The Japanese Tea Garden: A Hidden Oasis

I have lived in San Antonio for just short of 2 months now and the truth is I haven't seen much of it. Most of my touring of the city has been done inside of cars or from a "safe" distance. It's weird moving to a new city and not getting to know your surroundings. The travel bug in me just could not accept living in a new place and not seeing it so I finally cracked. By Gosh almighty we will see the city... while socially distancing and wearing masks of course!!

While trying to research some places we could visit, we came across the Japanese Tea Garden. Thanks to Google, we saw that the majority of people only spend about an hour at the Tea Garden which eased our anxiety about crowds. We also discovered that it's free. And y'all let me tell you, free is my favorite price! Fun fact: dogs are permitted if leashed. We heavily debated whether we should bring our fur babies, but decided against it since we were going in the middle of the day in the Texas heat. Trust me the pups were happier indoors in the A/C.

The Japanese Tea Garden is relatively easy to find since it's located right in front of the zoo. Parking was plentiful as there were several parking lots - all of which were very close to the entrance. When we first entered, we came in through this beautiful pavilion that overlooks the entire garden. I don't even remember stopping to appreciate the beauty of it all. I just remember being astounded this could exist in the middle of a city. I couldn't feel the rush of San Antonio just behind the wall of plants and when I closed my eyes all I heard were the sounds of wings fluttering and fishes splashing. We were able to walk on the trails that were next to ponds full of koi fish, turtles, and lily pads. The garden also has a small waterfall surrounded by bamboo trees . I'm no photographer but here are some pictures of the garden - make sure to hit the next arrow to see all of them.

Since the garden is small, we finished in less than an hour and we were able to fully appreciate all it had to offer. We didn't have to worry about big crowds as there wasn't many people and a lot of people seemed to just be passing by. Everyone wore masks and easily maintained a safe distance.

While there we did notice a restaurant on the grounds called Jingu House Café, but we didn't try it this time. This is definitely on my list of restaurants to try, however. It would be amazing to eat yummy food while enjoying this view.

I highly recommend a visit to the Japanese Tea Garden. It's small enough that it can be fit into a shortened day in San Antonio or easy enough to do right before or right after the zoo. Sometimes the best things in life can in small packages- or in this case in small gardens.

If you liked what I had to say, consider subscribing to my blog and remember to travel (if you're in the Alamo take a trip to the tea garden), read a good book, and drink all the rosé! Until next time!

-Pau