Things to do · Houston · United States
17 best things to do in Houston
17 sights and experiences ranked for a first visit, with honest notes on time, cost and crowds.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Hequals2henry, CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answer
The essential sights in Houston are Space Center Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Houston Museum of Natural Science. Of the 17 picks below, 8 are free, 6 work on a rainy day and 7 suit children. Allow about 3 days to see the highlights without rushing.
Key facts
- Top sight
- Space Center Houston
- Free sights
- 8
- Good on a rainy day
- Space Center Houston
- Time to see the highlights
- 3 days
At a glance
| Sight | Area | Time needed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Space Center Houston | Clear Lake | Half a day to a full day | Expensive |
| Museum of Fine Arts, Houston | Museum District | 3 hours | Mid-priced |
| Houston Museum of Natural Science | Museum District | 3 hours | Mid-priced |
| Menil Collection | Montrose | 2 hours | Free |
| Rothko Chapel | Montrose | 30–45 minutes | Free |
| Hermann Park | Museum District | 1–3 hours | Free |
| Houston Zoo | Museum District | 3–4 hours | Mid-priced |
| Children's Museum Houston | Museum District | 2–3 hours | Mid-priced |
| Buffalo Bayou Park | Montrose and Downtown | 1–2 hours | Free |
| Discovery Green | Downtown | 1 hour | Free |
| San Jacinto Monument and Battleground | La Porte | 2 hours | Low cost |
| Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens | River Oaks | 2 hours | Mid-priced |
| Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park | Uptown | 30 minutes | Free |
| Memorial Park | Memorial | 1–2 hours | Free |
| The Galleria | Uptown | 2–3 hours | Low cost |
| Beer Can House and Orange Show folk art | Memorial and East End | 30–45 minutes each | Low cost |
| James Turrell's Twilight Epiphany Skyspace | Rice University | 45 minutes | Free |
The 17 best things to do
Museum · Clear Lake
1.Space Center Houston
The official visitor centre of NASA's Johnson Space Center has astronaut gear, moon rocks and a shuttle replica mounted on the original Boeing 747 carrier aircraft. Tram tours enter the NASA site to see the restored Apollo-era Mission Control and Rocket Park, where a complete Saturn V lies in its hangar.
Head straight for the tram tours when you arrive; queues build quickly from late morning.
- Time needed
- Half a day to a full day
- Cost
- Expensive
- Book ahead
- Buy tickets online in advance, especially on weekends and school holidays.
- Iconic
- Kids
- History
- Rainy day
Museum · Museum District
2.Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
One of the largest art museums in the country spreads across three gallery buildings, including a Mies van der Rohe wing and the 2020 Kinder Building for modern and contemporary art. James Turrell's light tunnel connects two buildings underground, and the Isamu Noguchi-designed Cullen Sculpture Garden across the street is free.
Focus on one building per visit; the collection is too large for a single afternoon.
- Time needed
- 3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Art
- Rainy day
- Architecture
- Iconic
Museum · Museum District
3.Houston Museum of Natural Science
The Morian Hall of Paleontology poses dinosaur skeletons in dramatic action scenes, and the hall of gems and minerals is one of the finest anywhere. The museum also has a planetarium, a giant-screen theatre and the Cockrell Butterfly Center, a three-storey glass rainforest.
Book butterfly centre and planetarium add-ons with your main ticket to avoid queuing twice.
- Time needed
- 3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Rainy day
- Nature
Museum · Montrose
4.Menil Collection
Dominique and John de Menil's collection of Surrealist, modern, ancient and Byzantine art is shown free in a calm, naturally lit Renzo Piano building set among grey bungalows and lawns. The campus includes the Cy Twombly Gallery and the Menil Drawing Institute.
Bring a picnic for the lawn between the buildings, a favourite local spot on mild days.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Art
- Free
- Rainy day
- Architecture
Religious site · Montrose
5.Rothko Chapel
A non-denominational octagonal chapel holding 14 dark canvases painted by Mark Rothko for the space, opened in 1971. Outside, Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk, dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr., stands in a reflecting pool.
Sit for at least ten minutes; the paintings shift in tone as your eyes adjust and the daylight changes.
- Time needed
- 30–45 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Art
- Free
- Architecture
- Off the beaten path
Park · Museum District
6.Hermann Park
Houston's central park has a Japanese garden, McGovern Lake with pedal boats, a miniature train, the McGovern Centennial Gardens and Miller Outdoor Theatre, which stages free concerts, plays and dance from spring to autumn. The zoo and several museums open onto it.
Check the Miller Outdoor Theatre schedule and bring a blanket for the hill seating on a summer evening.
- Time needed
- 1–3 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Couples
Zoo · Museum District
7.Houston Zoo
Inside Hermann Park, the zoo has a large African Forest area with chimpanzees and giraffes, an Asian elephant herd, a sea lion pool and the Galápagos Islands exhibit with giant tortoises. In winter it hosts the Zoo Lights evening light show.
Arrive at opening in summer; by early afternoon the heat sends many animals into the shade.
- Time needed
- 3–4 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Nature
Museum · Museum District
8.Children's Museum Houston
A hands-on museum for children up to about 12, with a kid-sized city where children run shops and earn money, a water-play area, science labs and a big outdoor play space.
Go on a weekday morning; weekends and school holidays bring long queues for the popular exhibits.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Rainy day
Park · Montrose and Downtown
1.Buffalo Bayou Park
A green corridor along the bayou west of downtown with trails, skyline views, kayak launches and public art. At dusk in the warmer months, a large colony of Mexican free-tailed bats streams out from under the Waugh Drive Bridge, and the park's 1926 underground Cistern hosts guided tours and light installations.
Watch the bat emergence from the viewing area by the Waugh Drive Bridge around sunset, then walk the trail back towards the skyline.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Book ahead
- Cistern tours are small-group and often sell out; book online.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Nature
- After dark
- Views
Park · Downtown
2.Discovery Green
A downtown park opposite the convention centre with a small lake, a splash fountain, a playground, public art and lawns used for free concerts, films and markets. In winter a section becomes an outdoor ice-skating trail.
Bring children's swimwear in summer for the interactive fountain.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Kids
- Outdoors
Historic site · La Porte
3.San Jacinto Monument and Battleground
On the battlefield where Texan forces defeated the Mexican army in 1836 to win Texas independence, a 173-metre column topped by a star rises over the marshes of the Houston Ship Channel. The base holds a museum of Texas history, and a lift climbs to an observation floor.
Walk the battlefield trail and markers after the museum to understand how the short battle unfolded.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Views
Garden · River Oaks
4.Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
The former home of philanthropist Ima Hogg, now run by the MFAH, displays American furniture, silver and paintings from colonial times to the 19th century in period rooms, surrounded by formal gardens on a wooded bend of Buffalo Bayou.
Spring is the best time to visit, when the azaleas are in bloom.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- History
- Couples
- Outdoors
- Architecture
Landmark · Uptown
5.Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park
A horseshoe-shaped fountain about 20 metres high where water cascades down both sides of a ribbed wall, set at the end of an oak-lined lawn beside Williams Tower. Standing inside the curve, you are surrounded by the roar of falling water.
Visit after dark, when the wall is lit, and combine it with a Galleria shopping trip.
- Time needed
- 30 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Couples
- Photo spot
- After dark
Park · Memorial
6.Memorial Park
One of the largest urban parks in the country, Memorial Park has wooded running trails, including a popular loop of about 5 km, mountain-bike trails, sports fields and the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, with land bridges carrying prairie over Memorial Drive.
Run or walk the Seymour Lieberman loop early in the morning when it is coolest and liveliest.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Outdoors
- Active
- Nature
Market · Uptown
7.The Galleria
Texas's largest shopping mall has hundreds of stores from department stores to luxury boutiques under glass vaults, built around an indoor ice rink. It is a common air-conditioned escape on hot or rainy days.
Watch the skaters from the upper levels, or skate yourself; rentals are available at the rink.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Shopping
- Rainy day
- Kids
Experience · Memorial and East End
8.Beer Can House and Orange Show folk art
Two of Houston's best-known folk-art environments: the Beer Can House, a bungalow covered with flattened cans and curtains of can tops by John Milkovisch, and the Orange Show, a maze-like monument to the orange built by postman Jeff McKissack. Both are run by the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, which also organises the Art Car Parade.
Check opening days before going; both sites keep limited weekend schedules.
- Time needed
- 30–45 minutes each
- Cost
- Low cost
- Art
- Off the beaten path
- Photo spot
Architecture · Rice University
9.James Turrell's Twilight Epiphany Skyspace
On the Rice University campus, this grass-covered pyramid with a square roof opening stages a light sequence at sunrise and sunset, changing how you perceive the colour of the sky through the aperture.
Reserve the free sunset sequence in advance and arrive a little early to settle on the benches.
- Time needed
- 45 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Book ahead
- The sunrise and sunset light sequences require free reservations through Rice University.
- Art
- Free
- Couples
- Off the beaten path
Pick by interest
| Interest | Best picks |
|---|---|
| Art and museums | Space Center Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston Museum of Natural Science and Menil Collection |
| History | Space Center Houston, San Jacinto Monument and Battleground and Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens |
| Views | Buffalo Bayou Park and San Jacinto Monument and Battleground |
| Outdoors and nature | Houston Museum of Natural Science, Hermann Park, Houston Zoo and Buffalo Bayou Park |
| Food and markets | The Galleria |
| After dark | Buffalo Bayou Park and Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park |
| With children | Space Center Houston, Houston Museum of Natural Science, Hermann Park and Houston Zoo |
| On a rainy day | Space Center Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston Museum of Natural Science and Menil Collection |
What to book ahead
- Space Center Houston: Buy tickets online in advance, especially on weekends and school holidays.
- Buffalo Bayou Park: Cistern tours are small-group and often sell out; book online.
- James Turrell's Twilight Epiphany Skyspace: The sunrise and sunset light sequences require free reservations through Rice University.
Plan the rest of your trip
Questions travellers ask
+What is the number one thing to do in Houston?
Space Center Houston. The official visitor centre of NASA's Johnson Space Center has astronaut gear, moon rocks and a shuttle replica mounted on the original Boeing 747 carrier aircraft.
+What can you do for free in Houston?
Menil Collection, Rothko Chapel, Hermann Park, Buffalo Bayou Park and Discovery Green. More free things to do.
+What is there to do in Houston when it rains?
Head indoors to Space Center Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston Museum of Natural Science and Menil Collection.
+What is there to do in Houston at night?
Buffalo Bayou Park and Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park are best after dark.