Houston's been gaining traction as an in fact amazing place to see for a number of years now, and also as a Houstonian, it's YOUR job to maintain that credibility legitimate as well as active. Certain, you can take a three-hour tram excursion of the Johnson Space Center or spend throughout the day inspecting out the city's many, lots of museums, yet we're quite certain your pal is never coming back if that's all you do. Rather, take 'em out to several of our best dining establishments to show off Houston's cooking prowess ... and after that go to several of our best bars, where they'll undoubtedly fail to remember the names of our ideal restaurants.
Listed below you'll discover the best points to do in Houston, despite if you've lived right here all your life or are in community for five mins. Ranging in rate from "totally free as heck" to "hope you earned money today," here's the coolest things H-Town has to supply.
Get wonderstruck at the James Turrell Skyspace
Free
Rice University
Few traveler destinations are really worthwhile, however this entirely rad light as well as audio setup most definitely is. Discover right alongside the Shepherd School of Music on the Rice University school, the acoustically crafted masterpiece is referred to as "Twilight Epiphany" thanks to a trippy LED light series. It projects onto and also through the framework's open roof right before daybreak and at sundown. Money isn't needed, yet bookings are.
Take an outing to the phase
Free
Museum District
From March via November, the open-air Miller Outdoor Theatre places on lively stage manufacturings-- think real-time jazz, ballet, and music cinema-- that are absolutely trendy and definitely free. It extremely obviously attracts a group, so join that group along with a blanket, some boxed a glass of wine & regional cheese, and your super-impressed guest of selection. In the off-season, a picnic at Downtown's urban park, Discovery Green, is one more smart option.
Educate them how to Topgolf
$$.
Katy (& Webster & Spring).
It's type of like educating them just how to dougie, but method colder. Rather than looking like a pinhead, you'll be slapping golf balls at tinted targets, controling life-size Connect Four, and also drinking a good quantity of beer containers. Do not let its outside-the-loop place quit you from this great time (there's always Uber to kindly give transport if you prepare to liquor).
BYOB to Chinatown.
$$.
Chinatown/Sharpstown.
A journey to Asiatown is never ever not a good concept, yet when you add BYOB alternatives, things get a bit added. You'll wish to match something hoppy with the intense curries at Mamak Malaysian, fork-tender lamb shank masala, and Pakistani-spiced fried hen at Himalaya, garlic-butter Vietnamese-style crawfish at Crawfish Cafe, as well as warm peppercorn beef and pot-roasted fish at Mala Sichuan Bistro (which uses an excellent internal red wine checklist in instance you absolutely blank and neglect your container, too).
See bats at the Waugh Bridge.
Free.
Montrose.
True story: when the Waugh Bridge was developed, no one understood it was the perfect structure to organize a whole number of Mexican free-tailed bats. Head to the viewing system and you might simply catch a bat program, which never fails to both fascinate and also sneak the heck out of visitors.
Explore a secret below ground tank.
$.
Downtown.
The Buffalo Bayou Partnership has actually done a whole lot for this city, and among the raddest of its contributions was re-imagining this 1927 commercial relic right into a public room, holding docent-led strolling scenic tours and also a series of art setups (the current of which is a trippy optical experience from world-renowned artist Carlos Cruz-Diez, shown via January 2019). With 200 concrete columns soaring 25-feet and 87,500-square-feet of open space, the cavernous framework is evocative ancient Roman cisterns in Istanbul. Historical trips cost $5 ($ 10 for the art installment) as blog well as can register for $5 reflection sessions on Sundays from 10 to 11am.
Rental fee a B-cycle.
$.
Numerous locations.
One of the sweetest means to learn more about a city is by biking it, so strike up among bike sharing program B-cycle's 60 (and also counting) terminals to lease a bike for $3 per 30 minutes. Or go full-on Tour de Houston as well as authorize up for the $9 month-to-month subscription, which will open unrestricted 60-minute journeys for the whole month (or even more like the entire weekend for your visitors). Because you'll have to examine the bike in as soon as an hour to prevent additional fees, we recommend taking a flight along the bayou and into Downtown as well as Midtown, where you'll discover a collection of quits as well as an entire number of areas to "relieve your thirst" in between; or head right for Houston's tree-lined Museum District.
Carry out a brewery Triple Crown.
$-$$$.
Numerous areas.
Houston's brew scene is having a moment, so it stands to reason that you need to partake as heavily in that moment as your liver will allow. Start at Houston's (and also Texas') earliest craft brewery, Saint Arnold, which opens up the beer hall for cost-free scenic tours and also a la carte food and also beverage acquisitions Monday via Saturday.
Bar get on Downtown's megablock.
$$-$$$$.
Midtown.
While Houston is understood for its sprawl, that's not the situation Downtown, where inviting drinking establishments sit so close together we're surprised there haven't been any lawn battles. See just how perfectly benches play with each other by starting a DIY bar crawl, starting with drinks for a cause at OKRA Charity Saloon, hopping your way to adeptly crafted drinks at Captain Foxheart's Bad News Bar & Spirits Lodge and also Moving Sidewalk, mezcal-laced alcoholic drinks at The Pastry War, scotch chance ats Boots 'n Shoots, as well as circling back to end the night with dancing at Nightingale Room or quirkiness at notsuoH, due to the fact that those are the only means to finish the evening. Oh wait no, there's likewise pizza Roma's or Frank's.
Houston's been acquiring traction as an actually amazing location to go to for a couple of years now, and as a Houstonian, it's YOUR work to maintain that track record to life as well as valid. Rather, take 'em out to some of our finest dining establishments to show off Houston's culinary prowess ... and also after that go to some of our finest bars, where they'll definitely fail to remember the names of our best restaurants.
Or go full-on Tour de Houston and also authorize up for the $9 regular monthly membership, which will unlock unlimited 60-minute journeys for the whole month (or even more like the entire weekend for your site visitors). Given that you'll have to examine the bike in when an hour to avoid added costs, we recommend taking a trip along the bayou and into Downtown and also Midtown, where you'll locate a collection of stops and an entire number of locations to "satiate your thirst" in between; or head straight for Houston's tree-lined Museum District.
Start at Houston's (and also Texas') earliest craft brewery, Saint Arnold, which opens the beer hall for free tours and also a la carte food as well as drink purchases Monday via Saturday.