World City Guide

Key Attractions

Space Center Houston
The Space Center Houston is a privately operated attraction that acts as the official visitor centre of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Exhibits include the Gemini and Apollo capsules, other space flight hardware, including a full-size mock-up of a space shuttle, and astronaut memorabilia. Visitors can enjoy a behind-the-scenes tour of the Johnson Space Center, hands-on space simulators, IMAX films and even watch astronauts train for upcoming shuttle missions. They can also take a virtual tour of the International Space Station and experience the sensation of weightlessness.

1601 NASA Road 1
Tel: (281) 244 2100.
Website: www.spacecenter.org
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 1000-1700, Sat and Sun 1000-1800 (Sep-May); daily 1000-1900 (Jun), daily 0900-1900 (Jul); Mon-Fri 1000-1700, Sat and Sun 1000-1900 (Aug).
Admission fee.

Contemporary Arts Museum
The Contemporary Arts Museum, established in 1948, is housed in an award-winning contemporary all-metal structure. It displays new and recent works of the last 40 years, by regional, national and international contemporary artists. Recent exhibitions included the works of the avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, black conceptual art, the influence of comics in contemporary art and the art of Patti Smith, where many of her drawings were inspired by the events of 9/11.

5216 Montrose Boulevard, Museum District
Tel: (713) 284 8250.
Website: www.camh.org
Opening hours: Tues and Wed 1000-1700, Thurs 1000-2100, Fri and Sat 1000-1700, Sun 1200-1700.
Free admission.

Museum of Fine Arts
The Museum of Fine Arts has an impressive collection of over 45,000 pieces of art, including antiquities and Renaissance art through to Impressionism and early Modernism. It also has fine African sculptures, textiles and costumes. The striking Beck Building has a roof that is studded with skylights, which gives ideal lighting conditions in which to view the paintings. Highlights include the Straus Collection of Renaissance and 18th-century paintings and the Beck Collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, including Van Gogh, Monet, Matisse and Gauguin.

1001 Bissonnet Street, Museum District
Tel: (713) 639 7300.
Website: www.mfah.org
Opening hours: Tues and Wed 1000-1700, Thurs 1000-2100, Fri and Sat 1000-1900, Sun 1215-1900.
Admission fee; free on Thurs.

Menil Collection
The Menil Collection is the home of the works of art collected by John and Dominique de Menil (a prominent, wealthy Houston family) while on their travels. The private collection includes antiquities, Byzantine art, tribal art and 20th-century works, such as Cubism, Minimalism, Surrealism and Pop Art. There is also a permanent collection of astronomical instruments and ceremonial masks, which fascinated the Surrealists.

1515 Sul Ross Street, Museum District
Tel: (713) 525 9400.
Website: www.menil.org
Opening hours: Wed-Sun 1100-1900.
Free admission.

Holocaust Museum Houston
The Holocaust Museum Houston serves as a memorial to the millions who were imprisoned and died in Nazi death camps in World War II. The museum contains a permanent exhibition hall, regularly changing temporary exhibitions, a memorial area and sculpture garden. A permanent exhibition (‘Bearing Witness: A Community Remembers’) reveals the atrocities of the Holocaust through the words and memorabilia of local survivors. The museum features a 30-minute film, Voices, which is a montage of oral stories by Holocaust survivors from the Houston area. Guided tours available at weekends at 1230, 1330, 1430 and 1530.

5401 Caroline Street, Museum District
Tel: (713) 942 8000.
Website: www.hmh.org
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1700, Sat and Sun 1200-1700.
Free admission.

Houston Museum of Natural Science
This museum contains an impressive collection of natural exhibits. Highlights include the Cockrell Butterfly Center – filled with butterflies and tropical plants and featuring a 21m (40ft) waterfall, a rainforest environment, a planetarium and permanent exhibitions of dinosaur skeletons. There is also an IMAX theatre, a stunning collection of gems and minerals, a four-screen video wall about the wildlife of Texas, the interactive Discovery Place where children can investigate science in action and the Foucault pendulum which demonstrates the Earth’s rotation.

1 Hermann Circle Drive, Museum District
Tel: (713) 639 4629.
Website: www.hmns.org
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 0900-1700, Sun 1100-1700. Times vary for the planetarium and IMAX.
Admission fee.

Houston Zoo
A very popular visitor attraction, the Houston Zoo covers 22 hectares (55 acres) and is home to over 700 species of animals, reptiles and amphibians. The zoo was established in Hermann Park in 1922 and is now an important centre for conservation and research. Most days, there are opportunities to view the feeding of certain animals (such as vampire bats) and also to see demonstrations by sea lions. The Wortham World of Primates is a lush 0.88-hectare (2.2-acre) replication of the natural rainforest habitat for the 13 species of monkeys and apes on show there. Other popular attractions are the big cats – including white tigers, leopards and jaguars.

1513 North MacGregor Street, Hermann Park, Museum District
Tel: (713) 533 6500.
Website: www.houstonzoo.org
Opening hours: Daily 0900-1800 Mar-Sep and 0900-1700 Oct-Feb.
Admission fee.

Children’s Museum of Houston
A wonderful experience for those aged from four months to 14 years, the Children’s Museum of Houston has a variety of hands-on exhibits in the fields of science, history, culture and arts. Activities concerning the environment feature tree rubbing and insect collecting and there is an open-air art studio to allow children to be creative. Permanent exhibits include the ‘Think Tank’ which is a problem-solving exhibit using mirror magic and optical illusions; The Fondren Technikids Gallery which helps children discover the answers to many science questions; and the Tot Spot for very young children to join in the fun.

1500 Binz Street, Museum District
Tel: (713) 522 1138.
Website: www.cmhouston.org
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 0900-1700, Sun 1200-1700 and Mon 0900-1700 between Memorial Day and Labour Day only.
Admission fee; free for families Thurs 1700-2000.

Sam Houston Historical Park
The 8-hectare (19-acre) Sam Houston Historical Park contains a collection of restored historic buildings – including houses, a church and a reconstructed row of shops. The buildings have been collected together on this site, to go with the 1847 Kellum-Noble House, the oldest house in Houston. A recent addition to the collection is the 1870 two-storey house belonging to Jack Yates, the first to be built by a freed slave. These historic buildings set against the sleek city skyscrapers make for a great photo opportunity. The only way to see the houses is on one of the regular guided tours.

1100 Bagby Street
Tel: (713) 655 1912.
Website: www.heritagesociety.org
Opening hours: Guided tours Tues-Fri 1000, 1130, 1300 and 1430, Sat 1000-1500 on the hour and Sun 1300-1500 on the hour; museum Tue-Sat 1000-1600, Sun 1300-1600.
Free admission to the museum; fee payable for historical house tours.

John P McGovern Museum of Health & Medical Science
A fascinating museum, the Museum of Health & Medical Science (part of the world-renowned Texas Medical Center) gives an exciting tour of the human body in the Jim Hickox Amazing Body Pavilion, with huge sculptures of human organs (including a 10-foot tall walk-through brain and a 22-foot long backbone with ribs descending from the ceiling to the floor). There is also a large walk-in eyeball that demonstrates how the eye receives and perceives images, as well as plenty of hands-on and interactive exhibits that explore how the body works and how to stay healthy.

1515 Hermann Drive, Museum District
Tel: (713) 942 7054.
Website: www.mhms.org
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 0900-1700 (also open Mondays from Memorial Day to Labour Day), Sun 1200-1700.
Admission fee; free for families Thurs 1600-1900.

Downtown Aquarium
An opportunity to experience an underwater world brimming with hundreds of exotic species in naturalistic ecosystems, all from the safety of the Shark Voyage train which travels through the middle of the tank. Sea life is recreated around various exhibits of different sea life habitats, including a sunken galleon, a coral reef, the Amazon rainforest and the swamplands of Louisiana. In addition there are a number of funfair rides, all with a marine theme.

410 Bagby Street at Memorial
Tel: (713) 223 3474.
Website: www.downtownaquarium.com
Opening hours: Sun-Thu 1000-2200, Fri and Sat 1000-2300.
Admission fee.