Houston Attractions

Museum District

Set within a scenic part of central Houston is the city's Museum District, featuring 16 varied and interesting institutions and numerous restaurants set among some lovely green spaces like Hermann Park. One of the highlights in the area is the Byzantine Fresco Chapel on the corner of Branard and Yupon Streets containing 13th century frescoes from Cyprus. There is also a children's museum, contemporary arts museum and the Houston Holocaust Museum. One of the most interesting museums in the district is the Museum of Health and Medical Science, which features a walk-through re-creation of the human body. The Menil Museum has a collection of contemporary, surrealistic and 20th century art in an interesting building at Sul Ross. In Hermann Park is the comprehensive Museum of Natural Science and Planetarium, the Houston Zoo and a Japanese Garden.

Telephone: (713) 715 1939; Website: www.houstonmuseumdistrict.org; Opening time: Various; Admission: Most institutions have free admission, otherwise entry fees range from $2-9 for adults

The Orange Show

The Orange Show

For a touch of the bizarre call at the Orange Show to see how obsession can become art. A former postman spent 26 years of his life assembling a collection of weird and wonderful objects and meshing them together into a labyrinth of passages and staircases, almost all of it orange. The result is a quirky curiosity, which is billed as 'folk art'.

Address: 2402 Munger Street; Telephone: (713) 926 6368; Website: www.orangeshow.org; Opening time: Wednesday to Friday 9am to 1pm; Saturday and Sunday 12pm to 5pm (31 May to 6 September). Saturday and Sunday only 12pm to 5pm (10 March to 31 May and 6 September to mid-December); Admission: $1

Sam Houston Historical Park

The Sam Houston Historical Park near the city’s visitor centre in Bagby Street provides visitors with a large as life look at Houston history. The 19-acre park features seven of the city’s oldest buildings that have been restored and relocated here. The oldest building is a small 1826 cabin that originally stood at Clear Lake, while one of the more recent is the 17-room home built in 1905 for oil field pioneer Henry T. Staiti.

Address: 1100 Bagby Street; Telephone: (713) 655 1912; E-mail: info@heritagesociety.org; Website: www.heritagesociety.org; Opening time: Museum hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 4pm, Sundays 1pm to 4pm. Historic House tours: Tuesday to Saturday 10am, 11.30am, 1pm and 2.30pm, Sundays 1pm and 2.30pm; Admission: $6 (adults) for Historic House tours; Museum gallery free

Bayou Bend

The magnificent muted pink mansion in the marshy elbow of Buffalo Bayou in Houston's River Oaks area was the home of Miss Ima Hogg, a woman much loved in the community until her death in 1975, at the age of 93. Miss Hogg left her home and the gracious gardens that surround it as a legacy for the city. The house contains a remarkable collection of Americana and is regarded as a cultural treasure, with several thousand objects displayed in 28 period room settings in the mansion. Miss Hogg designed the gardens as outdoor living rooms, fed by bayou waters, and today they continue to provide a peaceful oasis in the heart of the metropolis planted with indigenous species as well as exotics like azaleas, camellias and magnolias.

Address: 1 Westcott Street; Telephone: (713) 639 7750; Website: www.mfah.org/bayoubend; Opening time: Saturday and Sunday 1pm to 5pm. Guided tours are available Tuesday to Friday 10am to 2.45pm and Saturday 10am to 11.15am, but advance reservations are necessary. No guided tours in August. The gardens are open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 1pm to 5pm; Admission: $10 (adults), $5 (children 10-17). Admission to the gardens is $3 (adults)

National Museum of Funeral History

At Barren Springs near Houston’s International Airport is the unusual private museum run by a major funeral company in the United States, dedicated to funeral memorabilia. Customs, rituals and traditions associated with burial from ancient Egypt to the present day are covered in this interesting institution. Highlights of the collection are restored horse-drawn and vintage automobile hearses, and a unique 1916 Packard funeral bus. The museum also features a gallery devoted to the funerals of the famous, containing memorabilia from the funerals of Elvis Presley, John F. Kennedy and Rudolph Valentino.

Address: 415 Barren Springs Drive; Telephone: (281) 876 3063; E-mail: info@nmfh.org; Website: www.nmfh.org; Opening time: Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm; Saturday and Sunday 12pm to 4pm; Admission: $6 (adults), $3 (children)