Houston Texas
Frequently Asked Questions
Not downtown. Cruise ships use the Bayport cruise terminal on Galveston Bay, about 40 km southeast of central Houston. Allow 40 to 60 minutes by road depending on traffic.
No, not at all. The terminal sits isolated in a port industrial zone, with no shops or attractions within walking distance. A shuttle, taxi or excursion is essential.
Space Center Houston first: it is the attraction that alone justifies the trip. The Museum District and downtown round out a day nicely.
The official visitor gateway to NASA's Johnson Space Center, with a shuttle exhibit, the historic mission control room and astronaut training modules. Allow at least three hours on site.
A concentration of museums rare in North America, grouped in one leafy sector: fine arts, natural science, contemporary art and several smaller institutions, often within walking distance of each other.
About ten kilometres of air-conditioned passages linking the towers of the business district, lined with shops and restaurants. It is a local curiosity born of Texas heat, and it is walkable on weekdays.
Yes, a colony has settled under a downtown bridge and pours out at dusk from spring through autumn. It is a free and surprising spectacle in the middle of the city.
The US dollar, English and a great deal of Spanish. Houston is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the United States: credit cards everywhere, tipping expected.
March to May and October to December: bearable heat and lower humidity. Texas summers are stifling and hurricane season runs June through November on the Gulf of Mexico.
Everything, and that is the city's strength. A destination for large-scale immigration, Houston has built a reputation as a great American food city: Texas barbecue, Mexican, Vietnamese, Cajun and Indian cooking sit side by side in the same neighbourhoods.
