OT: Hotels and what to do in Houston.

[chuwy2000]

Hello there gentlemen. I started this thread to get info on hotels and what to do in Houston. My university's football team was invited to the ev1.net Houston Bowl so I am contemplating a trip. Does anyone know if the Park Plaza Hotel across from the street from Reliant Stadium is any good. Any nice hotels near Reliant? Which is the main airport? Which is best to travel into? Any good hotels near that particular airport? Which hotel would be best that is near both reliant and that particular airport? What is there to do as far as shopping is concerned? (the gf is more than likely going with me, so we will shop more than anything else.) Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Conagher]

Hello there gentlemen. I started this thread to get info on hotels and what to do in Houston. My university's football team was invited to the ev1.net Houston Bowl so I am contemplating a trip. Does anyone know if the Park Plaza Hotel across from the street from Reliant Stadium is any good. Any nice hotels near Reliant? Which is the main airport? Which is best to travel into? Any good hotels near that particular airport? Which hotel would be best that is near both reliant and that particular airport? What is there to do as far as shopping is concerned? (the gf is more than likely going with me, so we will shop more than anything else.) Any help is greatly appreciated.The main airport is IAH, a.k.a. Bush Intercontinental, although Hobby Airport is much closer to Reliant.

The best place to shop (or window shop, depending upon your tax bracket) is the Galleria, which is just off the 610 West loop on Westheimer. Anyone in Houston can direct you there. Galveston is about 45 minutes from where you are, and it's a fun place to go. Eat at Gaido's if you get the chance.

[chuwy2000]

The main airport is IAH, a.k.a. Bush Intercontinental, although Hobby Airport is much closer to Reliant.

The best place to shop (or window shop, depending upon your tax bracket) is the Galleria, which is just off the 610 West loop on Westheimer. Anyone in Houston can direct you there. Galveston is about 45 minutes from where you are, and it's a fun place to go. Eat at Gaido's if you get the chance.
Thanks conagher for your response. Ive never been to houston so i was pretty surprised to find out there were two airports. Does it make a difference what airport I go to? Is one nicer than the other or what is the deal? As for hotels, have you heard anything about the hotel near Reliant? Are they any good?

Is the Galleria that expensive? I've heard conflicting things from people. I don't plan to shop til i drop, just be on the look out some deals here and there (It is after C-mas that I would be there, so i won't have much cash anyways). Finally, where is this Gaido's? What kind of food do they have? Again, many thanks for the advice.

[Conagher]

Thanks conagher for your response. Ive never been to houston so i was pretty surprised to find out there were two airports. Does it make a difference what airport I go to? Is one nicer than the other or what is the deal? As for hotels, have you heard anything about the hotel near Reliant? Are they any good?

Is the Galleria that expensive? I've heard conflicting things from people. I don't plan to shop til i drop, just be on the look out some deals here and there (It is after C-mas that I would be there, so i won't have much cash anyways). Finally, where is this Gaido's? What kind of food do they have? Again, many thanks for the advice.I think it's easier and/or cheaper to fly into IAH. I don't know much about Hobby, just that it's closer to Reliant. Also, having never stayed at any of them, I don't know about the hotels there. Rest assured they are more expensive, though.

The Galleria's expensive, yes. It's nice to browse but it's hard on the wallet. There's Baytown Mall and an outlet store both on I-45 towards Galveston, which is right by Reliant. Gaido's is a seafood restaurant in Galveston on the Seawall. It's really good and you can pick up a combo plate for around $15 if I recall correctly. Mostly I'd stay right around I-45 South if I were you. There's no really bad parts you'd run into that I know of and you can go to things like NASA in Clear Lake and Kemah Boardwalk. Moody Gardens is in Galveston and is supposed to be good.

[chuwy2000]

Well it looks like I will be traveling into Bush International. More than likely I will be in a hotel near Reliant Stadium. Is driving around Houston pretty easy? How is traffic (Im guessing bad) What, if any, neighborhoods should I avoid? What roads should I stick to and which should I avoid? Many thanks conagher, hope you dont mind all the questions Hopefully I'll get a chance to goging to Galveston to eat at that sea food place.

[bford]

Well it looks like I will be traveling into Bush International. More than likely I will be in a hotel near Reliant Stadium. Is driving around Houston pretty easy? How is traffic (Im guessing bad) What, if any, neighborhoods should I avoid? What roads should I stick to and which should I avoid? Many thanks conagher, hope you dont mind all the questions Hopefully I'll get a chance to goging to Galveston to eat at that sea food place.


The Galleria area is only ten minutes from Reliant going the 610 loop.
Downtown is also very nice now. My wife and I recently used Hotwire and stayed at The Intercontinental Hotel, which is right by the Galleria. It's a four star hotel and we stayed there for 78 dollars a night. There are a couple of good hotels right by Reliant, but I can't remember their names. There are some great restaurants in Houston for sure. Lots of Tex-Mex and steak places. For a good hamburger, go to Westheimer and stop by Pappas Hamburgers. It's only a few blocks down from the Galleria. If your looking for an expensive steak, try the Capitol Grille or Pappas Brothers Steak House. Both are on Westheimer. If you can't make it all the way down to Galveston, go to The Aquarium downtown. It is a very interesting seafood place. I'll try to think of more things.

I live close to Houston on the southwest side. I went to the EV1.net bowl last year to watch my school Texas Tech play Navy. We had a great time there. The stadium is awesome. Enjoy your time here. You'll find it a really friendly place for a big city.
Visiting the Nasa Space Center is always fun also. The teams will make a trip there for sure.

[chuwy2000]

The Galleria area is only ten minutes from Reliant going the 610 loop.
Downtown is also very nice now. My wife and I recently used Hotwire and stayed at The Intercontinental Hotel, which is right by the Galleria. It's a four star hotel and we stayed there for 78 dollars a night. There are a couple of good hotels right by Reliant, but I can't remember their names. There are some great restaurants in Houston for sure. Lots of Tex-Mex and steak places. For a good hamburger, go to Westheimer and stop by Pappas Hamburgers. It's only a few blocks down from the Galleria. If your looking for an expensive steak, try the Capitol Grille or Pappas Brothers Steak House. Both are on Westheimer. If you can't make it all the way down to Galveston, go to The Aquarium downtown. It is a very interesting seafood place. I'll try to think of more things.

I live close to Houston on the southwest side. I went to the EV1.net bowl last year to watch my school Texas Tech play Navy. We had a great time there. The stadium is awesome. Enjoy your time here. You'll find it a really friendly place for a big city.
Visiting the Nasa Space Center is always fun also. The teams will make a trip there for sure.
Well it looks like we will be facingf Iowa State in the bowl. Looking forward to the game.

Thanks bford for all the advice. Your suggestions sound good, keep them coming. Would the places you suggested be considered the places to try while Houston? The Nasa Center is definetly on of the places I want to go to.

Using loop 610, will it give me access to everywhere I want/may want to go to? (Reliant, The Galleria, NASA, Bush Inernational)

Thanks a bunch bford and Conagher. Hope you guy don't mind me asking so many questions.

[bford]

Well it looks like we will be facingf Iowa State in the bowl. Looking forward to the game.

Thanks bford for all the advice. Your suggestions sound good, keep them coming. Would the places you suggested be considered the places to try while Houston? The Nasa Center is definetly on of the places I want to go to.

Using loop 610, will it give me access to everywhere I want/may want to go to? (Reliant, The Galleria, NASA, Bush Inernational)

Thanks a bunch bford and Conagher. Hope you guy don't mind me asking so many questions.

The loop will hit every major highway in the city. Nasa is pretty easy to find. You just take 610 around to I-45 South and turn when you see the Nasa Road One sign. Then it's many blocks down to the Space Center. There is a lot of cool stuff to do there, and if you have kids it's pretty fun for them also.

You should have a very good atmosphere for the game. Iowa State travels really well. UTEP fans should be excited to be in a bowl game again also. Should be a good game. I'll be pulling for my fellow Texans.

Once you know the hotel where you are staying at, then we should be able to help you out some more. If you want some great BBQ you can try and make it to Goode Company BBQ on Kirby street. Kirby runs right by Reliant so it shouldn't be to hard to find. You would also pass Rice Village on the way and there is some good shopping there also. Now it is several miles and many red lights from the stadium, but I eat there as often as possible and I live about fifty minutes away from Goode Company.

Looks like I'll be in San Antonio for Texas Tech vs Ohio State at the Alamo Bowl. Should be fun. I like going to SA.

peace

bford

[chuwy2000]

Any time UTEP is in a bowl, one better try to go cause it doesn't happen often. (4th winning season in about 30 yrs.) I can't wait. TT-OSU sounds like a good game. Best of luck to the Red Raiders. TT plays UTEP on Saturday at a sold out Don Haskins Center. Be interesting if any of our fans will be able to get to "the General"

I obtained a detailed map of Houston. Quick question, what kind of neighborhood is Reliant situated in? I am leaning towards a hotel near the stadium. I noticed on the map that there aren’t that many streets on the southern part of Kirby after the 610. In fact I see there is a wide area without much streets or ativity south of AstroWorld according to the map. Why is that?

[bford]

Any time UTEP is in a bowl, one better try to go cause it doesn't happen often. (4th winning season in about 30 yrs.) I can't wait. TT-OSU sounds like a good game. Best of luck to the Red Raiders. TT plays UTEP on Saturday at a sold out Don Haskins Center. Be interesting if any of our fans will be able to get to "the General"

I obtained a detailed map of Houston. Quick question, what kind of neighborhood is Reliant situated in? I am leaning towards a hotel near the stadium. I noticed on the map that there aren’t that many streets on the southern part of Kirby after the 610. In fact I see there is a wide area without much streets or ativity south of AstroWorld according to the map. Why is that?


The neighborhood around Reliant is mostly just stores and things like that. It's not a big residential area. There are two Hotels right next to the Stadium, and you'd be fine at either. I just can't remember what brands they are. Maybe if you call someone at Reliant, they can tell you. I really think one is a Holiday Inn, but I'm not real positive.

Next time I drive around that way, I'll let you know. There's a chance I may be going to do some Christmas shopping around the Galleria, so I'll drive right by then.

bford

[mjtate]

I would look at hotels in other areas of Houston. There isn't much around Reliant except for the complex and Astroworld (6 Flags). I would check out downtown. There are many more bar and clubs there, and some pretty decent hotels. You can get to the game by the Light Rail, which goes from downtown to reliant via main street. Galleria area is another good spot, less bars/clubs, but tons of shopping/restaurants. You'd have to drive from there to the stadium, but honestly, the EV1 bowl isn't that big in Houston yet to traffic may not be too bad.

[anderson]

When you get into town, pick up a copy of the Houston Press (http://www.houstonpress.com/). It lists restaurants and other stuff that you may want to check out. I suppose some people read the articles, but the restaurant and bar listings are most useful. It'll also list concerts and shows at most venues around town that week.

Couple of additional random thoughts:

Hotels near Reliant would be most convenient, but I agree that you may want to consider getting a hotel downtown. The hotels downtown are all within reasonable walking distance of a MetroRail station.

Here's info on the MetroRail line (http://www.ridemetro.org/motion/lrt/railintro2.asp). It includes a link to a map with the stops.

If you stay near Reliant, you probably want a place that's on Kirby Drive or Old Spanish Trail (OST). If on Kirby, then you probably want to stay between the South Loop (I-610) and OST. If on OST, you generally want to stay between Kirby and Fannin. South Main also has some new and remodeled places, but you may not want to go south of 610. There's not much on your map south of 610 and the AstroWorld area because there just isn't much there. You probably want to stay north of the South Loop. Coincidentally, there's an article in today's Houston Chronicle about development in that area that may give you a better feel:

Stubborn South Loop area primed to develop (http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2931497)

As for stuff to do:

As suggested earlier, the Rice Village is great for shopping and dining and so forth -- lots of retail, varied dining (both in cuisine and prices), and several popular bars (e.g., Gingerman, Woodrow's, etc.).

IIRC, the bowl game is on Dec. 29, so if you're still in town and want to see some live college basketball featuring a couple of WAC-to-CUSA fellow travellers, Rice hosts SMU on the 30th (go owls).

Definitely go to Space Center Houston. It's a fairly unique thing. There's also the San Jacinto Monument if you're into Texas history -- the monument is also next to the Battleship Texas.

Houston also has a decent assortment of museums ( www.houstonmuseumdistrict.org/institutions.htm) and most of them are easily accessible by rail.

If you enjoy the arts, various venues downtown offer quite a bit (theatres, symphony, ballet, opera), but I suspect that much may not be scheduled at that time of year.

Good luck to UTEP.

[chuwy2000]

Well Colorado is officially our opponent. It will be a good matchup.

Thanks alot gentlemen you have been unbelievably helpful. If I would of known about the rail line, I would of definetly gotten a hotel downtown. As of now I got reservations at a hotel on Kirby, across from Reliant Park. The hotel being near the stadium and me not having to drive there on gameday were the deciding factors (although it was mentioned that traffic wouldn't e that bad). Its good to know that there is rail line nearby, I can go to Downtown. I've never been to Houston, so I am really excited. I am a little nervous on driving there though.

Thanks for the article, that helped out a lot. I wanted to know because I did not want to stay at a hotel that would force me to drive a good ditance to attraction. In a way thats exactly what happened. If I would of had more time to make the reservation, I would of preffered to have gotten a hotel near the Galleria or downtown. BTW how far is Katy?

Again gentlemen many thanks for your help, I really appreciate it. So now that I know where I am staying, what places to eat should I check out. Which are the best burger, steak, pizza and mexican places? Other notable places?

[Conagher]

So now that I know where I am staying, what places to eat should I check out. Which are the best burger, steak, pizza and mexican places? Other notable places?Anything with "Pappa" in front of it is good food. They have a Mexican place, a seafood place, a burger place, some others I think, too. Landry's has a bunch of subsidiary restaurants that are good, too. And Goode Co. runs a seafood and I think a steak place which are some good places to eat.

[anderson]

BTW how far is Katy?
Katy is fairly far - from the Reliant area, you can take 610 (the Loop) to I-10 (the Katy Freeway), then take I-10 westbound all the way to Katy. It'll take you a while. Katy is about 40 miles from downtown, IIRC. Don't try this route anytime near rush hour.

Again gentlemen many thanks for your help, I really appreciate it. So now that I know where I am staying, what places to eat should I check out. Which are the best burger, steak, pizza and mexican places? Other notable places?Well, with a name like chuwy2000, you should try Chuy's. It's excellent Tex-Mex. Take Kirby northbound - go past US 59 and keep going past a couple more major streets (Richmond, then Alabama) until you get to Westheimer. Take a left (westbound) on Westheimer and Chuy's will be on your right.

You can also get to the Rice Village area (lots of restaurants) by taking Kirby northbound. The Village will be on your right off Kirby, between University and Rice. If you pass the Village northbound on Kirby, you'll hit a number of other good places -- Goode Co. Barbeque as well as Good Co. 's Tex-Mex and seafood places before you get to US 59; after you pass US 59, you can get to Pappasito's (Pappa's Tex-Mex place) and Pappadeaux (Pappa's Cajun/seafood place) on Richmond just east of Kirby. There are a variety of other places around there, too -- Ninfa's, Khyber North Indian, etc.

Now I'm hungry.

[chuwy2000]

So what is the weather like around this time of year? How should I pack? Rain Jacket? Fleece?

[Eliezar]

We had snow on Chrismas eve and ice on my windshield last night. Rain is always likely at this time of the year as we get some between each new weather front. The weather changes a lot.

Gaido's is one of the best seafood restaurantes in the country, but is a bit expensive and is in Galveston which is a drive.

There are more good places to eat in the areas around the Galleria and Reliant than you could possibly list or imagine.

The Galleria has cool side attractions like the water wall and ice skating or the outlet mall in katy while being a nice drive away will have a few deals and has a theatre.

Houston is pretty easy to get around by car although a few areas have terrible traffic around rush hours (59 from 288 to 610, and I10 from from downtown to katy).

Oh yeah. And for every good "Mexican" food place in Houston there are probably 3 bad ones. And since there is a law that requires there to be a balance between Mexican Food restaurantes and Starbucks in Houston you will be seeing a Mexican Restaurante wherever you go.

[Hosscat]

I bet there's going to be less than 500 CU fans at this game (aka The Sexual Devience Bowl) ..... CU fans just don't travel unless it's really good bowl game and they especially don't travel to Texas as a general rule.

[chuwy2000]

aka The Sexual Devience Bowl .
??
CU fans just don't travel unless it's really good bowl game and they especially don't travel to Texas as a general rule.
Why is that? Texas not very appealing to CU fans?

[chuwy2000]

We had snow on Chrismas eve and ice on my windshield last night. Rain is always likely at this time of the year as we get some between each new weather front. The weather changes a lot.

Gaido's is one of the best seafood restaurantes in the country, but is a bit expensive and is in Galveston which is a drive.

There are more good places to eat in the areas around the Galleria and Reliant than you could possibly list or imagine.

The Galleria has cool side attractions like the water wall and ice skating or the outlet mall in katy while being a nice drive away will have a few deals and has a theatre.

Houston is pretty easy to get around by car although a few areas have terrible traffic around rush hours (59 from 288 to 610, and I10 from from downtown to katy).

Oh yeah. And for every good "Mexican" food place in Houston there are probably 3 bad ones. And since there is a law that requires there to be a balance between Mexican Food restaurantes and Starbucks in Houston you will be seeing a Mexican Restaurante wherever you go.
I should pack for anything then. Im really looking forward to visiting Houston and the game.