Things to do in Houston

Culture · Inside the Loop, south of downtown

Nineteen museums within a mile and a half, an unusual number of them free, plus the Menil's campus of small galleries in a residential neighbourhood.

Local tip: The Menil is free, always, and the Rothko Chapel next to it is a non-denominational room with fourteen Rothko paintings — sit for twenty minutes rather than walking through. The Museum of Fine Arts is free on Thursdays.

Nature · West of downtown

160 acres of restored bayou parkland with trails, kayak launches and the Waugh Bridge bat colony, running right up to the skyline.

Local tip: The bats emerge from under the Waugh Drive bridge at dusk, year-round, and almost nobody outside the city knows they are there. The park is designed to flood — it does, regularly, and it is the clearest physical lesson in how the city works.

Food · South-west Houston, outside the Loop

Six miles of Vietnamese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean and Malaysian restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets in strip malls.

Local tip: This is where Houston actually eats. Hong Kong City Mall and the Vietnamese bakeries around Beechnut are the anchors, and almost nothing here has a website. Go hungry, on a Sunday, and follow the queues.

Landmark · Clear Lake, 40 minutes south-east

The visitor centre for NASA's human spaceflight headquarters, with a Saturn V lying on its side in a purpose-built hall.

Local tip: The tram tour to the historic Apollo mission control room is the reason to come and it sells out — book the timed add-on rather than assuming you can add it on the day.

Neighborhood · Inside the Loop

The two neighbourhoods that carry most of Houston's bar, restaurant and independent retail life, one bohemian and one bungalow-lined.

Local tip: The Heights has a genuine quirk: parts of it are legally dry, a hangover from a 1912 prohibition ordinance that restaurants work around with private-club memberships. It is not a joke and it does affect where you can buy a bottle of wine.

Landmark · Buffalo Bayou Park, west of downtown

An abandoned 1926 underground drinking-water reservoir — 87,000 square feet of columns under eight inches of still water, with a 17-second echo.

Local tip: It was slated for demolition, rediscovered in 2010 and is now open for timed tours and sound installations. It is twenty minutes from downtown, holds about forty people at a time, and is the single most surprising thing in the city. Book ahead; walk-ups rarely get in.