Top tips for visitors and guests to Houston

Art Car Museum-Beer Can House Houston’s Art Car Parade is the first and largest in the world, celebrates the collision of art and cars. As the “Art Car Capital,” this yearly parade now hosts hundreds of cars, motorcycles, lowriders, and various mobile vehicles decked out in various artistic expression. More than 250,000 Houstonians watch the parade in person.

The Art Car Museum, located in the Heights, is a small rotating gallery of some of these vehicles, along with a variety of contemporary art. The focus for the Museum, nicknamed the “Garage Mahal,” is the type of art rarely acknowledged in more traditional museums.

BAPS Shiri Swaminarayan Mandir Located in Stafford, a community to the southwest of Houston, the Baps Shiri Swaminarayan Mandir is a Hindu temple built by the Swaminarayan sect. It is a place of worship and prayer for the followers of Hinduism but welcomes visitors of all backgrounds. It is meant as “a place for paramount peace…to realize God.”

The Mandir is the largest of its kind in Texas, is beautiful in its intricate workmanship and is constructed according to the Shilpa Shastra, a collection of ancient architectural treatises.

Battleship Texas Located at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site, the Battleship Texas was commissioned in 1914 as the most powerful weapon of its time. The ship was the first permanent US battleship museum and was the first declared a National Historic Landmark.

As it has been preserved and carefully renovated over many years, visitors can see what it was like for the men who lived and worked on this ship.

Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens Bayou Bend is the Museum of Fine Arts house museum for American antique furniture, decorative art, and paintings. Houston philanthropist Ima Hogg (1882-1975) donated her former home to the museum, and it hosts one of the best showcases of American decorative arts in the world.

Bayou Bend is located in a 14-acre garden oasis near the center of Houston as a part of Houston’s historic River Oaks neighborhood.

Bishop’s Palace The 1892 Bishop’s Palace, a Victorian castle was cited by the American Institute of Architects as one of the 100 most important buildings in the United States. Located in the East End Historic District, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the most magnificent Victorian residences in the country.

Children’s Museum of Houston Expanded in 2009, the more than 90,000 square foot Children’s Museum of Houston, “A Playground for Your Mind,” is one of the biggest and most popular in the United States. Located in the Museum District, the Museum entertains toddlers to older children with 14 hands-on galleries that educate while they entertain.

The target audience for the galleries is from birth to 12 years old and their families. Only a few activities are restricted to kids over 5 or children younger than 35 months and their caretakers.

Contemporary Art Museum of Houston The Contemporary Art Museum Houston located in the Museum District showcases a wide variety of art, often before the artists are known by the world at large. It is one of the oldest museums of its kind, starting in 1948 as a collaborative effort of Houstonians interested in exhibiting contemporary art.

The CAMH museum building itself is a piece of unique art, a stainless steel parallelogram structure designed by Gunnar Birkerts, which opened in 1972.

George Ranch Historical Park When outsiders think of Texas, they sometimes think of the wild west, and perhaps the most traditional Texas place to visit in the Houston area is the George Ranch Historical Park.

Located in Richmond, Texas just 30 miles southwest of the city, the George Ranch is a 22,000-acre still working ranch. The Historical Park is on 423 of those acres. It is a living history museum dedicated to sharing Texas history from the 1830’s through the 1930’s.

Holocaust Museum Houston The Holocaust Museum Houston opened in 1996 with the mission of educating the public about the dangers of prejudice and hatred in society. To teach people of all ages and backgrounds that humans can resist the worst in humankind.

The Holocaust Museum Houston is one of only three Holocaust museums in the country and one of only four Houston museums that are accredited by the American Association of Museums, the highest national recognition possible for a U.S. museum.

Houston Museum of Natural Science The Houston Museum of Natural Science is one of the most-visited museums in the United States. This large museum has both permanent galleries and traveling exhibitions and contains many things of interest to both adults and children.

From one of the world’s biggest paleontology halls to the Hall of Ancient Egypt, the world’s best collection of minerals and more, a visitor could easily spend 3 to 4 days trying to see the entire collection.

Houston Waterwall Park Want one of the best places to take pictures and videos within walking distance of the Galleria? Covering 2.77 acres, Houston Water Wall Park features a 64-foot, horseshoe- shaped architectural fountain. On hot days, the mist coming off the towering wall can cool the ambient temperatures.

Kemah Boardwalk Located 30 miles south of downtown Houston, the Kemah Boardwalk is a unique 60- acre complex along the shores of Clear Lake and Galveston Bay.

The Kemah Boardwalk hosts waterfront dining in 12 restaurants, live music, midway games and amusement rides in a beautiful gulf coast location.

Menil Campus As part of a 30-acre campus near downtown Houston, The Menil Collection is one of the finest private art museums in the country, curated with a unique sensibility specific to just itself.

The museum’s collection was found and built by the Menil Collection’s founders, John and Dominque de Menil. The paintings and sculptures are an eclectic but connected groupings of different types of art.

Moody Gardens Moody Gardens is a unique tourist attraction intended to be of benefit of Galveston and in extension, visitors to the island. Moody Gardens is a public, non-profit entity intended to be the best educational/leisure destination in the region.

Moody Gardens is easily identifiable as visitors drive onto the island by its large pyramid structures. In the 10-story glass Rainforest Pyramid, Moody Gardens houses more than 1,000 species of plants and animals. Some of the animals, like the Saki Monkeys, are free roaming within the rainforest and not in enclosures.

Museum of Fine Arts The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is one of the largest cultural institutions in the United States and the oldest art museum in Houston. The main campus is located in the middle of Houston’s Museum District and hosts an immense permanent collection of artist works.

The majority of the permanent and temporary exhibits are hosted in two main buildings on the MFAH campus: The Caroline Wiess Law building and the Audrey Jones Beck Building.

The buildings are connected by the underground Wilson Tunnel--a changing neon and ambient light installation created by James Turrell that connect light and architecture to interact with the viewer.

Rothko Chapel The Rothko Chapel is located on the Menil Campus in a quiet, tree-lined neighborhood close to downtown Houston. A commission of the de Menil family, Mark Rothko created a chapel to support his desire to create art that could speak to people in a universal way, that no matter what language a person spoke or what religion they did or did not worship, they find shared meaning in the experience of this building and the art installation.

Sam Houston Memorial Museum Located 70 miles north of Houston on I-45, the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas has everything anyone would ever want to know about Houston’s namesake, Samuel “Sam” Houston.

A lawyer, soldier, and politician, he had the key role in bringing Texas into the United States. As General leading the Texian Army, he led the fight for Texas independence, defeating Santa Anna’s Mexican army in the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. This victory led to the creation of the Republic of Texas as an independent country.

Sam Houston Park Staying in the downtown area and interested in seeing some Houston history in the shadow of skyscrapers? Located to the west of downtown near city hall, Sam Houston Park is a pocket oasis within 20 acres next to downtown. It contains a variety of historic Houston buildings illustrating different eras of the city’s history.

The original park was purchased in 1900 containing the Kellum-Noble House, which is the oldest surviving building constructed in Houston. Built in 1847 when Houston was a part of the Republic of Texas, it still stands on its original foundation.

San Jacinto Battleground The evocative history and beauty surrounding the San Jacinto Battleground, Monument and Museum makes it a worthwhile destination in its short drive from Houston.

Some believe that the Battle of San Jacinto was the most decisive, most influential battle in western military history. The Texian rebels routed the Mexican Army in 18 minutes and captured Mexican General Santa Anna.

After the huge Mexican loss, the Texians formed the Republic of Texas, a sovereign nation recognized by countries across the globe. Without the restrictions of the Mexican government, it encouraged many European and American settlers to come to the Republic of Texas. The decline of Mexican power in the region led to the annexation of Texas in 1845 and the westward development of the United States.

Space Center Houston Space Center Houston is most visitors’ unique, must-see attraction in Houston. Located south of downtown on the way to Galveston, Space Center Houston is the enormous museum and visitor center for Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC), NASA’s center for human spaceflight activity.

Every NASA astronaut has trained at the Johnson Space Center. Located on the JSC campus, human space travel missions are planned and supported from the Mission Control Center. Space Center Houston uses its proximity to the JSC in its mission to provide science education and a museum for space artifacts.

The Galleria The Galleria is a mixed-used, upscale mall located 10 miles west of downtown visited by 30 million visitors yearly. Locals usually refer to things being “near the Galleria Area” and due to the mall’s mammoth size, this is no surprise.

The Galleria is the largest malls in Texas and one of the largest in the United States. Modeled as a modern version of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuel II in Milan, The Galleria was designed over 40 years ago to be a destination mall anchored by upscale shops not widely found elsewhere.

The Strand Historic District The Strand Historic District is located in downtown Galveston with a variety of buildings adapted for use as shops, restaurants, antique stores, museums and art galleries. This National Historic Landmark district consists of the business district of 19th-century architecture very close to the city’s wharf and Cruise Ship Terminal.

During the 19th century, Galveston was one of the largest ports in the United States and an important commerce center. For a time, it served as the capital of the Republic of Texas. The 1900 Galveston Hurricane devastated the Island, but a number of the Strand buildings survived this horrific storm. Now, the Strand Historic District is small enough to walk it in entirety and runs along Galveston Bay.

Twilight Epiphany Skyscape Built in 2012 after a five-year process, artist James Turrell created the Twilight Epiphany Skyspace art installation next to the Shepherd School of Music on the Rice University campus.

The two-level pyramidal structure features a light sequence that occurs twice a day— once at dawn, once at sunset. The composition of LED light compliments the natural light present at twilight, and projects it onto the ceiling and through an aperture of a 72- foot square thin roof.

Waugh Drive Bat Colony The Waugh Bridge Bat Colony lives in Houston year round instead of migrating further south in the winter months. Why are they a tourist attraction? Every evening at sunset, 250,000 Mexican free-tailed bats emerge from underneath the bridge as a group to feed on area insects creating an impressive sight. The cloud of bats is so immense that when they emerge, the Waugh Drive Bat Colony can often be seen on weather radar.

Located close to downtown in Buffalo Bayou Park, the bat colony can be seen by crowds by a variety of good vantage points.