Things for a tourist to do in Houston?

If you like modern art, you might want to view the Menil Collection and the Rothko Chapel.

Beaver’s is an upscale BBQ restaurant.

Reef is an excellent seafood restaurant.

For the real Texas cowboy experience, you might want to visit nearby Fort Worth one evening.

Visit Austin. It’s the nicest city in Texas IMO and about 4hrs away from Houston by car.
4hrs may sound like a lot, but nearly everything interesting in Texas is that far apart. If you have important work to do, want to see Texas, and can afford it I recommend you hire an airplane. It’s cheaper than you might think, and the savings in travel time can be well worth it.

Thanks @marinelife – if I ever find myself in Texas again I shall certainly check out these recommendations!

I hear Austin has great food, great art, and excellent music…

Also consider driving to San Antonio. Its a 3 hours drive and attractions include the San Antonia Riverwalk (Google for images its beautiful! & a must see), The Alamo and The Tower of the Americas among other things.

I’ve lived within 5 hours of Houston for most of my adult life and I’ve never visited for anything other than picking someone up, a football game, or the space center. I’m sure there are some wonderful people there, and those people must do something, but no one seems to go out of their way to get to Houston.

The Texas coast is pretty close, and if you like relaxing beach trips it’s not a bad way to go. There are lots of little towns and lots of bed and breakfast type places that are interesting to check out. Galveston is a little bigger and has some nice restaurants and places to walk through like The Strand.

Other than that, a couple of days in Austin or San Antonio will probably be more noteworthy if you can make it work.

The museum district in Houston is worth seeing, especially the Natural History Museum. Spring for the extra couple of bucks to go into the butterfly pavilion, totally worth it. Basically it is a big enclosed atrium that houses a mini-rain forest populated with tons of butterflies of all shapes and sizes.

As a resident of Austin I can confidently report that there is quite a bit to do here as well. We have great live music and food.

I love the recommendations to go outside of Houston ;-)

I’m in Austin, Rarebear, and I’d be delighted to be your escort for the day around our fair city. Just PM me if you have interest.

@picante Thanks. It’s not until the end of January so I have awhile to figure out what I’m doing.

Sweat.

Yes, even in January…lol