Any Houston, TX tips? Where to stay, what to do?

[pannm]

We are returning from a Disney Cruise in March. We used some frequent flier miles to get free round-trip tickets for the 4 of us (my husband, myself, two daughters 10 & 8).

Because we used frequent flier miles, we had to be in Houston for a few days after our Cruise. Arriving in Houston on a Friday eve. and flying out on a Sunday late-afternoon.

We will have a rental car and we're going out of IAH airport.

I do not know much about Houston- all the different areas, which areas to stay away from, where the best places are to stay on a budget and still be fairly close to things????

Like I said- on a budget. We are starting to look for hotels, but where??? We want a fairly decent hotel, but don't want to spend the down town prices on parking as we stay at the hotel. We want to be close to activities and places to check out...

OR, do we skip Houston all together and stay in a fun spot some where close by? We don't want to do Nasa. That is our only thing that we KNOW is not on our list.

 

[ekatiel]

Well, you just nixed my first suggestion (NASA!).

In Town: Houston has a great museum district. The Children's museum is fabulous. The natural science museum has a butterfly center attached to it that's neat. The Zoo is great, too. The new Africa part reminds me a lot of AK. We also just got an American Girl store (don't have girls, so I'm not sure at which mall)-- not sure if you have one near you or not or if your girls are into that kind of thing. The Galleria is a great place to shop, and it has an ice skating rink in the middle of it, which is always fun.

Galveston: If you want to hang out in Galveston, Moody Gardens is fun-- they've got a rain forest pyramid, an aquarium, an IMAX, a 4-D theater, and several other things. You could also try the indoor part of Schlitterbahn in Galveston (it's right next door to Moody Gardens). Galveston also has the new pleasure pier (I haven't been yet, but it looks fun), and the strand for shopping.

North of Town: The Woodlands resort is supposed to be nice. The Woodlands also has a neat little waterway at their mall.

That's all I can think of for now. NASA is a great place to visit if you've never been. What makes you guys anti-NASA? --Katie

 

[BBandDisney]

No nasa!

 

[ekatiel]

No nasa!

Boy, lots of NASA haters on here . It is a really interesting place to visit if you've never been, the tram tours are probably the neatest part. I love seeing the super huge pool where the astronauts train and seeing the old site of mission control. It's not like I'd visit every day, but if you've never been, and you're in Houston, it's worth a visit. --Katie

 

[madelyn]

My in-laws live in the Houston area and we are there about two to three times a year. I second the Children's Museum suggestion. We haven't been in over a year but the last time we were there my kids (now 14, 11 and 6) loved it! Fun for all ages and be prepared to spend hours there! There is also a Health Museum next door and my kids like that one too. We had a museum membership that allowed reciprocal visits so were able to get into both for free. My 6 year old daughter would love to go to the American Girl store there too. Heard from locals that when it first opened they a few months ago, reservations to dine there had to be made months beforehand so you might want to look into that early if you have girls. The Galleria is huge and fun to walk around. The downtown Aquarium area is fun. There is another one in the Kemah area I believe. We haven't had to stay in a hotel for a few years but when we did I would just use Priceline and I remember getting a room (3 star) in the Galleria or Medical Center areas for around $35 to $45 a night. I think we ended up with Holiday Inn properties both times and they were fine.

 

[tikistitch]

Texas native here, spent the first half of my life living in the Houston area. You'll actually be docking out of Galveston, which is a pretty touristy area with tons to do. During March you might be able to find some spring break activities to do on the strand. It's fun just taking the ferry out to the peninsula and back, I love doing this a few times each trip to dolphin watch. It's also fun to walk the strand and look through the little shops, and to visit Moody Gardens. There's several things to do here, including a wonderful aquarium and a rainforest pyramid, so if you think you want to do everything Moody Gardens has to offer I would buy the pass that gives you access to everything and not buy tickets to each attraction separately. The aquarium downtown Houston is okay, but my family found it to be overpriced and really short when we were there this summer. The children's museum is really fun and we go usually every time we're in the area.

If you're looking for a place to stay, I'd stay in Galveston. There's a Holiday Inn on the seawall (opposite end of the island from where the cruise ships dock, but a short drive all the same) that's pretty affordable and you're within walking distance of a really cool Rainforest cafe. The outside of the restaurant is a volcano that goes off every hour or so. If you're there on weekends, there's also a midway that has games set up. There's also a really cute/large souvenir shop right out over the water not far from this hotel. There's also a hotel a few doors down from the Holiday Inn called the San Louis and it's an amazing property. It's usually pretty expensive but we usually call and give our dates and talk up the people on the phone and they're usually able to get us some pretty good rates for our trips. There's another holiday inn a little further down the road, I want to say it's a sunspree. They have a pretty neat pool area, but I don't think it's within walking distance to as many things as the other one.

 

[Bluetickmom]

My suggestion on a place to stay, if you're going to be in Houston for at least 3 days is to look into corporate housing. You can stay in a fully furnished apartment in a gated community with awesome pools for the same price as a crappy motel.

http://corpretreats.reachlocal.com/?scid=1024073&kw=770155:10215

We travel to Houston regularly and have stayed at the Camden Vanderbilt location a ton of times. It's in a great location, close to the museums and literally right next to a shopping center with a grocery store, etc.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

When in March? You might be just in time for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo... That'll give you a REAL taste of Texas...

 

[kimgg]

I second the rodeo!!! That would be a blast for out of towners. Concert, rodeo, livestock show, and carnival all in one. Google Houston livestock show and rodeo for concert lineup and tickets.

 

[GoofItUp]

Why not spend one night in Galveston and two in Houston? Most of the places I was going to suggest have already been mentioned: children's museum, zoo, kemah, etc. The Stockshow and rodeo is quite good too.

 

[MsPoppinsTX]

I agree with the others about the Museum District and the Zoo (all in the same area) along with the Rice Village which has a lot of good shopping and restaurants. I wouldn't bother with anything downtown as there isn't much there unless you're going in for business. The Galleria area will have nice hotels and the Galleria is an experience in and of itself. Kemah is really neat and if you have small children they'll love all the little rides, the shops are neat and the restaurants are good, there is also a hotel right on property (that reminds me of the Boardwalk Inn at DIsney World). It's a nice area. There is a new outlet mall right off of I-45 as you're coming north from Galveston (Exit 17 I believe). Staying in Galveston is a good option too and others have already given suggestions on what to do there.

Have fun!

 

[ekatiel]

When in March? You might be just in time for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo... That'll give you a REAL taste of Texas...

I didn't even think about the Rodeo. You HAVE to do the Rodeo if you're here during the first part of March!!! I just looked it up-- it runs this year Feb 25th-March 17th. Even if you're not into "country" type stuff-- you have to go once to experience it. The kids will LOVE the carnival, too. Tickets go on sale in January. You can also purchase discounted carnival packs, and on certain days of the week they have discounts. If you don't want to attend the actual rodeo, you can just go to the livestock show and the carnival, but if you're visiting, I think you should get the full experience . --Katie

 

[pannm]

Yeah, we'd be there over the Rodeo dates. I'll look into that- it would be a lot of fun! My girls are 8 and 10...and we're from the midwest, so skating is out for us. We get plenty of that here. Also, we fly in for our cruise two days before we sail out (once again, going on frequent flier tix. In order for them to be FREE, we had to use them on dates that were available.). We will be staying in Galveston for the two nights before our cruise, and we've kind of planned out our time there. We're doing moody gardens and have a hotel on the beach.

My only question about Galveston is...Do we have to take a ferry to get to Galveston? Is the entire area on an island, or just parts of it?

I will look into the museums and the rodeo. Is it going to be hard to find a place to stay because of rodeo weekend???

 

[Angie789]

All of Galveston is an island but there is a bridge to get there - no ferry.

If you are a history buff at all, I highly recommend reading the book "Isaac's Storm" before you travel to Galveston. It's an account of the deadliest hurricane in US history that hit Galveston in 1900, but the whole book paints an interesting picture of the importance of the town.

 

[jjmm]

I work in the medical center and many of our patients have a very hard time getting hotels during rodeo season even though they are coming to Houston for medical care and not the rodeo. The Reliant Center is close to the Medical Center. Definately book asap if you decide you would like to stay within the Houston area.

 

[madelyn]

Not sure about the Houston area but we live in the Austin, TX area and if you will be in town the last weekend of the rodeo, that is the start of our Spring Break. The two weeks around that time are usually the Spring Breaks for the schools all around Texas so that could add to crowds as well.