Houston – Vacation and Tour in the City of NASA
Houston is the fourth largest city in the USA, but unlike the three larger ones (New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago), Houston lacks an intriguing downtown. What Houston lacks in a downtown it makes up for with a variety of amazing attractions such as excellent museums, parks full of attractions, and especially the Space Center, the official visitor center of NASA and one of the most unique places in all of Texas. Just south of Houston, on the picturesque coastline of the Gulf of Mexico, lies Galveston, a city that was once Texas's commercial hub and was devastated by a hurricane in 1900. Today, it is a lively and fun resort city with a wide range of tourist attractions.
How many days are needed for a trip to Houston?
A trip to Houston needs two days, including a tour of downtown, the Space Center, and Galveston.
During a trip to Houston, it is advisable to find accommodation in the city or a resort hotel in Galveston.
To check availability and prices in Galveston's beach hotels, click here….
To find accommodation in Houston's hotels, click here….
What are the must-see and do things in Houston?
- Lunar capsules at the Space Center Houston
- Resort at Seawall Boulevard and the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier
- Spend time in the Montrose district
- Masterpieces in the art collection of The Menil Collection and the stunning Rothko Chapel
- A fun day with the children at Hermann Park
- Additional masterpieces at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
- The enchanting Bayou Bend gardens
- The attractions of Moody Gardens in Galveston
- Astros or Rockets games in downtown Houston
To purchase online tickets (skip the line) for the Space Center in Houston, click here…
To purchase the Houston CityPASS including entry to the Space Center, click here…
What is Houston?
The city of Houston is the largest in the state of Texas with nearly two and a half million residents. In terms of population size, it is the fourth largest city in the USA after the three giants – New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. In terms of its metropolitan area, Houston is the second largest in Texas, after the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and overall the metro area is home to nearly seven and a half million people, making it the fifth largest in the entire USA. The Houston metropolitan area completes the densely populated region of central Texas to the east, serving as the southeastern corner of the triangle along with Dallas and San Antonio.
For a day tour from Houston to Galveston (including attractions in Houston), click here…
- The city is situated on the banks of the Buffalo Bayou, which is more of a groundwater drainage than a river. This drainage creates a river that moves very slowly and floods the area to the level of almost a swamp.
- The river flows across the city and empties into the Gulf of Mexico in Trinity Bay, a massive lagoon along with Galveston Bay, blocked by large inhabited barrier islands. The city of Galveston is spread out on these islands and was one of the most important cities in Texas until it was severely damaged by a devastating hurricane.
Houston was founded in 1836, right at the end of the Texas Revolution. It is named after General Sam Houston, who commanded the rebels in the Battle of San Jacinto, the subsequent battle after the heroic defeat at the Alamo in San Antonio. This was the battle that decided the war in favor of Texas's short-lived independence, before joining the Union about nine years later.
- At the beginning of the 20th century, Houston was a fairly sleepy town overshadowed by the city of Galveston, which was then the largest and most important city in Texas, with the state's trade channeling through its port.
- Everything changed with the deadly hurricane of 1900 that hit the city in early September, killing about a quarter of its population. It took decades for the city to recover from the blow, while Houston became Texas's important economic center along with the discovery of oil in the state.
- Today, Galveston is a popular resort city but lost its central position to its neighbor, which is a bit further from the dangerous gulf.
To obtain a free admission to the Menil Collection Museum, click here…
After World War II, Texas became an important medical center, and the city concentrated high-tech industries. Based on this, NASA's space center opened in the city, in its southeastern suburbs, becoming the home base of the American space company. Today, the city is identified with the space center and the catchphrase – “Houston, we have a problem” (in the context of the Apollo 13 space mission). The space center supervises all American space traffic, but the rocket launches are at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
For a tour of all Houston's main sites, click here…
Map of Houston and Galveston
How to get to Houston?
How to fly to Houston?
George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) – The international airport at the Houston metropolitan area is one of the largest in the USA and serves as a major hub for the American aviation giant United Airlines. The airport is connected with all the major airports of the USA, Canada, and Mexico, as well as with all regional airports in the central and western parts of the United States. The airport also has flights from major airports in Europe, the Far East, and the Middle East.
The airport is located 40 kilometers north of downtown Houston, just a 25-minute drive from the center. You can reach the center with bus number 102. The airport has five terminals and is one of the largest in the USA in terms of area. It is a relatively new airport built after Hobby Airport in the city center became too small to handle the massive passenger traffic to Texas.
For finding flights at attractive prices to Houston, click here…
William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) – Houston's historic airport is located in the southeastern part of Houston, a short drive from downtown. It was the city's historic airport until the giant airport to the north opened in 1969. The airport serves as a hub for Southwest Airlines and connects Houston with all major airports in Texas, the southern United States, and the Midwest.
How to reach Houston by car?
Houston is located on the almost mythological route of Highway 10, the road of the southern USA. The highway runs from Jacksonville in Florida to Los Angeles, connecting all the chain of cities in the southern USA. Highway 10 connects Houston with San Antonio to the west, while Highway 45 connects the city with the Dallas metropolis to the north. Highway 45 is the central axis of the metropolis, and it extends south to Texas City and Galveston, which are part of the metropolis.
For all information on car rental in the USA + helpful tips and significant discounts, click here…
When is the best time to visit Houston?
Houston features southern weather like all of southeastern Texas, meaning a hot and humid summer and remarkably pleasant winter. Due to its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, Houston is rainier than its neighboring cities of San Antonio and Dallas, including afternoon tropical summer rains that reduce the humidity. Summers in Houston can also be tough with intense heat and rather unpleasant humidity.
- The best season to visit Houston is winter. Winter in Houston is pleasant to cool, with plenty of sunny days and relatively few rainy days compared to other seasons
- Late spring and fall in Houston are relatively rainy, but the rain is often followed by sunshine. May and October are the rainiest months, so it may not be the best time to visit the city
- Summers in Houston are hot, sunny, and humid and are quite reminiscent of Florida's weather. Due to its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, the city is also at risk for hurricanes
For a culinary tour of all of Houston's food gems, click here…
Everything you need to know about accommodations in Houston
The character of accommodations in the Houston metropolitan area is divided into three types:
- Beachfront hotels and resorts in Galveston
- Urban hotels in the center of Houston
- Motels along the main routes of the city and metropolitan area
To find accommodation in Galveston's beachfront resorts and hotels, click here…
Galveston's coastline is one of the most popular vacation destinations in the southern USA. Along the Gulf of Mexico, with its stunningly beautiful coastline, dozens of large resorts, mostly four-star, from the best American chains such as Hilton, IHG Hotels, Marriott, and others are concentrated. The city is a very popular vacation destination for Texans and a great place to stay for a few nights in combination with a holiday and a tour of Houston itself.
Accommodation in the center of Houston is divided between downtown, where large urban hotels include luxury facilities from Marriott, Hyatt Regency, Hilton, and more, and large hotels scattered across the city, clustered near highways, Hobby Airport, and more. These hotels are a combination of business hotels and motels and are generally of high standard. There is also a large concentration of good hotels in what is known as Houston's Uptown, along Highway 610.
Along Houston's main routes, there are hundreds of motels, both towards the large George Bush Airport from the north and along Highways 10, 45, and 69. Throughout the city, there are hundreds of motels and hotels that are generally good and offer the overall good American standard of a clean and spacious room at a reasonable price.
To check availability and prices in Houston hotels, click here…
Map – Where to stay in Houston and Galveston?
How to plan a trip itinerary in Houston?
The itinerary in Houston and its metropolis is part of the urban trip through Texas. This journey focuses on the major cities of East Texas, the Triangle Cities – San Antonio, Dallas, and Fort Worth. If you wish, you can also stop in the capital, Austin. You can also reach Houston for a vacation on the seawall of Galveston.
Planning a trip within the city itself is more complicated. Houston is a massive city sprawling over an enormous area, and navigation can be quite frustrating (you'll need Waze or some GPS). The tour is less focused on downtown and more on the Museum District, where you'll find Hermann Park and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and not far from there, the vibrant Montrose District, which also boasts the Menil Collection and the fascinating Rothko Chapel. Traveling north, you reach Bayou Bend, the gardens that are part of the city's art museum, but you need to drive there separately.
On the way to Galveston, stop at the city's number one attraction – the Space Center. The official NASA Visitor Center is a must-see and can be included with a trip to beautiful Galveston. In Galveston, it's worth driving through the streets to admire the historic mansion homes (restored after the 1900 hurricane) and reach the Seawall, Texas' main resort area. In the city center on Seawall Boulevard, you'll find a pier with restaurants, an amusement park, and entertainment venues. While touring the city, make sure to reach Moody Gardens, enter the tropical garden pyramids, and visit the aquarium.
For planning a trip route in Houston and Southeast Texas and professional consulting, click here…
Everything to See and Do in Houston
Montrose District
The Montrose District is quite a rare gem in Texas as a vibrant and trendy inner-city district, boasting restaurants, vintage shops, nightclubs, cafes, and more. The main street of the district is Westheimer Road, where all the fun of the district can be found. It's very lively during weekends and late-night hours. The street is relatively safe and enjoyable at all hours of the day. Since the downtown area of the city is rather uninteresting, Westheimer serves as a kind of long city center and a favorite spot for tourists and locals alike.
The Menil Collection
The Menil Collection museum is located in the southern part of the Montrose District and is one of the strong anchors that make the district the heart of Houston's happenings. It is a wonderful modern museum with a magnificent collection of the greatest artists of the early and mid-20th century. The collection features leading European artists such as Pablo Picasso, René Magritte, Henri Matisse, Marcel Duchamp, and more. The museum is designed according to movements in modern art, with the Europeans giving way to the great American artists like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Robert Rauschenberg, and more.
The museum's collection is based on the possessions of John and Dominique de Menil, who, in addition to acquiring modern works, were very interested in antiquities with an emphasis on Byzantine arts. Close to the museum, and an important part of it, is the modern Rothko Chapel, which elegantly mimics the European Renaissance chapels. The chapel is entirely surrounded by huge paintings by Mark Rothko and is considered the main attraction of the museum.
Address: Sul Ross St. 1533, Houston
To obtain a free admission to the Menil Collection Museum, click here…
For the museum's current opening hours, click here…
Hermann Park
Houston's urban park is located in the southern part of the museum district and is an integral part of it. It's a fun getaway spot for family outings and a favorite place for city residents. The park was planted and designed in 1914 alongside Houston's Main Street, which runs south from downtown. At its northern entrance is the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and nearby are the Children's Museum of Houston, the Holocaust Museum, and the Health Museum. Within the park itself is the large institutional museum of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, which houses an interesting collection of fossils and full-scale dinosaur recreations.
Across from the museum stands the proud statue of Sam Houston riding a horse, perhaps the most famous monument in the city. Facing the statue is the reflection pool of the massive Pioneer Memorial Obelisk located at the southern end of the pool. Next to the obelisk is the charming McGovern Lake, beyond which lies the city's large zoo.
To purchase online tickets for the Houston Museum of Natural Science, click here…
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
The Museum of Fine Arts is the main competitor of the Dallas Museum of Art for the title of the best museum in Central USA. This large and magnificent museum was founded in 1900 and has managed to collect more than 70,000 exhibits, including some particularly famous and high-quality masterpieces.
אוסף The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston כולל יצירות אירופאיות חשובות מתקופות הרנסנס, הבארוק והתקופה המודרנית. האוסף גם כולל עתיקות מיוחדות מתרבויות ים תיכוניות, יצירות פוסט מודרניות ועוד. היצירות החשובות באוסף המוזיאון הן:
- The famous painting by Hans Memling “Portrait of an Old Woman”
- “Saint Anthony and the Gold” by the early Italian Renaissance giant Fra Angelico
- “The Virgin and Child” by the Flemish Renaissance giant Rogier van der Weyden
- “The Adoration of the Child”, the famous mandorla painting by Sandro Botticelli
- The giant painting “Juno and Luna” by the Italian Baroque painter Giambattista Tiepolo
- The famous painting by Amedeo Modigliani “Leopold Zborowski”
- The masterpiece ‘Madame Cézanne in Blue' by Paul Cézanne
- In the collection, you'll find rare paintings by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Camille Pissarro, Camille Corot, Claude Monet, and many other famous artists
Address: Bissonnet St. 1001, Houston
For the museum's current hours, click here…
Bayou Bend
אוסף הבאיו בנד והגנים הם מיעדי הטיול הכי מיוחדים ויפים של יוסטון. הגנים הם גן הפסלים ואגף של The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, הם נמצאים במערב העיר סמוך לגדת נהר הבפאלו באיו. הבאיו בנד משמש כאגף האומניות של המוזיאון ובו אוסף האמנות הדקורטיבית, העיצוב התעשייתי וגם תצוגה של ציורים מודרניים נוספים. האגף נמצא בבית האחוזה הענק של הפילנתרופית המקומית אימה הוג Ima Hogg ומציג גם את האוסף הפרטי הנדיר שלה שכולל אמנים אירופאים מודרניים כגון הנרי מאטיס, פיקאסו ועוד.
The most special part of the estate is, of course, the magnificent gardens. The gardens are designed in eight sections along the riverbank that flows nearby. The three gardens, named after the mythological figures Diana, Euterpe, and Clio, are considered the most beautiful, featuring a combination of stunning classical sculpture with refined and charming landscape design.
Address: Memorial Dr. 6003, Houston
For the garden's current hours, click here…
Downtown Houston
Houston is a giant city, characterized in urban geography research as a sprawl city, developed without central planning across a vast area. Much of the city, the fourth largest in the USA, isn't particularly interesting for tourists. The main attractions include the small downtown, several excellent museums, the Montrose district, and, of course, the Space Center, along with trips to Galveston. Downtown Houston is a typical American downtown with several high-rise office buildings and a few main streets. The city's main street is Main Street, which intersects with several areas featuring restaurants and shops.
Space Center Houston
Space Center Houston is the city's leading attraction and one of the most fascinating places in the United States. It operates like a science museum, offering the latest information about space, drawing from those who work daily with the vast realm beyond the atmosphere and are responsible for spacecraft. The center is NASA's official visitor center, the American space agency, and has been the theme of many American blockbusters. It opened in 1992 and showcases the grandeur and technology of the American space program.
At the center, you can see spaceships, rockets, shuttles, and equipment used by astronauts for training or missions into space. On display is the Apollo 17 capsule that was on the moon. It's an amazing place for a trip with kids, especially those interested in space. Not far from there is NASA's main control room, the one from ‘Houston, we have a problem,' the phrase that turned the whole city into an icon. The current control room has moved to another location within the Johnson Space Center, but you can visit the original control room.
Address: 1601 E NASA Pkwy., Houston
To purchase online entry tickets + a guided tour of the Space Center, click here…
For the center's current opening hours, click here…
Galveston
While Houston is a new city sprawling over a vast area, Galveston, although a separate city, somewhat functions as the historical center of Houston itself. Galveston is located in the southeastern part of the Houston metropolitan area, about a fifty-minute drive from downtown. Between the two cities lies a series of suburbs and towns, all absorbed by the metropolitan area. By the end of the 19th century, Galveston was the main and most important city in all of Texas, even before Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas developed.
The city was brought to a halt by the hurricane of September 8, 1900, known as the 1900 hurricane, considered the deadliest to hit the United States ever. It killed about ten thousand people, the vast majority of whom perished when it made landfall in Galveston. The hurricane devastated the city which was then the Texan industrial center. Since then, the city has not recovered and today it is a popular resort city with a population of about fifty thousand people, not much more than what it had in 1900. The city has been largely restored, with many of the Victorian mansions accurately reconstructed, making it a pleasure to drive through the beautiful streets of the city today.
Along the waterfront, in what is known as the seawall – the Seawall, there is a lineup of large vacation hotels and resorts from the top American chains. The city is a very popular vacation destination for Texans themselves for domestic tourism and is generally considered one of the leading resort sites for all the southern states.
For the Bay Watch Dolphin Tour, a cruise following the dolphins in Galveston Bay, click here…
Seawall Boulevard and the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier
The Seawall Boulevard is Galveston’s coastline facing the Gulf of Mexico and is one of American's favorite vacation spots. The island's protective seawall suffered the most damage when the hurricane surged onto the coast in 1900. The mansions that were destroyed on the boulevard have been replaced by large resorts from Marriott, Holiday Inn, Hilton, and others that enjoy an exceptional beach. The paved boulevard separates the line of hotels from the beach, and besides serving as a road, its purpose is also to prevent the sea from eroding the coastline in case of storms.
The hotel strip extends south of what is considered the city's historic center. On the waterfront in the historic center is the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier, reminiscent to some extent of the pier in Santa Monica and the piers in Atlantic City. The pier has an amusement park and is a very popular entertainment spot. In this part of town, along the Seawall, there is a stretch of Texan grill restaurants, excellent seafood restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues.
Moody Gardens
Moody Gardens is a popular resort with many attractions, located in the eastern part of Galveston, in what was once the city's massive port (mostly destroyed in the hurricane of 1900). The gardens feature attractions such as the Rainforest Pyramid, a conservation structure shaped like a pyramid housing tropical plants and animals, akin to botanical gardens and a zoo inside a greenhouse. Adjacent to the pyramid is another pyramid housing the Aquarium At Moody Gardens, featuring an abundance of colorful tropical fish and larger sea creatures.
The gardens also offer tourist attractions for vacations such as a large resort hotel, the outdoor waterpark Palm Beach At Moody Gardens, and the indoor Schlitterbahn Waterpark Galveston, a convention center, advanced movie theaters, and more.
Events and Sports Teams in Houston
Basketball in Houston
Houston Rockets
The Rockets are the prestigious basketball team of Houston and one of the three great jewels of Texas along with the Dallas Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs. The Rockets also have a very illustrious tradition of victories and legendary playoff games, but the last championships the team won were in 1995, under the leadership of Hakeem Olajuwon, who led the team to two consecutive championships in the two years when Michael Jordan retired from basketball to play baseball. The team was established in 1967 in San Diego and moved to Houston about four years later. They play at the Toyota Center stadium in downtown, which can accommodate 18,000 spectators.
Home Stadium Address: 1510 Polk St., Houston
To purchase tickets for Rockets games on the NBA website, click here…
Baseball in Houston
Houston Astros
While the Rockets are considered Houston's flagship team, the Astros have thrived in recent years and are regarded as one of the best teams in the American Baseball League, the MLB. The team was founded in the city in 196 originally named the Houston Colts, after the gun, but after three years changed its name to the Astros, after NASA's space center located in the city. The Astros were always considered a weak team, but over the past decade, they experienced a surprising resurgence and even won two World Series titles in 2017 and 2022.
Today, the team is considered very strong in the baseball league, and their games are full of spectators. The Astros play at Minute Maid Park (yes… the less fresh competitors of Tropicana) in downtown Houston near Toyota Stadium. The stadium seats 40,000 spectators and is one of the few in the league with a retractable roof, which can be closed in the frequently rainy Houston weather (baseball isn't played in rain, and games are postponed if it rains).
Home Stadium Address: 501 Crawford St., Houston
To purchase tickets for Astros games at Minute Maid Park, click here…
Football in Houston
Houston Texans
The Texans represent the city of Houston in the professional NFL football league. They are the newest team in the professional league, founded in 2002 after the local empire – the Oilers – left the city for Nashville, where they changed their name to the Titans. The team has not yet achieved remarkable success, but overall it's quite good and offers fantastic games (if you can get tickets). The Texans play at the NRG Stadium in the southern part of the city, which seats 72,000 spectators.
Home Stadium Address: NRG Pkwy, Houston
To purchase tickets for Texans games on the team's website, click here…
