Tucked Away In A Bustling Texas City Is A Whimsical Japanese Garden Full Of Impressive Flora

There's something quirky about the Japanese Tea Garden in San Antonio, Texas — in the best possible way. The stone walls look roughly mortared together, while the bridges and pond's edge are delightfully warped. The vegetation grows in a range of shapes and colors, and limbs reach in every direction. Tufts of grass stand on little islands in the water, like stepping stones that are too far to reach. The 60-foot waterfall trickles gently down a mossy wall. Even the central pavilion is playful-looking, with its cairn-like pillars and palm-frond roofing. It's like a Tokugawa palace designed by Dr. Seuss.

The Tea Garden is a popular stop on tours of San Antonio, including the Full-Day Historic City Tour on Viator. Once you've seen other urban landmarks like St. Paul Square, the San Antonio River, and La Villita Historic Arts Village, you'll be ready for a serene 30 minutes in this unlikely green space near the San Antonio Zoo. For many visitors, San Antonio is known only for the Alamo, but as this tour proves, there's a lot more to know about this city of 1.5 million people, and it's a must-visit destination for history buffs.

It's hard to believe that this beautiful garden was once an unremarkable quarry. When workers had dug out all the stone they could find — around 1908 — Parks Commissioner Ray Lambert came up with an idea: Why not create a lily pond here? When he shared the idea with an artist friend, Eizo Jingu, they brainstormed an even bigger idea: A public garden based on traditional Japanese landscaping. A stone house was built on the 7-acre property, and Jingu actually moved into the garden with his family, where they lived for many years and ran a restaurant called The Bamboo Room.

Today, the on-site restaurant is known as Jingu House, where elegant, Asian-fusion meals are served in the bucolic setting. The garden hosts wedding ceremonies, receptions, and corporate functions, and the restaurant is regularly reserved for special events. Leashed dogs are permitted, and most of the garden's grounds are wheelchair-accessible. Like the many state and national parks of Texas, the Japanese Tea Garden is one-of-a-kind.

San Antonio is a remarkably old city, and the original Spanish colony dates back to 1718. A lot has happened since then — including the Battle of the Alamo in 1836 and the visionary HemisFair expo in 1968 — and the city is now an action-packed hub of culture and commerce. Next to the Japanese Tea Garden is the San Antonio Zoo, a 50-acre institution that cares for more than 750 different species; the zoo is nearly as old as the Tea Garden, and early keepers helped pioneer the concept of a "cage-less" zoo.

Just 4 miles south is the famous San Antonio River Walk, a pedestrian corridor full of bridges, theaters, restaurants, passing boats, and historic missions. The Viator tour will introduce you to many of the River Walk's highlights. Historic and fun, San Antonio is absolutely worth a detour on a road trip through the Texas heartland.