I visited this WHS on 4th of July weekend 2023 and it was an interesting time to say the least. I have been to Texas several times before as I have a friend that goes to school out there (which came very much in handy for the solar eclipse that happened earlier this year!!), but I never made it to San Antonio until last year. Everyone that I know that lives in Texas RAVES about San Antonio so I had my expectations up. Nicely restored Spanish Colonial missions are almost a dime a dozen back in California so I really had to do some convincing to get my family to go see the other missions besides the Alamo.

We visited the Alamo first (how could we forget?) and it was no longer a mission but rather a "shrine" to the battle of the Alamo. Although I am a history nerd, the minute specifics of battles are not very interesting to me at all. Luckily, my family felt the same way and we headed to the other missions in the WHS after a quick stop. The way the Alamo is preserved now does not really gel with the other sites in the WHS and kind of took away from the experience for me at least.

We then stopped at Mission San Jose to grab some information and get NPS stamps at the visitor center. The rangers were very nice there and were happy to talk WHS with me! They gave me a map of all the WHS in the US which was very neat. Compared to the crowded Alamo, Mission San Jose was almost abandoned, which made it a serene experience. The outside of the mission was restored nicely and we stopped to view the famous rose window. However, the inside of the church is pretty normal Spanish Colonial, and as other reviewers have mentioned, other missions in the US have more decorative interiors. 

I got to pick one more mission to visit before we left, and I picked Mission Concepcion for its historic frescoes. A kind ranger saw us poor saps in the brutal heat and gave us a guided tour of the grounds and showed us the frescos. The frescoes are interesting and you can clearly see the Indigenous American influence. The facade was very nice as well and made for some good pictures. The interior besides the frescoes was also "meh" level for me personally. 

All in all, these missions were a nice visit. I think I might've rated this site higher if I had the chance to catch one of the cultural demonstrations and visit the other two missions. But it was too hot to consider going any further that day. If you liked these, California and Arizona have some very nice colonial missions to visit as well!