Things to do in Houston

The official visitor center of NASA's Johnson Space Center. Real Saturn V rocket, the shuttle carrier aircraft you can walk through, and a tram tour into the working campus where astronauts train. Allow five hours.

Clear Lake & Kemah · Indoor · Kids

One of the most-visited museums in America: a hall of 60+ dinosaur skeletons, a walk-through butterfly rainforest, a planetarium, and a gem vault that makes adults gasp. Bigger than you expect.

Museum District · Indoor · Kids

70,000 works across three buildings, including the Kinder Building for modern and contemporary art and the underground light tunnels by James Turrell. A top-10 US art museum that never feels crowded.

Museum District · Indoor

A Renzo Piano-designed museum on a 30-acre campus of bungalows and lawns, always free. Surrealists, antiquities, and the Cy Twombly Gallery. Houstonians' favorite quiet afternoon.

Montrose · Indoor

An octagonal meditation space housing 14 of Mark Rothko's darkest paintings, lit only by a skylight. Silent, non-denominational, and strangely moving. Twenty minutes is enough; an hour is better.

Montrose · Indoor

Inside Hermann Park, more than 4,300 animals across 55 acres with a standout Galápagos Islands exhibit and daily sea lion training sessions. Zoo Lights in winter is one of the city's best holiday traditions.

Museum District · Kids

A 160-acre green ribbon along the bayou with skyline views, the Waugh Bridge bat colony at dusk, the underground Cistern art space, and kayak launches. The best free hour in Houston.

Downtown

A 1926 underground drinking-water reservoir with 221 columns, now an eerie art and sound installation space. Guided tours run every half hour. Unlike anything else in Texas.

Downtown · Indoor

445 acres of the Museum District's front yard: a miniature train, pedal boats on McGovern Lake, the Japanese Garden, and Miller Outdoor Theatre's free shows. Bring a picnic.

Museum District · Kids

A 12-acre downtown park across from the convention center with free concerts, a winter ice rink, kayaking on Kinder Lake, and a packed calendar of free events. Downtown's living room.

Downtown · Kids

A waterfront amusement park on Galveston Bay: a wooden coaster, a Ferris wheel, seafood restaurants with bay views, and boat rides. Pairs perfectly with Space Center Houston, 15 minutes away.

Clear Lake & Kemah · Kids

Three glass pyramids on Galveston Island: a 10-story rainforest, an aquarium with penguins, and a 3D theater. Plus a paddlewheel boat and a small beach. A full day for families.

Galveston · Indoor · Kids

A 1,130-foot amusement pier over the Gulf with 16 rides, midway games, and a Bubba Gump. Best at sunset when the Ferris wheel lights up over the water.

Galveston · Kids

Five blocks of iron-front Victorian buildings, once the 'Wall Street of the Southwest.' Shops, old-fashioned candy stores, the 1877 tall ship Elissa, and the Galveston Railroad Museum.

Galveston

Consistently ranked the best children's museum in the US: a three-story climbing structure, a kid-sized city with its own economy, and a water play area. Ages 1 to 12.

Museum District · Indoor · Kids

Part aquarium, part amusement park: a 500,000-gallon tank, white tigers, a Ferris wheel, and a restaurant surrounded by fish. Touristy, and kids love it.

Downtown · Indoor · Kids

A James Turrell light installation on Rice's campus: a grass pyramid with an open roof where a 40-minute LED sequence recolors the sky at sunrise and sunset. Free, quiet, unforgettable.

Rice Village & West U

155 acres of forest and prairie trails inside Memorial Park, with boardwalks, a savanna, and a nature center. Free, dog-free, and surprisingly wild for a spot ten minutes from the Galleria.

Memorial & Energy Corridor · Kids

At 1,500 acres, almost twice the size of Central Park. The Eastern Glades lawn and lake, the 3-mile Seymour Lieberman jogging loop, and the new Land Bridge tunnels with prairie on top and skyline views.

Memorial & Energy Corridor

132 acres of gardens on a former golf course southeast of downtown: a global collection garden, a culinary garden, and a coastal prairie. Best in spring and during the winter light show.

Downtown · Kids

A 64-foot semicircular fountain recirculating 11,000 gallons a minute, framed by 186 live oaks. Houston's most-photographed spot and a five-minute detour from the Galleria.

Galleria / Uptown

The largest mall in Texas: more than 325 stores and restaurants, two hotels, and a full-size ice rink under a glass atrium. A legitimate rainy-day or 100-degree-day destination.

Galleria / Uptown · Indoor

A former postal sorting facility turned food hall, concert venue, and 5-acre rooftop park with the city's best free skyline view. 25+ vendors downstairs; Skylawn upstairs.

Downtown · Indoor

The Astros' retractable-roof ballpark in a restored 1911 train station. The roof closes when it's hot, which is often. One of the best game-day experiences in baseball.

Downtown · Indoor · Kids

Home of the Texans, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and stadium concerts. Renamed from NRG Stadium, in the complex now called Reliant Park. Reach it by the Red Line light rail to avoid the parking scrum.

Museum District

The downtown arena for the Rockets and nearly every major touring act that comes to Houston. Walkable to Discovery Green and dozens of bars.

Downtown · Indoor

A 22,000-seat soccer stadium in EaDo, home to the Dynamo (MLS) and the Dash (NWSL). Cheap tickets, a loud supporters' section, and breweries within walking distance.

EaDo · Kids

Seventeen downtown blocks with the Alley Theatre, the Hobby Center (touring Broadway), Wortham Center (opera and ballet), and Jones Hall (symphony). Second-largest concentration of theater seats in the US.

Downtown · Indoor

Where fajitas were popularized in 1973. Still the benchmark Tex-Mex in a city that takes Tex-Mex seriously. Expect a wait; the patio is worth it.

EaDo

Central Texas-style brisket that has put Houston on the national barbecue map. The line forms before 11am and the brisket sells out; the cakes are as good as the meat.

The Heights

Dim sum at Ocean Palace, pho on Bellaire, Taiwanese shaved ice, Malaysian roti, and the crawfish-and-garlic-butter fusion that only exists here. Houston's most underrated food day.

Asiatown (Chinatown)

Walking and van tours through Montrose, the Heights, EaDo, and Asiatown, typically five or six tastings in three hours. The fastest way to understand why Houston is a food city.

Montrose

Paddle through downtown Houston with skyscrapers on both banks, past turtles, herons, and the occasional alligator gar. Guided sunset and bat-colony paddles are the ones to book.

Downtown

A backyard beer garden with hammocks, string lights, food trucks, and 70 taps, next to Luigi's Pizzeria. Houston's default 'let's just meet somewhere' answer.

Midtown

The cocktail bar that started Houston's craft cocktail scene in 2009 and is still the best. A 100-drink list, a no-nonsense room, and bartenders who've trained half the city.

Montrose · Indoor

EaDo's anchor brewery with a huge outdoor yard, a distillery, a giant Beatles sculpture, and an easy walk to Shell Energy Stadium. Local beer, local art, big crowds on game days.

EaDo

A bungalow covered in 50,000 flattened beer cans by a retired upholsterer over 18 years. Folk-art landmark, five minutes from Memorial Park, free to tour on weekends.

Memorial & Energy Corridor

A postman's hand-built monument to the orange, next door to a half-acre park built entirely from mosaic scrap by 300 artists. The birthplace of Houston's Art Car Parade.

EaDo · Kids

More than six miles of air-conditioned pedestrian tunnels 20 feet below downtown, lined with food courts and shops, connecting 95 city blocks. Open weekdays; a genuine curiosity.

Downtown · Indoor

A 567-foot tower (taller than the Washington Monument) marking where Texas won independence in 1836. Elevator to the top, a museum at the base, and the Battleship Texas nearby in Galveston.

Clear Lake & Kemah · Kids

An hour southwest: 5,000 acres of wetlands with hundreds of wild alligators visible from the trails, plus the George Observatory for Saturday stargazing. Houston's best wildlife day.

Memorial & Energy Corridor · Kids

The largest Renaissance festival in the US, on 55 acres an hour northwest of Houston, eight weekends each October and November. Costumes, jousting, turkey legs, and themed weekends.

Memorial & Energy Corridor · Kids

Free professional performances (symphony, ballet, musicals, Shakespeare) on an open-air stage in Hermann Park from March to November. Bring a blanket and sit on the hill.

Museum District · Kids

The fourth-largest Holocaust museum in the US, with a railcar, a rescue boat, and rotating human-rights exhibitions. Sobering and excellently curated.

Museum District · Indoor

A stainless-steel parallelogram across from the MFAH with rotating shows of living artists. Always free, never more than an hour, and the gift shop is excellent.

Museum District · Indoor

A small, brilliantly designed urban park near Upper Kirby with a treehouse, a giant lawn, a dog park, free fitness classes, and the best playground for under-8s in the city.

Rice Village & West U · Kids

Sixteen walkable blocks of boutiques, bookstores, and restaurants next to Rice University. The most pleasant strolling-and-shopping afternoon in a city built for cars.

Rice Village & West U

A four-block strip of antiques, vintage clothes, a classic soda fountain, and bakeries in the middle of the Heights' Victorian streets. Small-town Texas inside the loop.

The Heights

When it's 98 degrees or pouring: Topgolf bays, iFLY indoor skydiving, escape rooms, and Main Event. Not uniquely Houston, but reliably fun and air-conditioned.

Galleria / Uptown · Indoor

A Grammy-winning orchestra in a landmark 1966 hall. Classical subscriptions, film-with-orchestra nights, and a summer season of free concerts at Miller Outdoor Theatre.

Downtown · Indoor

2,500 acres of bayou wilderness near Clear Lake with pontoon-boat tours, bison, a 1900s farm, and guided night hikes. A quiet counterpart to nearby Space Center Houston.

Clear Lake & Kemah · Kids