Silverleaf's Hill Country Resort

Have stayed at Hill Country every year for the last 5 years. Close to San Antonio and New Braunfels. Presidentials are beautiful. Can't wait to return.

Stayed March 15-19, 2008. The Texas Hill Country area is great for beauty, good people, fun, and

tasty food. Hill Country Resort location is super, the resort itself is nice but the unit we stayed in

had NOT been THOROUGHLY CLEANED. We did some cleaning ourselves but never got used to the

"grit" on the bathroom floor. Resort amenities were ok and it appeared they had a pretty good kids

program during the day. Nightly entertainment was mediocre. The overall experience was fun but

was more like staying in a lake house type condo rather than a real resort. We would probably stay

there again but would put in a special request for a condo that had been thoroughly cleaned.

I wouldn't mind owning there if I knew it would be better cleaned and well maintained.

We visited this resort the second week of Oct. and the weather was terrific; low 80’s during the day and upper 60’s at night. We stayed in room 230 and friends stayed in 229 in one of the Presidential Units down by the lake. Our room (230) is on the second floor with a great view and on the same side of the road as the main resort. Room 229 is on the first floor, still a great view. There are elevators which are centrally located as well as stairs on each end of the building. There is a pool, playground, and barbecue area right in the area. We saw deer every single day, either down by the lake, walking nearby or on the side of the road.

We arrived at 4pm and were told the room would be ready at 4:30pm, so we decided to go to the store to pick up some groceries. We went to the Super S a few miles away. It's a smaller store with no deli or bakery, but good for staples and some produce. There is also no meat department there.

We arrived at the resort to pick up our keys and had to go to the RCI desk to receive a welcome package. There was no asking to schedule a tour; they just gave us a welcome package. It contained some snacks, a couple of coffee mugs, and some informational material.

Resort: The resort itself is kept beautifully. Check-in was a breeze; staff was very helpful and pleasant. Onsite there is a fitness room, grille, large game room, small store, miniature golf, and activity center. There are several pools: one indoor which is heated during the winter, another large pool, and 3 smaller pools, along with an 18 and older hot tub and there is a kiddies’ pool. One of the smaller pools is located across the street for building 300 and the other presidential units. They also have a small activity center located on that side of the street to accommodate people. They did have free Wi-Fi in the lobby area, but not in the units. In the units, they had high speed internet service, but no Wi-Fi. They are in the process of building new units across the street, not presidential units though, just regular units. The view of the lake from across the street is beautiful. We did not go to any of the activities, except the breakfast they offered. It was free breakfast where they went over what was in the area and they gave away some cash and prizes. No timeshare pitch!

Unit: We arrived in the unit, it was very clean. The living room had a full size sofa, loveseat, chair, coffee table, armoire with ~ 25” TV and gas fireplace. They had cable TV with HBO which was nice. There was a full sized kitchen with eating bar and dining room table for six. There is enough service for six people and adequate pots and pans; a full size range, fridge with ice maker, microwave, and dishwasher. They supplied a starter pack with enough coffee for one day, 2 packets of dishwasher soap, and a small bottle of dishwashing detergent. The cabinets do need some paint, the condition is quite worn, but it did ot affect the functionality of the cabinets. They almost looked shabby chic. There were beautiful hardwood floors in the living and dining room areas of room 230, but not in room 229; they had carpeting. The carpets need to be changed as they had bumps in them and looked pretty worn, although we did see new carpeting being delivered to some units. There are slate floors in the bathrooms, kitchen and entry way. Two bedrooms with king sized beds, 2 small closets on either side of the beds; there are no drawers in which to put clothes! Each bedroom also has a bathroom with double sinks and whirlpool tub, plenty of towels, but only one hairdryer between the 2 bedrooms. Each bedroom had ~19” TV, one housed in an armoire and the other was on a sofa table. There was one bar of soap per bathroom and no other starter packs. There is a balcony with access from the bedroom and living room; it had a very sturdy wooden table with 4 chairs.

Nearby: The town of Gruene, a quaint little town on the river. The oldest operating dancehall in Texas, as a matter of fact part of the movie “Michael” with John Travolta was taped there. Remember when they were in the bar and he started dancing?...that’s the place! We had dinner one night at the Grist Mill in Gruene, good meal, service so-so. Great ambiance, rustic! We had dinner at the Italian Garten, near the resort, on FM 306. We ate there twice and the food was very good and very reasonable. We had breakfast mostly in the unit, but on our way to the Natural Caverns, we did stop in the New Braunfels Smokehouse for breakfast, very good and reasonable. The Natural Caverns were beautiful, but not for the mobility impaired…if you have trouble with your knees and/or hips, don’t go. Some of the walkways are very steep and narrow. We had on person in our party who did not go into the Caverns and we were glad he didn’t; it would have been very uncomfortable for him. Next door is a Wildlife Park you can drive through, but I was overruled on visiting it, so I can’t comment on it, but I hear it is nice. We went into Fredericksburg one day and spent the day going into little shops and boutiques along Main St. On the way there, there were quite a few wineries and the LBJ ranch, none of which we stopped. We rented a pontoon boat at the Canyon Lake Marina another day and went fishing. It was $65/hr plus gas…there were 6 of us, so it was quite reasonable for 4 hours. We had a great time and had only bought licenses for catch and release ($15). There are lots of places for tubing/rafting on the Guadalupe River. We went to a place called Bednzak’s and rented two rafts and did the river. It took us a bout 4 hours and we had a great time! We also went into San Antonio, stopped in San Marcos, and looked around in the outlets.

Overall: Great resort and I would definitely return again. It is a nice central location between Austin and San Antonio with lots to do in the area. There were no complaints except that they kept the walkway lights on all night, so if you need complete darkness to sleep, this may be a problem for you. Otherwise, it was a great exchange!

This is a niche resort: it offers a taste of Heaven by being situated in the middle of Central Texas Hill Country. That would be enough for many (count me in that number), but it is struggling with the details of maintaining the property at the level of the promise. There are decent amenities for on site enjoyment (three pools, tennis, shuffleboard, mini-golf, game room/video arcade, small eatery) but access means driving from at least half of the available units. There is a wonderful view of Canyon Lake but no direct access. Nearby (within 15-20 miles) are a great waterpark, a lovely cavern, a "wild" animal farm that you drive through, and the watersports that go with a lake. A unique activity is the easy availability of the Guadalupe and Comal Rivers and the many vendors providing large tubes and rafts for a genuinely memorable time of tubing through Texas country (trips vary from 2 to 8 hours or so). The staff is great but there is a bit of a gap between the desire to be a Gold Crown level facility and the accomplishment. Our group used two 2-bedroom units for a week (family get-together) and enjoyed it fully; it is a family kind of place. It will be more enjoyable when the energy that is spent on timeshare sales is shared by the managing of the property for those who already are owners (somewhere.) Make no mistake; we would definitely consider returning if the impulse arises. Once a Texan, always a Texan.

We visited Silver Leaf's Hill Country Resort this summer for a week with our kids and had a fantastic time! We had a fantastic view of the lake from our balcony. We were very close to the Guadalupe River (Horse Shoe) and also close to the Comal River-which both of these rivers are known for GREAT TUBING! We were about 20 minutes from Schlitterbahn and had a great time there also! The reseort offers an a/c gameroom/activity center for the older kids and putt putt golf and a movie theater for the younger kids. Our room was very spacious and the staff went out of their way to accomodate us! This was definately one of our best vacations yet and we are making plans to go back next summer! ** If you have kids and need entertainment for them, this is the place to go. We also visited the State Capitol and it took us about 35 minutes to get there. If you like scenic views, with fresh air, crystal clear cool water and lots of inexpensive things to see and do, this is the place for you!