In need of a Hill Country getaway – especially after the spring 2020 lockdown? Castroville’s Hillside Boutique Hotel is open, ready and waiting.
Located just 20 minutes from downtown San Antonio, the delightful Hillside Boutique Hotel offers travelers a worldly adventure within easy reach. Even better? Onsite meals and spa services round out the experience.
This month, with the state reopening for summer travel, we asked co-owner Jana Winkler to answer a few questions about the property.
Tell us a little about Hillside Boutique Hotel.
We are a family-owned boutique hotel perched atop 13 acres of hilltop overlooking the historic town of Castroville and the Medina River Valley below. We went through an extensive renovation in 2018 and now boast a Hill Country modern design with custom artisan touches and fantastic panoramic views.
We offer 38-rooms, each with their own private balcony and plenty of room to kick back and relax. Rooms range from a 375 square foot Classic King, to 425 square foot Classic Queen, Deluxe King, and Superior King styles. Families love our 620 square foot, two-bedroom Premier Suite complete with one king and one queen bed, along with a sleeper sofa.
For those needing to get away but also want the feel of “home,” the two-bedroom Luxury Suite offers more than 1,100 square feet of Hill Country living with vaulted ceilings, floor to ceiling windows, full kitchen, living area, washer and dryer, and a large private balcony with rolling Hill Country views for miles. All rooms are outfitted with 50-65 inch state of the art televisions as well as complimentary Wi-Fi service.
Our Hillside swimming pool is a great place for road weary summer travelers to cool their heels and soak up our great views. We also have several spacious private cabanas for lounging, reading or napping the day away. Our full-service Hillside spa offers our famous facial services, massages, scrubs, manicures and pedicures for guests needing a little added pampering.
Obviously, with the reopening, travelers are concerned about safety. Can you tell us what measures are being taken to keep guests safe?
We welcomed our guests back to Hillside beginning June 1st. We have been planning for this day since we first closed our doors temporarily back in March. We are carefully following Governor Abbott’s Open Texas health protocols and will continue to follow the updates and guidelines as things develop. Our upper management has had daily meetings to discuss the challenges the pandemic puts on every department. The safety and well-being of our guests, staff and community is our very top priority. We’ve had extensive training on COVID-19 sanitation and stand ready to welcome our fantastic guests back to Hillside.
We have always prided ourselves on our sanitation standards, and we have enhanced our protocols to reflect the need to protect our staff and guests from COVID-19. Visitors will notice several changes when they head Hillside. We are offering a new curbside check-in option under our porte-cochère, so guests don’t even have to leave their cars to settle in. We have also installed a plexiglass shield at our front desk and all Hillside staff will be wearing protective masks throughout the property. Our service and cleaning crews will take the additional precaution of wearing gloves.
Much of Hillside’s design allows our guests to socially distance naturally, there are no closed-in hallways or elevators. We have installed hand sanitation stations throughout the property where there are entrances and exits, and all of our furniture placements are arranged for social distancing property wide.
Our rooms are designed with individual HVAC systems and are spaced apart from each other. They also come with their own private balcony, and we are allowing 24 hours between hotel guest stays to allow additional sanitation and air filtration time. Guest rooms now come equipped with automated hand sanitizers and totes with fresh linens will be provided to guests who stay multiple nights. All room water cups are pre-wrapped by the manufacturer, linens are washed at 160 degrees and all amenities are replaced after each stay.
Our cabanas and pool furniture will be appropriately spaced for social distancing. Our furniture and pool bathroom will be cleaned and sanitized frequently as will all public area surfaces throughout the property.
In our spa, we are only booking one client at a time with extended gaps between appointments to allow for disinfecting. Our technicians will wear masks and gloves and follow all Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation guidelines.
The seating in our spacious 1,100 square foot restaurant, Hillside Texas Bistro, has been reconfigured to accommodate social distancing, and we have the best dining porch in town that can seat up to 30 patrons even with the new seating configuration. We are also offering no contact food service options. Due to its limited size, our cozy Barrel Room bar will only be available for private events throughout the summer.
Additional details on Hillside’s extensive safety protocols can be found by visiting our website here.
Fine dining seems integral to the Hillside experience. What can you tell us about the meal and menu options?
Absolutely. Hillside Texas Bistro offers a modern twist on comfort food. With breakfast, lunch and dinner, there is something to tempt every taste bud. We use locally sourced ingredients to create seasonal dishes that reflect the flavors and culinary influences of Texas. In addition to using local vendors as much as possible, we also grow our own herbs, fruits, and vegetables right here at Hillside in our 16 planting beds. We incorporate those ingredients into everything, from cuisine to cocktails.
A few fan favorites include our Come and Take it Burger on our lunch menu, made with local honey BBQ sauce, buttermilk onion rings and crispy melted cheddar with a side of fries. Or our Rosewood Ranch Texas ribeye with smoked whiskey butter and mashed potatoes served with seasonal vegetables which is on our dinner menu. For seafood lovers, our herb and garlic crusted shrimp with white cheddar Texas grits and Tobasca butte is a big hit. We are also very well known for our deviled eggs with house smoked brisket and pickled onions. I could go on and on, but you can see the full menu here to check out all the goodies.
Why should Castroville be a destination for people looking to return to travel?
You truly feel like you’ve stepped back in time when you enter the quaint town of Castroville.
With a nod to its French and German ancestry, the town with a population of less than 3,000 is filled with historic sites and homes, Alsatian restaurants, and beautiful pecan and cypress trees. It is one of the most historically significant towns in Texas and visitors can easily access much of our preserved history through our downtown Historic Walking Tour. It is a big hit with tourists and a great way to keep minds active this summer while enjoying fresh air and a little exercise.
If you are looking for family friendly outdoor adventure – visitors can head to Castroville Regional Park which is filled with miles of hiking trails. The Medina River runs through the park, so it is a great destination for fishing and swimming as well. We also have Concan nearby for Frio River access and the gorgeous Paradise Canyon.
Visitors can also kick up their heels at Quihi Gun Club, one of the most historic and well-preserved dance halls in Texas and just a short 10-minute drive from Hillside. Quihi offers a family friendly environment and is a long-standing Texas tradition for many generations, attracting visitors from all over the world. We also have wineries for tasting and golf courses if you want to hit the links. Castroville is also very popular for the hunting and fishing community.
What’s the biggest takeaway you want readers to have right now, as we head into summer after the spring lockdown?
We are clearly all experiencing a unique moment in time with this pandemic. So many families have been juggling work and distance learning while trying to stay safe and healthy – including ours. Everyone has had to make serious adjustments to their routines, and for many that includes canceling any extravagant summer vacation plans.
We hope we can provide an excellent excuse to take that Texas road trip this summer to explore some of the most scenic parts our state has to offer while getting pampered a bit along the way. We literally designed our hotel with the intent of being a safe, relaxing, family-friendly respite that gives people a chance to come together and slow down. With so many surrounding outdoor and open-air excursions nearby, you can also find plenty of ways to keep minds and bodies active while breathing a little easier and getting a gorgeous change of scenery along the way.
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