The Votes Are In

Conde Nast Traveler ditches rest of Texas and crowns San Antonio among best U.S. cities

San Antonio's vibrant culture mixed with big city cool made it a must-hit for travelers.

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San Antonio can put yet another feather in its cap. On October 9, Conde Nast Traveler released the results of its famed Readers' Choice Awards 2018 — and Alamo City scored big.

The annual poll — now in its 31st year — is a selection of the best cities, hotels, resorts, airlines, cruises, and more from across the world. According to the magazine, more than 429,000 people took part in crowning this year's best of the best.

And many of those 429,000 voters agreed that San Antonio is indeed the crown jewel of Texas. Perhaps the biggest win came on the Best Cities in the U.S. Among cities with populations of 1 million residents or more, San Antonio was crowned No. 6. Not only was it the only city in Texas to make the list, it was the only city in the entire Southwestern United States.

The magazine calls out the fun of Fiesta before diving into just what makes the city so great. "Best known for its beautiful River Walk, historic Alamo, and rich heritage, San Antonio now has a hip side to explore," says the magazine. "Make Hotel Emma in the heart of the Pearl District or the massive JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa your home base and you'll find out why we haven't even mentioned those other Texas cities."

Speaking of Hotel Emma, though it's been declared the greatest hotel in the world, it went largely overlooked by Conde Nast Traveler readers this year. Not only did the Emma not make the Top Hotels in the U.S., it only came in at No. 5 among the Top Hotels in Texas. (We can only hope this gross oversight will be remedied next year.)

Together with Hotel Emma, three Alamo City outposts made the Best Hotel in Texas including The St. Anthony Hotel (6) and the Hotel Valenica Riverwalk (7).

Local resorts also dazzled, with San Antonio's La Cantera Resort & Spa earning the No. 9 spot among the Top Resorts in Texas & The Midwest. The JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa also landed on the list in the 20th spot.

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Meteor News

How to see the Draconid meteor shower in San Antonio this week

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Meteor shower

A meteor shower will be visible from most of North America, including San Antonio, during the week of October 6-10.

The Draconid meteor shower – also called the Giacobinids – was predicted to produce the most meteor activity on the night of October 7 and through the early hours of October 8, but there is still time to catch the tail end.

There will still be sightings on subsequent nights, stargazing experts say.

According to EarthSky, a cool website devoted to all things starry, the Draconids will be visible right after it gets dark, rather than the more common early morning hours most meteor showers are visible.

The best time will be just after sunset, until around midnight. Viewers won't have to stay up until the crack of dawn.

Helping to make the meteor even more visible is a waxing moon, barely a crack, which will cast less light and keep the sky darker overall.

EarthSky says that the meteors are radiating from two stars known as the Dragon’s Eyes, called Eltanin and Rastaban, found in the constellation Draco. Which is located in between the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper.

However, the meteor shower will be visible across the sky.

The shower is dubbed a "sleeper" in that it produces only a handful of meteors — 10 per hour. But they move slower, so the duration of each streak of light sometimes lasts longer — one to two seconds, rather than a rapid flash.

Meteor showers consist of debris left behind by comets and asteroids, which throw off bits of rock and ice as they orbit the sun. The Draconids are the result of Earth passing through this trail from the comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. The comet completes an orbit of the sun about every seven years, and according to CNN, the last time it got this close to Earth was in September, 2018.

The best way to see it is to find a place that's far from artificial light, then lie on your back and look up at the sky with a wide view. No special equipment is needed.

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