Houston's been obtaining grip as a really awesome area to check out for a number of years currently, and as a Houstonian, it's YOUR work to maintain that credibility to life and valid. Certain, you can take a three-hour cable car tour of the Johnson Space Center or invest throughout the day inspecting out the city's many, lots of museums, yet we're quite sure your good friend is never ever coming back if that's all you do. Rather, take 'em out to several of our finest restaurants to reveal off Houston's culinary expertise ... and afterwards go to several of our finest bars, where they'll surely fail to remember the names of our best dining establishments.
Below you'll locate the most effective points to do in Houston, despite if you've lived below all your life or remain in town for 5 minutes. Varying in price from "complimentary as hell" to "wish you earned money today," below's the coolest stuff H-Town needs to provide.
Obtain wonderstruck at the James Turrell Skyspace
Free
Rice University
Few visitor attractions are really worthwhile, but this entirely rad light and sound setup definitely is. Locate right beside the Shepherd School of Music on the Rice University university, the acoustically engineered work of art is dubbed "Twilight Epiphany" many thanks to a trippy LED light sequence. It forecasts onto and with the structure's open roofing right before sunup as well as at sundown. Cash isn't required, but appointments are.
Take a picnic to the phase
Free
Museum District
From March via November, the al fresco Miller Outdoor Theatre puts on lively phase manufacturings-- believe live jazz, ballet, as well as musical cinema-- that are definitely amazing and definitely cost-free. It extremely certainly draws a crowd, so sign up with that group together with a blanket, some boxed wine & neighborhood cheese, and also your super-impressed visitor of option. In the off-season, a picnic at Downtown's city park, Discovery Green, is another clever option.
Teach them how to Topgolf
$$.
Katy (& Webster & Spring).
It's type of like teaching them exactly how to dougie, yet way colder. Rather of looking like a pinhead, you'll be slapping golf spheres at tinted targets, controling life-size Connect Four, and also drinking a respectable amount of beer pails. If you prepare to liquor), don't allow its outside-the-loop area stop you from this excellent time (there's always Uber to kindly supply transportation.
BYOB to Chinatown.
$$.
Chinatown/Sharpstown.
A trip to Asiatown is never ever not an excellent idea, however when you add BYOB options, points get a bit extra. You'll intend to pair something hoppy with the intense curries at Mamak Malaysian, fork-tender lamb shank masala, and Pakistani-spiced deep-fried hen at Himalaya, garlic-butter Vietnamese-style crawfish at Crawfish Cafe, and hot peppercorn beef and also pot-roasted fish at Mala Sichuan Bistro (which offers an outstanding internal a glass of wine list in situation you entirely blank as well as neglect your container, as well).
See bats at the Waugh Bridge.
Free.
Montrose.
True tale: when the Waugh Bridge was constructed, no one recognized it was the excellent framework to host a whole number of Mexican free-tailed bats. Well, apparently it was, because residents began noticing a bat colony around '99. Prior To Hurricane Harvey, the bridge organized about 300,000 of the little men, as well as though some really did not make it via the terrible storm, the swarm continues to be. Today, you'll find the bats hanging tight up until they spiral of the bridge's crevices on warm nights around sundown. Head to the watching platform and you may simply capture a bat show, which never stops working to both fascinate as well as slip the hell out of visitors.
Explore a secret underground tank.
$.
Midtown.
The Buffalo Bayou Partnership has actually done a lot for this city, and one of the raddest of its contributions was re-imagining this 1927 commercial antique right into a public space, hosting docent-led walking excursions as well as a collection of art installments (the current of which is a trippy optical experience from Houston Texas world-renowned artist Carlos Cruz-Diez, on view with January 2019). With 200 concrete columns skyrocketing 25-feet as well as 87,500-square-feet of open room, the cavernous framework is evocative old Roman tanks in Istanbul. Historical trips set you back $5 ($ 10 for the art installment) and can sign up for $5 meditation sessions on Sundays from 10 to 11am.
Rental fee a B-cycle.
$.
Multiple locations.
One of the sweetest ways to be familiar with a city is by cycling it, so beg among bike sharing program B-cycle's 60 (and also counting) stations to rent a bike for $3 per 30 minutes. Or go full-on Tour de Houston and register for the $9 regular monthly subscription, which will certainly open endless 60-minute journeys for the entire month (or more like the entire weekend for your visitors). Because you'll have to inspect the bike in when a hr to stay clear of added costs, we recommend taking a ride along the bayou and into Downtown and Midtown, where you'll find a cluster of stops as well as an entire lot of locations to "appease your thirst" in between; or head right for Houston's tree-lined Museum District.
Draw off a brewery Triple Crown.
$-$$$.
Numerous areas.
Houston's mixture scene is having a minute, so it stands to factor that you should partake as heavily in that moment as your liver will allow. Start at Houston's (and Texas') oldest craft brewery, Saint Arnold, which opens the beer hall totally free trips as well as a la carte food as well as drink purchases Monday with Saturday. In EaDo, 8th Wonder Brewery rocks a vast yard, on-site food vehicle as well as a seven-day-a-week taproom. Combine a Hopston IPA with some surrounded elote fries from Eatsie Boys. When you've dominated those, broaden your sudsy perspectives at your option of microbrewery, including areas like Buffalo Bayou Brewing Co, Brash Brewing, Eureka Heights or Under the Radar.
Bar jump on Downtown's megablock.
$$-$$$$.
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 turf battles. See just how perfectly benches play with each other by beginning on a DIY bar crawl, beginning with drinks for a cause at OKRA Charity Saloon, hopping your way to expertly crafted libations at Captain Foxheart's Bad News Bar & Spirits Lodge and also Moving Sidewalk, mezcal-laced alcoholic drinks at The Pastry War, bourbon chance ats Boots 'n Shoots, as well as returning to end the night with dancing at Nightingale Room or weirdness at notsuoH, because those are the only means to finish the evening. Oh wait no, there's likewise pizza Roma's or Frank's.
Houston's been getting traction as a really awesome place to visit for a couple of years now, and as a Houstonian, it's YOUR job to maintain that online reputation valid and alive. Rather, take 'em out to some of our ideal dining establishments to reveal off Houston's cooking prowess ... and then go to some of our ideal bars, where they'll undoubtedly neglect the names of our finest restaurants.
Or go full-on Tour de Houston and sign up for the $9 monthly subscription, which will certainly open limitless 60-minute trips for the entire month (or even more like the whole weekend break for your visitors). Since you'll have to check the bike in as soon as a hr to prevent added costs, we recommend taking a trip along the bayou as well as into Downtown and also Midtown, where you'll locate a collection of stops and a whole number of areas to "appease your thirst" in between; or head directly for Houston's tree-lined Museum District.
Start at Houston's (and Texas') earliest craft brewery, Saint Arnold, which opens up the beer hall for totally free trips and a la carte food and also drink purchases Monday with Saturday.