Has anyone ever stayed in Houston?

[admylin]

We are flying over in July for a wedding but dh has booked a 3 week stay. We'll be busy with meeting relatives and wedding stuff the first week but the other 2 weeks will drive me mad with dh as he's a workaholic and won't relax at a pool or whatever so he'll need organising. Any tips on what to do, where to go etc? I always wanted to visit Chicago but that would be a bit too far!

I've been to Houston a couple of times but not in the last 10 years. Galveston Island is not too far away though and you might want to be near water at that time of year. It will be hot and humid in July! I would look at indoor activities for the most part. The Galleria is very nice if you like to shop.

iirc, expat's from Houston - or at least spent some significant time there.

That's right - expat told me once that she was from there and her parents are there. I'll have to look out for her and hijack again!

I've heard of Galveston. Is there not some sort of space center there ? jabberwocky did you stay in a nice place? Our problem is this: dh's sister is awaiting us and wants us to stay there but the trouble is she is very 'muslim' so that would be- no testing of US beer or relaxing glass of wine in the evening. Not mine or dh's idea of a holiday! She refuses to tell us any nice motel/apartments near her place where we could book into so we're looking for something ourselves. It's going to be fun, fun, fun !

Have you got her address? Put it into 'mapquest' to see major roads/highways nearby. You can then check priceline or trip advisor (or one of the other internet sites) to get some ideas of where to stay.

That's a good idea with mapquest, thanks. I'm thinking the sooner we book something the better price we will get. Next thing will be to sort out a hire car and probably that would also be better if we booked it from here. I'll hijack the neighbor thread again for your tips!

I lived there for about 5 months a few years ago, but i hated it so probably not the best person to respond to your post! Its so hot and humid and full of cars and no one walks anywhere, and there are hardly any green open spaces. I would try to take a trip to Austin which is a far more agreeable place to spend a few days! But if you are only staying in Houston, there are more restaurants there than any other city i've been too (lots of them good), beer is cheap, there is a good music scene if you're in to that kind of thing, and a large theatre district. Head to Montrose/Westheimer for an area with funky shops, bars and cafes (and people actually walking around), the Galleria is a huge mall if you want to shop, and The Daily Grind is a great coffee shop/cafe/restaurant on Washington Ave in the Heights. I bought a book called Day Trips from Houston on Amazon, might be worth having a look at that. Also, make sure you stay in a hotel with a large pool as there aren't really any outdoor public swimming pools.

I stayed with a friend both times so no help on hotels, I'm afraid. But the mapquest idea is great! You definitely want to be able to sample some microbrews, etc while you are there