:
  • JUICEssential – Juice Bar & Smoothies
  • Ruth’s Chris Steak House – Steaks, Seafood
  • Piatti Éilan– Italian, Seafood, Desserts
  • George’s Keep – Chic Lounge featuring craft cocktails, draft & bottled beer
  • Uni’Ko Japanese House – Contemporary Japanese Sushi House 
• The Texas Hill Country is about 70 miles, or a little over an hour driving time, away from San Antonio and makes for a scenic country drive. 
  • Wine Road 290 is the name of an association of 19 wineries located along both sides of U.S. Highway 290 where it runs through Fredericksburg, Texas in the Hill Country. 

LINKS

Éilan Hotel & Spa, 18603 La Cantera Terrace, San Antonio Texas 78256,  T: 210-598-2900 or 855-755-1848

Sustenio Restaurant & Bar, 18603 La Cantera Terrace, San Antonio Texas 78256,  Reservations: T: 210-598-2946

Reservations are not required but are recommended for Sunday Brunch and Holiday meals.

Sunday Brunch 10:00 am – 2:00 pm – Reservations recommended

Daily:

Breakfast 6:30 am – 11:00 am

Lunch 11:00 am – 2:00 pm

Dinner 5:30 pm – 10:00 pm

Breeze Traveler’s Sustenio’s Trip Advisor review

Mercato Café, 3^rd Floor Éilan Hotel, T: 210-598-2928, Hours: Mon. – Sat. 6:00 am to 9:00 pm, Sun. 6:00 am to 4:00 pm. Starbucks, gelato, light fare, pottery, pewter ware and gifts.

 The Spa, 4^th floor (main entrance floor), T: 210-598-2991

Hours: Mon. 3 pm to 8 pm; Tues. thru Thurs. 10 am to 8 pm; Fri. 9 am to 8 pm; Sat. 8 am to 8 pm; & Sun. 8 am to 4 pm

Spa Menu 

Éilan Development Directory Map 

Bluegreen Vacations, 1-800-845-1995

Becker Vineyards, 464 Becker Farms Road, Fredericksburg, Texas 78624, T: 830-644-2681

Want to enjoy more Becker Vineyard’s wines? Their Main Street Fredericksburg Tasting Room is located at 307 East Main Street, Fredericksburg, Texas 78624, T: 830-644-2681 x 501,  about 70 miles north of San Antonio. They also offer tastings at their Estate Winery & Tasting Room at 464 Becker Farms Rd., Stonewall, Texas 78671, T: 830-644-2681, about 60 miles north of San Antonio. 

Taste of Texas Wine & Cheese wines:

Becker Vineyards’ Jolie – 2018 TEXSOM Int’l Wine Competition Bronze Medal Winner

Becker Vineyards’ Viognier Reserve – 2019 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition Gold Medal 

Becker Vineyards’ Malbec Reserve – 2018 San Francisco Int’l Wine Competition Gold Medal

 

IN THE SHUTTLE 2-MILE SERVICE AREA 

La Cantera Golf Club, 16641 La Cantera Parkway, San Antonio, Texas 78256, T: 210-558-4653

The Palmer Course at La Cantera and The Resort Course at La Cantera

 

Six Flags Fiesta Texas, 17000 IH-10 West, San Antonio, Texas 78257, T: 210-697-5050

Theme park, water park, restaurants, events

Hours vary by season; call for information

 

 Shops at La Cantera, 15900 La Cantera Parkway, San Antonio, Texas 78256, T: 210-582-6255

Open-air shopping center featuring 187 stores. Their stores range from the usual mall offerings like Dillards, Macy’s Gap, Express, etc. to higher-end stores like L’Occitane, Neiman Marcus and Michael Kors and 27 restaurant selections like P.F. Chang’s, Cheesecake Factory, Whiskey Cake Kitchen & Bar, and Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille.  

Hours: Mon. – Sat. 10 am – 9:00 pm; Sun. 12:00 noon  – 6:00 pm.

Directory               Get directions

 

The Rim Shopping Center, 17503 La Cantera Parkway, San Antonio, Texas 78257, T: 210-641-1777

Hours: Mon. – Sat. 10 am – 9:00 pm; Sun. 12:00 noon  – 6:00 pm.

Directory         Get directions

Restaurants include hopdoddy Burger Bar, Tiago’s Cabo Grille, BJ’s Brewhouse, etc. Stores include DSW, Nordstrom Rack, Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue/Off 5th, etc. and Bass Pro Shop, among many others. Entertainment options include Bowl & Barrel, T: 210-920-1102, 15 lanes, full service modern American tavern and beer hall; Santikos Entertainment Palladium, T: 210-664-3348, an upscale movie theatre with full food & drink menu and luxury electric recliners; Topgolf, T: 210-202-2694, 100+ climate-controlled hitting bays, game hall arcade, restaurant, lounge, and rooftop terrace with fire pit.

AIRPORT

San Antonio International Airport, 9800 Airport Blvd., San Antonio, Texas 78216, T: 210-207-3433

Airlines & Flights

 

GETTING AROUND SAN ANTONIO WITHOUT YOUR OWN CAR 

Disclaimer:  I have never rented a car, or used a taxi cab or Uber service in San Antonio so I cannot vouch for the service of any of the companies listed below. The listings in this section are provided for the reader’s information only and not as an endorsement. 

Enterprise Rent-A-Car, 5139 N. Loop 1604 W. Suite 100, San Antonio Texas 78249, T: 210-764-1032

Hours:

Sunday: Closed

Mon. – Fri. – 7:30 am – 6:00 pm

Sat. 9:00 am – 12:00 pm (noon) 

 

Uber San Antonio

Sign up to ride

San Antonio Cabs

There were serveral cab companies listed in a Google search of San Antonio cabs in addition to those listed here, which had the highest ratings.  

National Cab, Online reservations, Estimated rate chart, T: 210-434-4444.  Based upon the link to their Rate Chart, the fare from the airport to Hotel Éilan should be about $43.00.

San Antonio Taxis, T: 210-444-2222

Flit Cab, San Antonio, T: 210-446-4567, No website listed.

San Antonio Pedicabs, (for when you drive downtown, park and want to enjoy a scenic ride or a quick way to get from place to place without walking or driving yourself, parking, repeat.), T: 210-802-1604, info@sapedicabscom.  

 

NEED ADDITIONAL SAN ANTONIO RESTAURANT RECOMMENDATIONS?

Tiago’s Cabo Grille

Tiago’s Cabo Grille is located in The Rim Shopping Center just across I-10 from Hotel Éilan. They offer excellent Happy Hour pricing on food and beverages. Tiago’s Cabo Grille, 17711 IH10 West #101, The Rim Shopping Center, San Antonio, TX 78257-8216, T: 210-881-2700, tiagoscabogrille.com

Breeze Traveler’s Tiago’s Cabo Grille Trip Advisor Review. 

 

Rosario’s Mexican Café y Cantina

Rosario’s Southtown (Mexican) is located in the beautiful King William Historic District, less than a mile from the Alamo and close to the Pioneer Flour Mills and Blue Star Arts Complex.  

Rosario’s (Southtown), 910 S. Alamo St., San Antonio, TX 78205, T: 210-481-4100, rosariossa.com

Breeze Traveler’s Rosario’s review with photos.

Breeze Traveler’s Rosario’s Trip Advisor review.

 

INTERESTED IN OTHER TEXAS HILL COUNTRY WINERIES?

Read William Chris Vineyards: A Tasty Trip Down Texas Wine Road 290

 

LEARN MORE ABOUT AAA’S RATINGS SYSTEM

 

WANT TO SEE MORE OF SAN ANTONIO?

Visit our San Antonio Gallery below. Click on a picture to start the slideshow. Then, click on the “I” in the lower left-hand corner to display the captions.