Space City: Texas's Largest and Boldest Metropolis
Houston is the largest city in Texas and one of the biggest in the United States, set on the Gulf Coast plain and known as Space City for its place in the story of human spaceflight. NASA's Johnson Space Center, home of mission control, is the base for Space Center Houston, where visitors can walk beneath a Saturn V rocket, see real spacecraft and learn how astronauts train. It is a city of ambition, with a skyline that rises from the flat coastal landscape.
Houston's green spaces soften the scale. Buffalo Bayou Park winds through the city with kayak launches, cycle paths and a striking underground cistern, while Hermann Park holds a zoo, gardens and a Japanese garden. The Museum District, within walking distance of the park, groups together more than a dozen museums, from painting and natural science to children's discovery. The Menil Collection and the Rothko Chapel offer a quieter, contemplative corner of the city's arts scene.
A Table as Diverse as the City
Food is Houston's great strength. The city's communities have created a dining scene of unusual breadth, with Texas barbecue, Tex-Mex, Vietnamese kitchens, Cajun-influenced crawfish boils, Gulf oysters and West African, Indian and Mexican restaurants in every corner. Bellaire's Asiatown, the Heights and Montrose are good neighbourhoods for wandering and eating. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, held each late winter, is among the largest in the world, combining concerts, cook-offs and rodeo competition across several weeks.
Evenings are for music, sport and open-air events, with the Astros at baseball, the Rockets at basketball and a downtown that comes alive after dark. For a hotel group, Houston's mix of business and leisure demand gives year-round appeal, and just southeast, Galveston Island offers beaches, Victorian architecture on the Strand and a cruise port. The wider state of Texas offers contrast, with San Antonio and its UNESCO missions a few hours west by road.
Read the full Houston guide on Visit Travel Group, or see VisitHouston.co.uk on Visit Travel Group.