HOUSTON
The Space City offers planners an endless array of attractions for groups, featuring 19 art institutions, more than 10,000 restaurants, and a 17-block theater district. But Houston is also teeming with new activity, from major hotel developments to recently opened entertainment venues.
DAY 1: OUTDOOR ENTERTAINMENT
10:00 AM
Get your group's heart rate up by taking California Beach Cruisers through the city's most historic downtown neighborhoods. The Bayou City Bike Tours' Downtown History Tour brings participants pedaling through the city's past during a three-hour guided program.
1:00 PM
The River Oaks District added 250,000 square feet of retail and restaurants to the city's roster of high-end shopping when it officially opened earlier this year.
7:00 PM
The five-acre White Oak Music Hall recently opened one mile north of Houston's downtown in the Near North Side neighborhood. The venue has a small indoor stage that seats 200 guests, a two-story concert hall with tiered seating for 1,000 attendees, and an outdoor space called "The Lawn" for up to 2,000 people.
DAY 2: SPACE AND SPICE
10:00 AM
The Johnson Space Center recently opened Independence Plaza, where guests can enter a full-scale replica of the Independence space shuttle and its NASA 905 ferry aircraft. Additional areas allow guests to experience the cramped living quarters of astronauts, while exhibits on the flight deck show how the astronauts piloted the orbiter during missions. Independence Plaza can accommodate up to 100 guests for events.
1:00 PM
Explore the eccentric neighborhood of Montrose by foot while tasting a variety of cuisines, from regional Mexican to modern American to Italian. Once primarily a residential community, Montrose now serves as a backdrop to Houston Culinary Tours' Montrose Dine Around that combines a cultural, historical, and architectural experience. The operator also offers chef-led food tours called "Where the Chefs Eat."
DAY 3: OUT TO THE BALLGAME
12:00 PM
Head to the Houston Astros' famed Minute Maid Park for a behind-the-scenes tour through one of baseball's most historic stadiums. At this ballpark, built on the site of Houston's Union Station, groups are taken through the original railway hub, in addition to the stadium's broadcasting booth, press box, luxury suites, dugouts, bullpens, and manual scoreboard. The pregame tour package gives groups an opportunity to see the stadium sights and sounds prior to the gates opening.
6:00 PM
A new addition to the downtown scene is the Prohibition Supperclub and Bar, which serves dinner and drinks in a 1920s-era setting. Several dinner shows are available in the venue's theater and feature vaudeville, burlesque, or Broadway-style entertainment. Group discounts are available and include a prix fixe dinner and ticket to the show.
This article appears in the June 2016 issue of Successful Meetings.