Houston
The fourth-largest city in the US, Houston is the hub of a sprawling metropolitan area. Houston is located in eastern Texas, northwest of the Gulf of Mexico on the southern edge of the US. The city is south of Dallas and east of San Antonio.
Houston may not be Texas' premier travel destination, but it has much to offer, including great museums, beautiful parks, a hip young urban population and a variety of excellent excursions.
Neighborhoods
- Downtown: the original business center, is a thicket of highrises interspersed with parking lots, ringed by elevated freeways. The streets can seem surprisingly empty during the day but the people are there. Conveniently, most downtown buildings are linked by air-conditioned underground pedestrian tunnels that are lined with shops and restaurants; the tunnels keep the people cool but also away from outside.
- Houston Heights: an affluent, quiet residential area north of downtown, overlooking the Buffalo Bayou;
- Montrose: the center of Houston's gay scene, with a funky mix of shops, restaurants, galleries and tattoo parlors a few blocks southwest of downtown; and
- University Village, a few square blocks with hundreds of shops, cafes and pubs west of Rice University, adjacent to the Museum district.
When to Go
If you want to catch the rodeo, plan on coming in late February or early March. Houston gets crowded during the many festivals and events in April.
Many locals say late spring (April and May) and early summer (June and July) are the best times to come, as rainfall starts to taper off and the humidity isn't peaking. In July, the average daytime temperature is a sweltering 94°F (34°C), but humidity is at its lowest level of the year. Humidity is highest in October, when it can be 93% at the crack of dawn.
What to See
Hermann Park: A huge statue of noted Texas pioneer Sam Houston commands the entrance to this 407 acre (165 hectare) wooded park, a few miles south of downtown. Inside the park, Houston Zoological Gardens feature gorillas, tropical birds, lions, bats and a menagerie of other animals. This large zoo takes advantage of the area's climate to grow many tropical plants and palms. There's an adjoining aquarium.
Holocaust Museum: An excellent though sobering memorial. The permanent exhibition, housed in a black cylinder meant to evoke the ghastly image of a smokestack, traces the lives of European Jews from before WWII, through the holocaust and after the war as the survivors tried to rebuild their lives.
Museum of Fine Arts: This is the oldest art museum in Texas. The large collection features French Impressionists, American Modernists and Texan Postmodernists. The sculpture garden across the street contains works by Rodin and others.
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