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Houston event weekends: what to do between sessions

Space Center Houston, a huge museum district, Tex-Mex and Vietnamese food, home of Rice University.

Events we cover in Houston

15 Jan 2027*Houston Marathon
Houston, United StatesMarathon 8 May 2027*Rice University Commencement
Houston, United StatesGraduation 14 May 2027*University of Houston Commencement
Houston, United StatesGraduation

Arriving

Bush Intercontinental (IAH) is 30 to 45 minutes; Hobby (HOU) is 20 minutes.

Where to stay

Budget	Where	Why
Budget	Galleria area chains	Central.
Mid-range	Museum District and Midtown	Near Rice.
Splurge	Downtown and the Post Oak	Luxury towers.

Three hotels we would book

Budget: Hampton Inn Houston Near the Galleria
Mid-range: Hotel ZaZa Museum District
Splurge: The Post Oak Hotel

Event weekends sell out early and prices rise as the date gets closer: book a cancellable room as soon as you know you are going.

Tours

Full day · Family · Indoor

Space Center Houston

NASA tram tour.

See times and prices

Half day · Food

Houston food tour

Tex-Mex and Viet-Cajun.

See times and prices

Full day · Family

Galveston day trip

Beaches and the pier.

See times and prices

Where to eat

Ninfa's on Navigation Original fajitas
Killen's BBQ
Crawfish and Noodles Viet-Cajun

With kids

Houston Zoo.
Children's Museum.

Rainy-day backups

Museum of Fine Arts.
Natural Science Museum.

Free things to do

Museum District free museums.
Buffalo Bayou Park.

Getting around

METRORail red line runs through the Museum District and downtown.