The haunted hotels in San Antonio are, almost without exception, extremely good hotels. That is the odd thing about this city.
Some couples come for the River Walk. Some friends come for the breakfast tacos. You want to sleep somewhere with a history, and maybe among a few ghosts.
San Antonio makes that easy, because the modern downtown is built directly on top of a battlefield. In March 1836 roughly 200 defenders died at the Alamo over thirteen days, and the fighting spilled well beyond the chapel everyone photographs. Several of the haunted hotels in San Antonio sit on ground that was part of that fight, and one of them was a hospital with a morgue in the basement long before it had a lobby bar.
Below you’ll find 6 haunted places to stay in San Antonio you can book tonight, all downtown, with what each building was before it took guests and what people report now.
- Most notorious: The Gunter Hotel – Room 636, a 1965 disappearance, and no body ever found
- Most haunted hotel in San Antonio: The Menger Hotel – 1859, next door to the Alamo, and the funeral receipt still exists
- Strangest history: The Emily Morgan Hotel – a former medical building with a morgue in the basement
- Closest to the Alamo: The Crockett Hotel – built on the ground where the fighting was worst
- Best for couples: The St. Anthony Hotel – 1909 luxury, a woman in white, and furniture that moves overnight
- Best on the River Walk: Omni La Mansion del Rio – a Catholic boys’ school for a century, and staff still hear footsteps crossing the old tiled courtyard at night
A note before you book: the haunted hotels in San Antonio below are all working hotels you can book tonight. The hauntings are what guests and staff report, not claims we can verify, and we have said who is doing the reporting throughout.
Most Haunted Hotels in San Antonio
These three haunted hotels in San Antonio sit on or beside the Alamo battlefield, and they are the ones every ghost tour in the city stops outside.
01. The Gunter Hotel
Open since 1909 on Houston Street, and the address most often named when people talk about haunted hotels in San Antonio. In February 1965 a man checked into Room 636 with a woman who was seen entering and never seen leaving; a maid interrupted him the next morning, he fled, and days later shot himself in another hotel. No body was ever found.
The hotel has since been renovated and rebranded, and the room numbering changed, which has done nothing to stop guests asking for 636 at the desk. Robert Johnson also recorded here in 1936, so the building has more than one kind of ghost.
See dates & prices on Booking.com →
02. The Menger Hotel
Opened in 1859 directly beside the Alamo, which is the worst possible address if you would rather not share your room. The Menger claims dozens of resident spirits and has the longest continuous history of any hotel in the city.
The most repeated story is of Sallie White, a chambermaid shot by her husband in 1876; the hotel paid for her funeral and the receipt still exists. Teddy Roosevelt recruited Rough Riders in the bar downstairs, and staff have reported him there long after 1919.
See dates & prices on Booking.com →
03. The Emily Morgan Hotel
A 1924 Gothic Revival tower that spent decades as the Medical Arts Building, complete with a morgue in the basement and a crematorium. That is not folklore, that is the original floor plan.
Guests report lifts stopping at floors nobody selected, and the seventh, ninth, eleventh and fourteenth floors come up most often. It is now a very comfortable hotel, which makes the whole thing more disorienting.
See dates & prices on Booking.com →
04. The Crockett Hotel
Built in 1909 on ground that formed part of the Alamo battlefield, where the fiercest fighting took place on the morning of 6 March 1836.
The story goes that guests on the lower floors hear movement in the courtyard at night, and staff attribute it to the site rather than the building. You are directly across from the Alamo, so you can be unsettled and extremely well located at once.
See dates & prices on Booking.com →
More Haunted Hotels in San Antonio Downtown
Both of these haunted places to stay in San Antonio are walkable to the River Walk, and both were something else entirely before they took guests.
05. The St. Anthony Hotel
A 1909 luxury hotel on Travis Park, the first in the world to be fully air conditioned, and still the grandest lobby in the city.
Staff have reported a woman in white on the upper floors and furniture in the Peacock Alley lobby found rearranged in the morning. If you want the haunted history without the horror, this is the comfortable end of the list.
See dates & prices on Booking.com →
06. Omni La Mansion del Rio
A Spanish colonial building on the River Walk that began life in 1852 as St. Mary’s Institute, a Catholic boys’ school, and later a law school before becoming a hotel.
Reports here centre on the courtyard and the older wing: footsteps on tiled floors, and a figure in dark clothing that staff associate with the building’s teaching years.
See dates & prices on Booking.com →
Where to Stay in San Antonio for Halloween
Haunted hotels in San Antonio are an easier Halloween booking than Salem or Savannah, because downtown has far more rooms. The Menger and the Crockett fill first, since both are directly at the Alamo and both are small by downtown standards. The St. Anthony and Omni La Mansion del Rio hold availability longest.
Still deciding between cities? Savannah is the closest in feel if you want somewhere small and walkable, and New Orleans has the deepest history of the three. Both are covered in our guide to the most haunted hotels in the USA.
Book by early October for Halloween weekend. If you are coming for the day of the dead celebrations rather than Halloween itself, the last weekend of October is busier than the 31st.
Haunted Places to Visit in San Antonio
Nobody comes to San Antonio only to sleep. Everything below is within walking distance of the River Walk, and most of it is free.
The Alamo is the obvious first stop and entry to the church and grounds costs nothing. Around 200 defenders died here in March 1836 and the fighting spread well beyond the chapel everyone photographs, which is why so many buildings nearby claim their own ghosts. San Fernando Cathedral, two blocks away, is one of the oldest cathedrals in the country and holds a marble box said to contain remains recovered from the Alamo.
The Menger Hotel bar is worth a drink whether or not you are staying there. Further out, San Antonio Missions National Historical Park is free, and the four Spanish colonial missions south of the city are older than the Alamo fight by a century.
And you should do a ghost tour in San Antonio. Most leave from Alamo Plaza after dark and cover the battlefield ground the modern downtown is built on. Haunted house tours in San Antonio go inside the historic buildings instead, including several of the hotels on this page.
Haunted Hotels in San Antonio: Your Questions Answered
What is the most haunted hotel in San Antonio?
The Menger Hotel, which opened in 1859 directly beside the Alamo. It claims dozens of resident spirits, and the most documented is Sallie White, a chambermaid shot by her husband in 1876. The hotel paid for her funeral and the receipt still exists in its records.
Which San Antonio hotel was a hospital?
The Emily Morgan Hotel. The 1924 Gothic Revival tower spent decades as the Medical Arts Building, with a morgue and a crematorium in the basement. Guests most often report lifts stopping at floors nobody selected.
Are any haunted hotels in San Antonio on the Alamo battlefield?
Yes. The Crockett Hotel was built in 1909 on ground that formed part of the battlefield, where the fighting on the morning of 6 March 1836 was heaviest. The Menger Hotel stands immediately beside the Alamo complex.
Can you stay in a haunted hotel in San Antonio?
Yes. The Gunter, Menger, Emily Morgan, Crockett, St. Anthony and Omni La Mansion del Rio are all working downtown hotels you can book tonight.
Which haunted hotel in San Antonio is best for couples?
The St. Anthony Hotel on Travis Park. It opened in 1909, was the first fully air conditioned hotel in the world, and has the grandest lobby in the city. Staff have reported a woman in white on the upper floors and furniture rearranged overnight in Peacock Alley.
When should you book a haunted hotel in San Antonio for Halloween?
By early October. San Antonio has more downtown rooms than Salem or Savannah so it holds availability longer, but the Menger and the Crockett fill first because both sit at the Alamo and both are small for downtown hotels.
The hauntings here are what guests and staff report. The history is a matter of record: the Menger Hotel covers the building and its place in the city since 1859.
So, Which Haunted Hotel in San Antonio Are You Booking?
Pick the one that made you stop scrolling, and book it before October if Halloween is the plan. San Antonio has more haunted hotels within walking distance of one another than almost anywhere in the country.
Want the rest of the country? We have rounded up the most haunted hotels in the USA, plus haunted places to stay in New Orleans and Savannah.
More Haunted Hotels and Haunted Places to Stay in the U.S.
If this city is booked out, or you just want to compare the options before you commit, here is the rest of the collection:
- Haunted places to stay in New Orleans – the deepest history and the shortest walk between a hotel bar and a cemetery.
- Haunted places to stay in Savannah – small, walkable and built on top of its own burial grounds.
- Haunted hotels in Salem MA – the October capital, and the one you have to book by June.
- Haunted hotels in New York – Manhattan rock-star ghosts, or a colonial inn open since 1766.
- Haunted hotels in Gettysburg – buildings that were field hospitals, with the bullet holes still in them.
- The most haunted hotels in the USA – the full list, city by city.
- Haunted places to stay: 24 rentals and haunted Airbnbs – whole houses, so the ghost is all yours.