Houston isn’t known as a tourist destination, but it should be. The largest city in Texas is home to Chevron and dozens of other oil companies, the world’s biggest medical center, and the U.S. astronaut corps, butalso a vibrant food scene, theaters that rival those of the Big Apple, expansive art museums, and the definitive American rodeo.
I’ve lived in the Bayou City since 2016 and have found it more collegial than New York and far warmer than North Dakota — two places I was previously based for Reuters, where I cover critical minerals and the energy transition as a senior correspondent. To boot, Houston is surprisingly affordable for a city of 2.3 million people (and counting). And, as the hometownof music superstar Beyoncé, entrepreneur and film producer Howard Hughes, and Olympic gold medal gymnast Simone Biles — just to name a few — its cultural exports are known across the globe.
Here’s my guide to exploring this gem of a city like a local:
Getting around: Houston loves its cars and thus loves its highways. Perhaps that shouldn’t be surprising for a region that loves its oil. (Texas accounts for 42% of U.S. oil production.) But public transportation and bike lanes are growing in popularity. A light-rail line opened in 2004 to connect downtown with Rice University and the University of Houston, the city’s two most prominent institutions of higher learning. Downtown features a maze of underground pedestrian tunnels to avoid the brutal summer humidity, although be warned: They’re confusing to navigate.
George Bush Intercontinental Airport — the city’s largest — is about 20 miles (32 km) north of downtown and can take an hour or more during rush hour to reach. William P. Hobby Airport is 10 miles (16 km) from downtown and easier to access, but it mostly handles domestic flights. Sadly, no trains run to either.
Must-eats (and drinks): Houston is known for its Tex-Mex, a fusion of Texan and northern Mexican cuisines overflowing with flour tortillas, chili and queso. The best flavors are at Ninfa’s on Navigation where founder Ninfa Rodriguez Laurenzo in 1973 served the world’s first fajitas (yes, she invented them). Another great Tex-Mex spot is El Tiempo Cantina in the LGBT-friendly Montrose neighborhood.
BCN Taste & Tradition has an amazing cherry gazpacho soup — and Salvador Dalí originals hanging on the walls. The curry at British pub The Red Lion will knock your socks off. Brasserie 19 is the brunch spot favored by Houston’s cultural elite. And Uchi’s wagyu kushiyaki is exquisite, though reservations at the Japanese eatery are tough to procure so try for the first-come, first-served happy hour bar seating, starting daily at 4 p.m.
Drop of the Creator Spirits Company, one of the several independently owned distilleries and breweries across the city, makes a delicious spin on the classic Sazerac cocktail known as the Snazzy Sazzy. It’s the perfect drink to unwind with after a day of exploring.
The hot ticket: Houston’s Alley Theatre — home to one of the only full-time, regional theater companies in the country — is a must-visit, with performances running throughout the year. Each December, the Alley magically reinterprets the Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol.”
Every March, the city hosts the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo during which young kids clasp the backs of running sheep until they fall off, an event known as mutton busting. (Seriously.)
For art enthusiasts, the Renaissance art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Surrealist works at the Menil Collection are well worth your time, as is the Rothko Chapel, a contemplative space adorned with 14 originals from abstract painter Mark Rothko.
For an immersive experience: In 1926, Houston built an underground drinking water reservoir near downtown. Today, it’s been decommissioned and turned into a public arts venue known as the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern. The acoustics are amazing (echoes reverberate for 17 seconds) and the gargantuan space challenges visitors’ perception of space and time. While you’re there, take a stroll or jog around the surrounding Buffalo Bayou Park, which ambles for 2.3 miles (3.7 km) and is filled with stately Southern Live Oak trees and a plethora of other native plants nestled alongside the bayou’s hushed waters.
Local news source: The Houston Chronicle and its affiliate Chron.com are staples, but blogs CultureMap Houston and Space City Weather are also must-reads for visitors and locals alike.
Biggest misconception: Houston isn’t really Texas. Yes, it’s in Texas, but I often tell friends and family that Houston is in a class of its own: politically, socially and culturally. Unlike much of Texas, it tilts liberal (voters elected a lesbian mayor three times starting in 2009, for example); is more ethnically diverse than the rest of the state (and indeed, the rest of the nation’s big cities); and as a sprawling metropolis with no zoning laws, it’s developed in some, err, unique ways, with apartment complexes often sprouting next to industrial warehouses and funeral homes neighboring elementary schools.
Ideal spot for a sunset: There’s a grassy knoll near the Waugh Drive Bat Colony where you can sit and watch more than 300,000 Mexican free-tailed bats — the state’s official flying mammal — take flight at dusk over Buffalo Bayou. It’s a favorite with children, especially.
CITY MEMO DATA POINTS
Languages spoken: 140
Price of a cup of coffee: $3.50 at Tenfold Coffee, which buys its beans directly from farmers across Burundi, Ethiopia and five other countries.
Price of a bottle of water: 78 cents for Texas spring water at H-E-B, the iconic Houston grocery store.
Price of a gallon of gasoline: $2.49 at a Murphy USA branch in the leafy Westbury neighborhood. Houston has some of the cheapest fuel in the U.S. thanks to its proximity to Gulf Coast refineries.
Price of a chocolate chip cookie: $3.25 at Tiny’s Milk & Cookies. Trust me, this cookie will change your life.
Best independent movie theater: River Oaks Theatre. First built in 1939, it was renovated in 2024 and now offers a full dinner menu and a rotating slate of new and historical films.
Best independent bookstore: Brazos Bookstore. While you’re there, grab a copy of Stephen L. Klineberg’s “Prophetic City: Houston on the Cusp of a Changing America,” which unpacks how the city can be viewed as a microcosm for the future of the United States.
You must be logged in to post a comment.