Travel Ideas The best day trips from Houston

Posted: 02/09/2007--25/11/2008 || Rate this Article: 3 || Views|| Sign In || Register ||Hello Guest

Houston is the largest city in Texas, and has many attractions, but sometimes a day trip out of the city is fun. There are many interesting areas surrounding Houston that are good possibilities for interesting day trips. Here are some of my favorite day trips from Houston.

The Texas Renaissance Festival is held near Plantersville during the months of October and November and is a 2-3 hour drive from Houston. The RenFest is lots of fun for everyone in the family and provides an unusual experience for all. You can go dressed in a Renaissance costume, or just have fun looking at all the elaborate outfits worn by the actors and visitors to the festival. There are many different types of entertainment, including more than 20 different stage shows, musical acts, street performers, animal performances, jousting tournaments, and a grand parade of all the costumed characters. There are more than 300 shops selling crafts that were popular during the Renaissance time period, clothing, and souvenirs. Sixty food and beverage vendors sell roasted turkey legs, apple dumplings, kebabs, huge pretzels, Scotch eggs, ale, and other yummy treats from the past. There are so many things to see and do at the RenFest, so its good to have a plan if you dont want to miss the best attractions. Get a schedule of events when you enter the festival and decide what you want to see; most shows are repeated many times over the course of the day so its possible to catch all your favorites if you plan. Get your hand dipped in wax, laugh at the mud-eating wrestlers, visit Gutenbergs Printing Press, and throw a tomato at the heckler in Sherwood Forest. If its your first time at the festival, youll have a great time listening to the Old English accents of the actors and vendors; if youve been before, theres always a new experience ready for you at the Texas Renaissance Festival.

Old Town Spring, located north of Houston on I-45, is a great place to visit if you want to spend a day shopping or enjoying a holiday festival. There are more than 150 small shops there, housed in old homes and selling a variety of goods and services such as clothing, craft supplies, childrens toys, antiques, and garden accessories. There are several restaurants and tea rooms that serve lunch, and you can park your car and walk around to all of the shops and architecture. Wunsche Bros. Caf is a fun place to eat; its in an unusual building built in 1902, and the menu includes their tasty Wunsche burgers, chicken-fried steak, sausage crumb salad, and desserts like chocolate whiskey cake and buttermilk pecan pie. Tin tubs of iced drinks will keep you cool outdoors if you have a wait for a table, and they have live music some nights. There are more than ten other restaurants and tea rooms at Old Town Spring, and festivals are held throughout the year. Its a great place to get holiday decorations and ideas, and the buildings are always beautifully decorated during the festivals.

Kemah is a small town 20 miles from downtown Houston, and it has many attractions for a day trip. There are many restaurants and shops at the Kemah Boardwalk, and a Ferris wheel, carousel, train, and quite a few thrill rides to keep the kids occupied. Among the several restaurants is the Aquarium, which has giant tanks full of colorful fish you can watch as you eat the delicious seafood. There is musical entertainment, frequent festivals such as a jazz fest and holiday events, and a hotel at the Kemah Boardwalk; the area is very popular on weekends and is usually quite crowded, but new attractions are constantly being added.

Galveston is located east of Houston on I-45 and is a popular day trip from Houston. Galveston is a beach town and has many attractions along the seawall, as well as The Strand, an arts district along the waterfront full of shops, theaters, museums, and restaurants. Moody Gardens, Galvestons most popular attraction, is a complex that includes a rainforest pyramid, 3D IMAX theater, aquarium pyramid, beach, paddlewheel boat, and convention hotel. You can ride the Bolivar Ferry over to the peninsula and drive down to Crystal Beach, or visit Stewart Beach or West Beach on Galveston Island. There are annual festivals throughout the year, such as Dickens on the Strand during December, and a sand castle building contest during the summer. Youll always find plenty of things to do on a day trip to Galveston.

The San Jacinto Battleground and Battleship Texas are east of Houston near LaPorte, and the 1,200 acre site includes a 604 tall monument, an 8-acre reflecting pool, the San Jacinto Museum of History, the battleground, and the battleship. Its fun to go to the top of the monument and get a good view of the battleground, read the names of all the Texas heroes on the base of the monument, or look at the interesting displays in the museum. The Battleship Texas has a self-guided tour that takes you down to the engine room, way up high to the bridge, and allows you to see how the crew lived for months at a time in the cramped quarters. Theres a film called Texas Forever! The Battle of San Jacinto near the museum that will inform you about the fight for Texas independence, and you can wander around on the battleground and read the markers that tell details of the battle. There are some great picnic spots in the park, and a visit to the San Jacinto Battleground makes a great day trip from Houston.

There are many other interesting places within a few hours of Houston. Space Center Houston has exciting interactive exhibits at the NASA site in Clear Lake City, the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston has World War II-vintage planes you can view, and the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands has frequent concerts in an amphitheater setting. With a little planning, you can take many enjoyable day trips from Houston.