From the glossy towers of the downtown skyline to the glimmering waters of the Gulf, Houston is a coastal Southern town like no other. The network of waterways through the Bayou City makes this metropolis a rich place to relax, explore and venture out, where you’ll find restaurants from homey to highbrow, artsy shops and galleries in repurposed industrial outfits and acres of gardens, all nestled into the lush landscape of the city.
As the fourth-largest city in America, Houston is one of the country’s most powerful economic engines built in its early days as an oil and gas giant to become a technology and aerospace hub, home to NASA, Hewlett Packard and Dell.
Houston is also a cultural heavyweight, with dozens of world-class museums, a robust community of creatives and prominent universities like Rice. And let’s not forget this Lone Star nonpareil gave rise to superstars like Beyoncé, Kenny Rogers, Wes Anderson and Rory Gilmore (ahem, Alexis Bledel), and helped land the first humans on the moon.
If you’re taking your first small step into this vibrant city, immerse yourself in what Houston locals know with Mayflower’s Houston City Guide.
Where to Get a Culture Fix in Houston
This humid city is a true cultural hotbed. Houston’s Museum District alone has 19 major institutions, including the Houston Museum of African American Culture, the Asia Society Texas and The Jung Center alongside world-class art destinations like the Menil Collection and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. But it’s the city’s 60+ art galleries that make the Bayou City a bastion for artists and art-lovers, from edgy blue-chips in the Richmond Avenue Corridor, like the McClain Gallery, to the Gite Gallery Houston’s Third Ward, which showcases traditional African art.
Book nerds can get their CMYK fix at The Printing Museum, which boasts a collection of 10,000 works on and of paper, including Shakespeare’s Second Folio and a replica of the Gutenberg Press and bible. There are also more modern relics like an Apple Macintosh 512K, with its rectilinear mouse, and a Xerox 914, which children of the 80s can attest is large enough to photocopy a small child on.
At the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, visitors will find all sorts of creations that defy traditional art forms, from the electroluminescent lacework of Israeli-born Layla Klinger to the bold ceramics of Texas’ own Gabo Martinez, whose practice draws on her Mexican roots in Guanajuato.
Houston is also a cultural center for the performing arts. Each astonishing season, the world-renowned Houston Ballet produces traditional and contemporary works. You might see George Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux one week and Disha Zhang’s Elapse the next. Theatre lovers of all ages will want to attend at least a couple of shows each season at the Performing Arts Houston (PAH), where children will be transfixed by the stage adaptation of Mo Willems’ books or Disney’s Bluey’s Big Play, and adults can revel in the offbeat acts of John Waters and David Sedaris. PAH also hosts performances of music and dance from around the world, like Step Afrika!: Drumfolk and the annual Mariachi Festival.
Where to Get Your Game on in Houston
Don’t let the wealth of museums fool you — with six pro teams and millions of hundreds of thousands of highly adrenalized fans, Houston is a definitive sports town.
The World Series-winning Houston Astros play at Minute Maid Park, a beloved stadium built in 2000 that brought baseball back outside where it belongs with its 242-foot-high retractable roof. While the team holds only one national title, the Astros’ 2022 appearance in the ALCS was their sixth back-to-back showing.
The NFL’s youngest team — the Houston Texans — plays at NRG stadium, an incredible new facility next to the historic Houston Astrodome, which is currently undergoing a massive refurbishment to restore it to its 8th-wonder-of-the-world glory. NRG Park hosts other major events as well, from blowout concerts and Supercross to Thriftcon and the Houston Tattoo Arts Festival, if you want to commemorate your abiding love for the Lone Star State with some ink. Permanent fun for the whole family!
Soccer fans can rejoice in the sport’s solid fan base in Houston — the MLS and NWSL have a dedicated stadium for the Houston Dynamo and the Houston Dash, but they also let Texas Southern Football play there. The Shell Energy Stadium was the country’s first soccer-specific stadium built in a downtown district, and the 21,000-seater is still a fan favorite.
The six-block-strong Toyota Center is one of the hottest concert venues in the country, and it’s where the NBA’s Houston Rockets dominate the court. Well, okay, the Rockets have never really achieved lift-off, and this year they were actually called the league’s worst team, but that just means that there’s only one place to go, right? Up is the only direction a rocket is ever meant to travel anyway.
Houston also has a small but mighty fan base for its pro rugby team (MLR), the Houston SaberCats, who scratch it out at Constellation Field.
Things You Can Only See and Experience in Houston
If you want to learn the origin story of the state, it’s best to start at the beginning. The San Jacinto Museum of History in nearby La Porte recounts the “18 minutes that changed the world” in 1836, when Sam Houston led the army to victory in the Texas Revolution. This notable feat is commemorated with a sizable battle diorama inside the museum and a 567-foot-tall memorial obelisk outside — the tallest of its kind in the world.
At the Space Center Houston, aspiring astronauts can get an earthly glimpse of outer space and the command center that has guided missions like Apollo 11, when mankind made its first giant step into the unknown. The tram tour will guide you through the historic mission control center and astronaut training facilities, while other exhibits display rare space artifacts and allow you to climb aboard the original NASA 905 shuttle carrier.
With all the global treasures of the city, it can be easy to forget where you are, but The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo will cement the fact that you are still deep in the heart of Texas (clap, clap, clap, clap). Now in its tenth decade, this rowdy event fills the NRG Stadium and Center with tens of thousands of rough-riding fans and families, who can watch from the sidelines or participate in events like the calf scramble, the industrial craft competition, or the mutton bustin’, where children (50 lbs. and under, please) climb atop large sheep and hold on until the sheep has had enough.
Another favorite annual gathering is the Japanese Festival of Houston, which brings inspired Japanese performances, arts, food and entertainment to the city each spring. Visitors will be awed by demonstrations of jujutsu and Iaido, a traditional sword-based martial art, and they can try their own hand at activities like bonsai, origami and Ikebana flower arranging.
If it’s been a week, and your outlook has lost its chromatic luster, a trip to The Color Factory is certain to restore your shine. One of three museums of its kind in the nation, the Houston location features Texas-specific environments, like the moon-shaped ball pit, designed in partnership with NASA.
If mindfulness is on your menu, there is no more meditative space in the Bayou City than the Rothko Chapel. This non-denominational sanctuary contains 14 murals by the celebrated minimalist, along with a sculpture by Barnett Newman in its courtyard. The site hosts numerous cultural events, particularly ones centered on social justice, a core part of the institutional mission.
The Holocaust Museum Houston is a remarkable venue and a testament to the vision of Siegi Izakson, a Houstonian who miraculously survived seven Nazi camps, including Auschwitz, and longed to establish a site in the city to preserve the memories and accounts of survivors. The museum underwent a major renovation five years ago, and it now offers even more educational exhibitions and programs on not just the Holocaust but on genocide, human rights and the importance of bearing witness.
Where to Get Outdoors in Houston
With its year-round warm weather and proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, the Bayou City is an outdoor lover’s paradise. Here are some recommendations to get the most out of all the al fresco pleasures of Houston.
Buffalo Bayou is one of the greatest examples of urban parks in the country. The 52-mile waterway connects the urban core to vast green spaces. A non-profit organization reimagined a 10-mile stretch of the area into a recreational destination from the Near Northside and Downtown districts in the west to the Fifth Ward in Buffalo Bayou East, all the way to the Port of Houston. Pedestrian and bike paths wind their way through groves of native trees, gardens and interesting architectural sites — like the Brick Smokestacks — and various parks pop up along the way.
The Houston Arboretum & Nature Center, located in the Buffalo Bayou, is a relaxing refuge within the city, with accessible hiking trails through wetlands, wildflower fields and other unique habitats, as well as a delightful playscape for children.
Looking for some affordable entertainment for the fam? See a free outdoor performance at the Miller Outdoor Theatre. This picnic-friendly venue in Hermann Park provides eight months of free and fabulous entertainment, from Summer Symphony Nights to dance performances by the Express Children’s Theatre to the inimitable beats of Dumpstafunk.
If you have any shredders in your family, chances are you will be spending a lot of time at the North Houston Skate Park. This 78,000-square-foot, competition-grade venue is the second-largest park of its kind in the world, featuring 10-foot-deep bowls, a totally insane snake run and a BMX racetrack.
Thrill-seekers can also get their kicks at the Geronimo Adventure Park, which has three zipline courses, a climbing wall, and lots of on-the-ground action, including obstacle courses, a giant Jenga game and axe-throwing. The venue also offers summer camps, if you’re looking for a way for your kids to be away from their phones all day and reliably ready for bed by 8pm every night.
When Uptown Houston’s Waterwall Park opened in 2009, it made more than a splash. The 64-foot-tall centerpiece is a multisensory masterwork of fountain design where 11,000 gallons of water cascade down the black obsidian granite like a curtain of time.
If you really want to cool off in the hot city of Houston, treat yourself to a mini staycation — spend an afternoon sipping cocktails and mocktails at a swanky hotel pool, like the Marriott Marquis’ OTT Texas-shaped lazy river, or chill out on one of the nearby beaches in Galveston. Sylvan Beach in La Porte is one of the closest to the city, and the calm waters of the Bay are less daunting to little swimmers than the rougher surf in the Gulf. If you really want an escape, load up your bikes, fishing rods and kayaks and spend the weekend camping at Galveston Island State Park, where the egrets and eagles will make you feel worlds away from the stresses of everyday life.
Beachcombers will also love the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier. This old-timey amusement park features the 52-mph, lunch-losing Iron Shark coaster, which has four full inversions and a beyond-vertical drop. Actual sharks may be less terrifying to encounter. The Pier also has decidedly less adrenaline-amping rides like the carousel, bumper cars and the Galaxy Wheel, a 100-foot-tall Ferris wheel with an LED lightshow.
Local Eats in Houston
Houston’s cultural and ethnic diversity is evident in its rich culinary establishments, which include longstanding mom-and-pops, beloved local chains and high-end, experimental kitchens. Houston gave the world one of its greatest Tex-Mex creations — fajitas — which made their sizzling debut at Ninfa’s in the 1970s, and the city has continued to blaze trails with home-grown originals.
One of Houston’s favorite destinations is Local Foods, which started out with one location in Rice Village and has opened others in The Heights, Tanglewood and the Upper Kirby district. Their almost-too-good-to-be-good-for-you menu includes crowd favorites like the “Crunchy” Chicken Sandwich, which isn’t what you think — the crispiness of this lunchtime staple doesn’t come from a double-breaded cutlet, it comes from the topping of nut-seed crumble and crushed potato chips. Don’t pass up their Gulf Seafood Sammie, either — gulf shrimp, blue crab and green goddess dressing make this fresh fare truly divine.
Encompassing the city’s prominent Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, Vietnamese, Korean and even its growing Persian communities, Houston’s Chinatown is a bit of a misnomer, but it’s a definite must-visit. This area east of downtown is home to the sprawling Hong Kong City Mall that, with its 100+ vendors, makes this destination an all-day affair. You can buy gifts, groceries and a great breakfast or lunch. If you are looking for the best steam buns and pork puffs this side of the Gulf, Dim Sum King will certainly give you the royal treatment, but One Dragon breathes serious fire into their crispy-bottom shrimp bao.
Houston’s new M-K-T development transformed five aging industrial buildings into a hip urban playground, blending office space, upscale retail and local eats under one dramatic yellow roof. Inside you’ll find creative restaurants like Da Gama Canteen, which blends Indian and Portuguese flavors with a new Southern twist into divine creations like Cassava Bombas — yucca croquettes with pimento cheese — and Goan Fish Curry, made with gulf shrimp and lump crab meat in a coconut curry masala. Make sure to get an order of sourdough naan and Pao Buns — a sweet roll with ghee and maidon salt —for the table.
Houston newcomers will quickly discover the Soul Food scene in the Bayou City is strong, with stick-to-your-ribs standards like the slow-braised oxtails at Alfreda’s and the fresh fried pork rinds and chicken and waffles at Viola & Agnes’ Neo Soul Café.
If you’re looking for an in-town retreat, the of the city’s most delightful dining spots is Flora, tucked away at Lost Lake. A menu of elegant Mexican fare rewards visitors to this relaxing spot in the Buffalo Bayou, with satisfying mole enchiladas and refreshing aguachile.
Houstonians have the city’s Czech immigrants to thank for the proliferation of kolache establishments. If you’ve never tried them, kolaches are like a donut-Danish-brioche hybrid — a tender sweet roll baked with an open center of fruit filling. The original kolache shop, called — wait for it — The Original Kolache Shoppe – opened in 1956, and nobody really tops them. In addition to their perfect raspberry cream and poppyseed kolache, they also make savory klobásnky —pastries filled meat and cheese. They also serve small batch Zeppelin coffee — absolutely no watered-down, ordinary donut shop brew here.
Locally Loved Houston Coffee Shops
In a city that really knows how to party, you also have to know how to get back to the daily grind. Luckily, Houston’s coffee game is strong, and there are dozens of spots in town to get you caffeinated and realigned with the real world again.
Luce Coffee Roasters offers unique roasts like the Mexican-SHG/EP blend, which has notes of cacao nibs, rose water and tangerine. Or try the zesty DR Congo, with hints of lemon, spice, and malt. Luce also offers classes in latte art, roasting and brewing, where you’ll learn all the ways Mr. Coffee has steered you wrong over the years.
If you’re looking for a bright and artful start to your morning, Sunday Press makes every day as breezy as the weekend. This happy spot in the Heights serves memorable acai bowls, savory breakfast tacos and inspired toasts, like beet & goat cheese or strawberry & creme fraiche. All set a delicious tone that will help you float through department meetings or hours of errand running.
True coffee snoots — you know who you are — are certain to find their flavor at Tenfold. At this sustainability-minded coffee shop, you can learn the origin story of every bean in your morning brew, some of which are as frothy and complex as the spectrum of human emotions but go down easier with a morning pastry. Tenfold offers an experimental series of beans, where the experts test out new preparatory techniques, like ice fermentation, and processing methods using orange peels and tartaric acid. Prepped in the airy, cosmo-industrial space, these caffeinated craft brews will transport you to a more enlightened dimension.
Embodying the best of the Texas spirit, Brass Tacks gets down to the essence of a good cup of joe. Whether you’re looking for a perfectly brewed mug with cream and sugar, a purifying charcoal latte or a special treat like the Texas affogato (made with Bluebell rocky road ice cream), this welcoming spot in EaDo (East Downtown) will fix you right up.
Houston Happy Hour Haunts and Nightlife
Houston is a haven for socializing after dark, whether you’re craving a hipster cocktail with obscure aromatics or a dive-bar brewski and a bad juke box.
If you’re looking for a scene to see and be seen, head straight to Montrose, particularly Westheimer Road, where you’ll find atmospheric cocktail houses, rooftop patios and craft brewpubs.
Anvil’s seasonal libation list includes luminaries like Archipelago, where a sea of single barrel Fijian rum meets piney isles of mastiha, and floral whiff of blanc vermouth drifts over both. Their expertly curated bar food menu includes a cheese and charcuterie board with a semi-soft Texas variety called C’mon Berto along with just-right sandwiches and seafood conservas, all of which make Anvil one of the best places to pound a few back. Nearby, the boutique trappings of La Colombe d’Or Hotel beckon visitors to Bar No. 3, an impeccably appointed watering hole with French American savvy.
There are humbler haunts in the area, to be sure, like Poison Girl, a dark but inviting whiskey bar with heavy curtains, crimson walls, and all the pinball your broken heart can handle.
Those longing for a taste of Napa Valley in eastern Texas will find their ideal microclimate in the Mutiny Wine Bar, which offers tastings of wines from the owner’s own vineyard in California, Kagan Cellars, and other fine varietals from around the world. The elegant stone establishment has a full dinner menu and is popular for special events.
If you’re looking for absolutely zero frills and all fun, Houston knows how to do that, too. The motto of the Trash Panda Drinking Club, which opened in the middle of the pandemic in the Near Northside area, is “death is coming, eat trash, be free,” and no food embraces the end times quite so temptingly as Hot Cheeto mozz sticks and Tra$hy Wings. Wash them all down with a bubblegum martini and a toast to the one free life you get to live.
Boasting cheap beer, normal-size TVs and 1980s-size arcade games, Big Star is one of the dive-iest constellations in Houston’s galaxy, and it has the checkerboard dancefloor and matching barstools to prove it. This establishment is so unassuming no scene has — or will ever have — corrupted it. It’s the place you hit if you just need to disappear for a night or if you’re on your way out of town forever.
Hidden Gems in Houston
A trip to The National Museum of Funeral History (NMFH) is worth every pun your family will make when you announce you’ve got tickets. “I’ve been dying to go there!” they’ll say. “Always been at the top of my bucket list,” you’ll respond. But the gallows humor is only the beginning at this long look at the end. The NMFH digs deep into burial rituals and end-of-life practices, from ancient Egyptian embalming to New Orleans Jazz funerals. This place will teach you more about death that you could hope to absorb in one lifetime.
One of Houston’s most eccentric outfits is The Orange Show Monument, a joyous, labyrinthine environment in the East End that celebrates the folksy, the found and the hand forged. This architectural tribute to oranges was the brainchild of artist and lifelong orange-lover Jeff McKissack. It’s now a part of the larger Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, which maintains the cities other beloved oddities: the Beer Can House, a residence clad in cleverly repurposed barley pop containers, and Smither Park, a wild rumpus of public mosaics created by more than 300 artists.
Rice University has one of the city’s more unusual venues —the Twilight Epiphany Skyspace. This outdoor musical performance space designed by light-based sculptor James Turrell is a transcendent wonder. Twice daily, visitors are treated to a 40-minute LED light sequence — early birds can catch the display in the pre-dawn hour, and night owls can catch the sunset show.
Speaking of Houston after dark… If you can handle Hollywood chillers like Dracula and The Lost Boys — or at least the bat scene from The Great Outdoors — add Houston’s Waugh bat colony to your list of hiding-in-plain-sights to see. The city’s largest group of Mexican free-tailed bats is 300,000 strong and makes its home on the underside of the Waugh Drive Bridge along the Buffalo Bayou. Every evening at dusk, they all take flight at once — to the awe of intentional spectators and the shock of unsuspecting kayakers paddling beneath the bridge. If you prefer to skip the night terrors, just be grateful these probably-not-vampires are keeping down the Bayou City’s insect population.
If you’re looking to explore other cities in the Lone Star State, check out our Texas moving guide.
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