expedia
Skip to main content

Discover Houston: A Self-Guided City Tour

By CloudGuide S.L
Free cancellation available
Price is £6 per adult
See tickets

Features

  • Free cancellation available
  • 6h 30m
  • Mobile voucher
  • Instant confirmation

Overview

Explore Houston's space-age ambition and Texas hospitality with our self-guided tour, discovering this iconic city at your own pace. Begin in the Theatre District, where 17 city centre blocks include the Alley Theatre, Wortham Centre, and Jones Hall, serving 2.5 million annual patrons across 8 performing arts organisations. Travel 25 miles south to NASA's Johnson Space Centre, where Space Centre Houston displays the 363-foot Saturn V rocket, the Independence Plaza shuttle replica, and lunar samples from the Apollo missions. Visit NRG Stadium, a 72,220-capacity retractable-roof venue beside the historic Astrodome, the world's first domed stadium when it opened in 1965.
Explore the 4,000-piece Menil Collection, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston's 65,000-work collection, and Hermann Park's Japanese Garden. Stroll Montrose's LGBTQ+ district with vintage shops and the Rothko Chapel's 14 iconic canvases. Watch 250,000 Mexican free-tailed bats emerge at sunset along Buffalo Bayou.

Activity location

  • Hermann Park
    • 6201A Hermann Park Dr,
    • 77030-1709, Houston, Texas, United States

Meeting/Redemption Point

  • Discovery Green
    • 1500 McKinney Street
    • 77010, Houston, Texas, United States

Check availability

Discover Houston: A Self-Guided City Tour

  • Activity duration is 6 hours and 30 minutes6h 30m
    6h 30m
  • English
Language options: English
Price details
£6.04 x 1 Adult£6.04
Total
Price is £6.04

Discover Houston Self Guided City Tour

  • Activity duration is 6 hours and 30 minutes6h 30m
    6h 30m
  • English
Language options: English
Price details
£6.04 x 1 Adult£6.04
Total
Price is £6.04

What's included, what's not

  • What's includedWhat's included
    Digital Map.
  • What's includedWhat's included
    Access to the audio guide for 50+ Houston attractions and hidden spots.
  • What's includedWhat's included
    Self-guided walking tour (app)
  • What's includedWhat's included
    NO in-person guide or physical equipment (bring your own device & headphones)
  • What's excludedWhat's excluded
    Private transport
  • What's excludedWhat's excluded
    Entrance fees, in-person guide, headphones, transport, parking, food,Wi-Fi or cellular data, rentals

Know before you book

  • Not recommended for travellers with spinal injuries
  • Not recommended for travellers with poor cardiovascular health
  • Public transport options are available nearby
  • Suitable for all physical fitness levels
  • In accordance with UK consumer law, activities services are not subject to the right of withdrawal. Supplier cancellation policy will apply.
  • This activity is provided by a professional trader (a party acting within their trade, business or profession).

Activity itinerary

Space Center Houston (Pass by)

The official visitor centre of the Johnson Space Centre sits 25 miles south of city centre Houston and displays more than 400 space artefacts, including the Apollo 17 command module, lunar samples returned to Earth, and the Independence Plaza featuring the Shuttle Independence mounted atop Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft NASA 905. The Mission Control Centre tour takes you to the actual room where flight controllers monitored Apollo 11's moon landing, Apollo 13's crisis, and decades of Space Shuttle missions. Annual visitors exceed 1.2 million, with the complex expanded in 2019 to include the Starship Gallery displaying the largest collection of lunar samples visible to the public outside of NASA's vaults.

NRG Stadium (Pass by)

NRG Stadium will host seven 2026 FIFA World Cup matches including a quarterfinal at the 72,220-seat retractable-roof venue that opened in 2002, and shares the NRG Park complex with the iconic 1965 Astrodome, the world's first multi-purpose domed stadium. The Astrodome, while currently closed to the public, remains a cultural landmark remembered for hosting the 1968 Houston Oilers, the original Astros, and Elvis Presley's 1970 concert. NRG Stadium also hosts the Texans and the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo drawing 2.5 million attendees each March.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Pass by)

The Museum of Fine Arts Houston is the largest art museum in Texas with over 65,000 works spanning 6,000 years of world art across two main buildings connected by an underground tunnel featuring James Turrell's The Light Inside. The surrounding Museum District contains 19 museums within a 1.5-mile radius including the Houston Museum of Natural Science (4 million annual visitors), the Menil Collection with 4,000 works in Renzo Piano's first major building, the Rothko Chapel's 14 massive canvases, and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Most offer free admission on Thursdays.

Hermann Park

  • 1h
Hermann Park's 445 acres include the Houston Zoo (6,000 animals), Miller Outdoor Theatre (free professional performances May-October), the McGovern Centennial Gardens, the Japanese Garden designed by Ken Nakajima in 1992, and the Hermann Park Railway that takes riders around the park on miniature trains. The 8-acre McGovern Lake was recently restored and serves as the centrepiece of the park's revitalisation. Sam Houston Monument stands at the park's entrance, honouring the general who commanded the Texas army at the Battle of San Jacinto.

Buffalo Bayou Park

  • 1h
Buffalo Bayou Park stretches 160 acres along the bayou west of city centre, offering 6 miles of hiking and cycling trails, the Johnny Steele Dog Park, outdoor art installations, and guided kayak tours through the chocolate-colored waters. The Waugh Drive Bridge hosts a colony of 250,000 Mexican free-tailed bats that emerge at sunset from March through November in spectacular flocks visible from the pedestrian bridge. The Buffalo Bayou Cistern, a decommissioned 1926 water reservoir beneath the park, offers acoustic art tours through 221 columns and 17-foot ceilings echoing 17 seconds.

Discovery Green

  • 1h
Discovery Green is the 12-acre city centre park that opened in 2008 directly across from NRG Arena and the George R. Brown Convention Centre, hosting over 600 free public events annually including the Winter Lights Festival drawing 500,000 visitors each December. The surrounding Houston Theatre District encompasses 17 blocks with Alley Theatre, Jones Hall, Wortham Centre, and Hobby Centre serving 2.5 million annual patrons. The 6-mile underground Houston Tunnel System connects 95 city blocks with air-conditioned walkways lined with restaurants and shops, essential during Houston's 95°F summers.

Montrose

  • 1h
Montrose emerged as Houston's bohemian counterculture area in the 1960s and now blends LGBTQ+ heritage, vintage shops, and historic bungalows with the 4,000-piece Menil Collection, which John and Dominique de Menil opened in 1987 in Renzo Piano's debut major commission. The adjacent Rothko Chapel features 14 Mark Rothko canvases specifically commissioned for the space, opened in 1971 as a non-denominational spiritual site. The Cy Twombly Gallery and Byzantine Fresco Chapel complete the Menil Campus, all offering free admission across 30 acres of peaceful residential streets.

Rice University Trail

  • 1h
Rice University spans 300 acres of Mediterranean-style campus founded by William Marsh Rice in 1912, with 4,000 undergraduates, the Rice Owls athletics programme, and the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. Adjacent Rice Village is a 16-block pedestrian-friendly shopping district with century-old shopfronts housing 300+ local businesses, restaurants like Del Frisco's and Local Foods Market, plus the weekly Saturday Urban Harvest Farmers Market. The neighborhood's mature oak canopy and walkable scale offer respite from Houston's sprawling suburbs.

Galveston

  • 1h
Galveston sits 50 miles south of Houston on a 32-mile barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico, offering Victorian-era architecture in the Strand Historic District surviving the 1900 hurricane that killed 8,000 people. Moody Gardens' three glass pyramids house rainforest (aquarium with 1.5 million gallons), discovery, and aquarium attractions, while the Pleasure Pier features rides over the water. The Tall Ship Elissa, built in 1877, is preserved as a floating National Historic Landmark. Galveston Beach stretches 32 miles with the iconic Seawall Boulevard promenade.

Location

Activity location

  • LOB_ACTIVITIESLOB_ACTIVITIES
    Hermann Park
    • 6201A Hermann Park Dr,
    • 77030-1709, Houston, Texas, United States

Meeting/Redemption Point

  • PEOPLEPEOPLE
    Discovery Green
    • 1500 McKinney Street
    • 77010, Houston, Texas, United States

Best Deals on Things to Do

Experience the wonders of the world up close with great deals on things to do near and far. Expedia offers one-of-a-kind activities that allow you to explore Houston your way. Whether you love nature, culture, food or a bit of adventure, we have the perfect activity for you.

Top experiences in Houston

With so many things to do in Houston, planning the perfect day out may seem like a daunting task. Expedia is here to take the hassle out of finding the best attractions, tours and activities in Houston. Families, couples and business travellers can all find the perfect activity in Houston to create life-long memories with the help of Expedia.