San Marcos River · Fentress, Texas
Under an hour from Austin: a deluxe San Marcos River cabin at Fentress, reserved once you say yes
from$360for two sharing, 2 nights, $180 per person
This stay is a San Marcos River cabin at Fentress, on the lower river about 45 miles from our Austin office. You get two nights for two people in a deluxe cabin at a riverside cabin resort, with linens supplied by the resort. We pick the dates with you, ask the resort whether the cabin is open, and send one written quote.
The water here comes mostly from springs upstream, so in a typical year the river keeps most of its spring flow through the warm months. That makes this a good first river trip for people who want a short drive and a cabin close to the water.
- River
- San Marcos River
- Town
- Fentress, Texas
- Where you sleep
- Deluxe cabin at a riverside cabin resort
- Nights
- 2
- Drive from the office
- 45 mi, 54 min
- Season
- April to October
- From, for two
- $360
A deluxe cabin on the lower San Marcos
You sleep in a deluxe cabin, at a cabin resort that keeps its units beside the river. It is set up for two people sharing, and the resort supplies the linens, so there is none to pack. The resort keeps its own front desk, registers you when you pull in, and handles the cabin from there.
The cabin resort sits beside the lower San Marcos, and how you spend the day there is up to you and to the river that week.
Inside the Fentress cabin rate
In the Fentress figure
- 2 nights for two sharing: deluxe cabin at a riverside cabin resort
- Every charge the lodge makes mandatory; it lists none beyond the nightly rate
Paid separately on your trip
- Texas hotel tax and any local hotel tax, added by the lodge at checkout
- Driving there and back in your own car
- Meals, groceries and anything bought on the river
- Tubes, boats and park entry from local outfitters or parks
from$360for two sharing, 2 nights, $180 per person
For two sharing, this stay starts from $360 for two, or from $180 per person. We get there by taking the resort's published rate of $180 a night and multiplying it by two nights; the resort publishes no extra mandatory fees, so nothing else is added. Texas hotel tax and local hotel tax sit outside that figure and are charged by the resort at checkout, and the final amount is confirmed in writing for your dates. You pay nothing for our planning or the quote, because the resort settles a commission with us once you have checked out.
Big springs behind the lower San Marcos
At Fentress the San Marcos is a lower stretch of a river fed largely by big springs, and so it belongs to the spring-fed group in our catalog. The nearest gauge to this stay is USGS 08171400.
Over the 30 years from 1996 to 2025, the median of May monthly mean flow at that gauge was 195.9 cubic feet per second (cfs) and the August median was 158.3 cfs. In plain terms, August usually keeps about 81% of the water the river carries in May, so a summer visit often finds the river close to its spring level.
Wading months at Fentress, April through October
We plan this cabin from April through October, the months when the river is most pleasant to sit beside and wade into. Spring flow still depends on how much rain fell over the region, and no two summers run the same.
Rain has been scarce this fall. In the 30 days to 29 October 2026, provisional USGS readings put the Comal, a neighboring spring-fed river, at about 154 cfs against a usual October median of 291. Your written quote reports how the San Marcos is running the week you plan to go, and we make no promise about water levels or conditions for wading or floating.
Resort name, deluxe unit and tax lines for Fentress
The quote names the cabin resort, the deluxe cabin, your two nights and the price for those exact dates, with Texas state hotel tax and any local hotel tax listed on a separate line. It also lays out what the resort does if you cancel, so you see that before you say yes.
We took the resort's published nightly rate on 30 October 2026 to build the figure on this page. Rates change with the season, weekends and the resort's own updates, which is why the number that counts is the one in your written quote for real dates.
45 miles to the cabin before dark
The drive is about 45 miles and takes roughly 54 minutes without traffic, all of it on your own wheels from our office on Exposition Boulevard to the resort desk. It is short enough to leave after lunch on a Friday and still reach the cabin well before dark.
Picking Fentress dates with the office
Name the month you are thinking of, how many nights you would like and what you want from the water, and we will check the cabin with the resort. You can send the request form at any hour; it carries no charge, and the cabin is held only after you approve the written quote.
A request that arrives after 1 p.m., or on a Sunday or Monday, gets its written answer by 4 p.m. on the next phone day.
Phone Tuesday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Central. (512) 478-2163
Also worth a look from here: Guadalupe River cabin on River Road