The USMNT will continue its winning streak against Mexico on May 8, and I hope as many fans as possible will get to see it. This is a good time of year to be in Houston. It is not too hot yet and the humidity will not kill you. Lots of people hate Houston, but it is actually a nice city. Texas barbecue restaurants are all over the place and are excellent. Most are buffets that offer different kinds of barbecue sauce to put on your meats. We only have a couple of places like this in Chicago. Traffic in Houston is awful so keep that in mind when making plans. Here is a list of hotels near Reliant Stadium: I called a couple and they are pretty expensive, at least $100 per night. http://www.houstontexans.com/fans/index.cfm?page_type=sub&cont_id=114739 Houston also has a youth hostel, but I am not prepared to recommend it yet. It is open and has dorm beds. Private rooms require reservations. http://www.hostels.com/us.tx.ho.html Galveston is charming and has an outstanding youth hostel with a pool. But it is pretty far from the stadium. http://www.sandpipermotel.com/
Traffic is very bad in Houston, especially near Relaint Arena around rush hour, which is when the game is starting. Anyone coming from out of town: I recommned you try to get to the stadium early. Parking has also been recently a disaster during the Houston Rodeo. That said, early May should give us some nice weather and I expect the stadium to be packed. I just hope the US supporters will make their presence known.
Y'all come on down. FWIW, about 10 years ago I met some German students travelling through the US who checked into the hostel here and decided to get out. They ended up staying in a sleazy fleabag motel in what was then a notoriously bad part of town. Maybe the hostel's changed a great deal since then - just offering the only account of the place that I've ever heard. You probably don't need to pay $100+/night for a decent place to stay in Houston - assuming that you're willing to stay in clean, national chain types of moderate places. The areas with plenty of lodging that are comparatively convenient to Reliant would include places that are referred to as "Inside the Loop" (which refers to Loop 610). Among places Inside the Loop, look for and ask about distance references to the Medical Center, Rice University, The Village and West University Area - and of course, Reliant and Astroworld - if you want to get as close as possible. There are hotels right next to Reliant, but they're probably more expensive than similar places just a couple miles away. You can get something much cheaper at the same or even better quality levels if you stay "Outside the Loop", but as Thomas points out, traffic will be terrible on a weeknight. If you think it would be helpful, I (and I'm sure others, too) will be glad to track down some more detailed web sources later or help answer any Houston-related questions.
Thanks, Anderson for the information. Houston has an outstanding opera, the Houston Grand Opera. They will perform Massenet's Manon on May 6 and 9. Unfortunately, the Houston Symphony is on strike. http://www.houstonsymphony.org/press_release.jsp?catid=105&contid=50
You guys may want to try booking a room at the University og Houston Hilton Hotel... its fairly cheap and great service. most of the people working there are students.. they have a restaurant in there... you can also go across into the university center and eat there... May 8.... thats near finals.... and probabaly some good parties ..lot of wool walking around campus http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/hotels/...ex=6,0,65,0&bhdirex=6,0,1,6118&bhcont=offline
forgot to add... if you decide to stay at UH Hilton... Reliant is about 10 minutes with traffic....if you want to avoid the freeways all you do is get on Calhoun, take a right on Old Spanish Trail pass 288 until you hit Reliant Complex Area.... you cant miss it. I forgot the street name ..but you will see the stadium.
rdl thanks for the excellent information as always. San Antonio is 2 hours or so away and it is a lovely city. The youth hostel there is one of the top 10 in the world. It is an old army stockade redone as a bed and breakfast with a nice pool. There is also a hostel with dorms and it is not so expensive.
useful (but slow loading) map If you go to this site, click on "Reliant Park" and it'll (eventually) bring up a diagram of the Reliant complex that shows the names of the side streets and locations of parking lots (but with Texans prices). Old Spanish Trail ("OST"), which rdl mentions above, is a major east-west road that runs just north of the area on this diagram. Most of the north-south roads (Fannin, Kirby, South Main) on the diagram intersect with OST (as well as with the South Loop freeway). There's also an inset map of the main freeways in the Houston area with general driving directions. http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/special/02/reliant/graphics.html ... Btw, you may also want to look for reasonably priced lodging in the Hobby Airport area (not to be confused with Intercontinetal Airport). The Hobby area is outside the loop, but not far from the southeastern corner of Loop 610 and very close to I-45 (aka, the "Gulf Freeway" in this part of town). You could take side roads (probably Bellfort) to get to 288 (the "South Freeway").
A big thanks from me as well. I'll use this info. if I can go, and I'm trying my damnest to make it work.
I would stay out of the Hobby Airport area. Not the best part of town. Your best bet would be to stay on the south side of town though. If your looking for just a place to stay, you can stay in the Reliant area mentioned above. If you are looking for a cheaper place to stay, shoot for Beltway 8 and south on I-45. You shouldn't have to fight rush hour traffic getting to the game as you are going the opposite way. It will be about a 25 minute drive into the game, but it will be cheaper cost wise. (probably can get a room for $40-60 dollars per night).
Houston is near many interesting places if people want to take Friday off and do a little trip. Galveston and San Antonio are not far and well worth the trip. A bigger trip would be to drive west and see America's Outback, in Big Bend National Park. This is a very special place with few visitors. You could also go as far as El Paso and go across to Mexico. Mexican border towns are not really representative of Mexico but Ciudad Juarez is still worth a look.
These are going to be some wild side trips. San Antonio is at least 3 hours from Houston. El Paso is closer to 12-14 hours, and Big Bend National Park has to be at least 10 hours away. Galveston is the only reasonable trip outside of Houston for a short visit to the area. It has an historic downtown area and some nice beaches (but the water is a murky brown). From Reliant Stadium, Galveston is about an hour.
I am just giving some suggestions if people want to make a weekend out of it. Big Bend is rarely visited and is worth the drive. You could easily visit San Antonio as a day trip and make it back to Houston without killing yourself if you so choose. So is San Antonio. Many consider it to be one of the most interesting cities in the U.S.
if ya got some time... Austin, San Antonio, and a couple of other places are feasible day trips: Austin has some nice hill and lake scenery, lots of live music downtown, the State Capitol bldg (bigger than the US Capitol bldg, of course), and the LBJ Presidential Museum at UT. San Antonio has the Alamo, San Antonio Missions National Park, the Riverwalk, and a SeaWorld. Lake Charles, Louisiana, is in the same driving range and has a few casinos - nothing particularly impressive, but if you like to gamble, it’s an easy day/night trip. College Station is also in the same distance range and is the home of Texas A&M and the George Bush Presidential Museum. ... As for touristy stuff in the Houston area itself, well, this just ain’t a tourist town, but here are some additional suggestions: NASA’s Johnson Space Center (“Space Center Houston” is the official visitor’s area) is great if you have any interest in the space program and offers something really unique. I think it’s by far the best tourist stop in Houston. San Jacinto Monument/Museum and the Battleship Texas are separate attractions, but located very close to each other. The monument is the largest column type monument in the world (bigger than the Washington Monument, of course) and marks the site of General Sam Houston’s victory for Texas independence from Mexico. The Battleship Texas is an interesting visit if you’ve never been aboard that sort of vessel. If you go to Galveston, the Strand is the historic area mentioned above. There’s also Moody Gardens, which has an aquarium, a tropical rainforest, an IMAX, and a few other things along those lines. There’s also the brand new $38 million Downtown Aquarium that features a shark tank, piranhas, etc. in several themed exhibit areas. If you like tracks of various sorts - Gulf Greyhound Park offers greyhound racing in the city of LaMarque, near Galveston; Sam Houston Race Park offers thoroughbred racing on the north side of town. If you like baseball and/or want to check out a super snazzy ballpark, the Astros host a day game at MinuteMaid Park on May 8 and a night game on May 7 (v. Pirates). Rice has the top ranked college baseball team in the country (just beat defending nat’l champ Texas last night), a really nice new ballpark, and will host a night game on May 7 (v. Sam Houston State, a very decent baseball program).
Lake Charles is lame. If you you like to gamble then come on over, but other than that, don't expect much more. The only thing that keeps it interesting for me is the pot. There are a few strip clubs but they are more for going to have a good laugh than seeing hot chicks. I sure won't be here on May 8th though, my ass is going to be in Houston. I can't wait.
Houston is the ************. Get barbecue at Goode & Co., and if you can make it down to Galveston stop at Benno's for cajun seafood you won't forget. Alex
BBQ Goode & Co is good. They have a seafood restaurant, Fajita type restaurant, and the barbecue restaurant. For somereason, its too commercialized now and lost some of its flavor. The best BBQ is probably Gabbys. All you can eat ribs on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Their chopped beef sandwhiches are awsome. (its on N. Shepard right outside the 610 loop on the left hand side). Steaks IF you guys want Steak.....hmmmmm... Pappas Bros. Steakhouse. Its pricy but great stuff. You will spend at least 70-80 or more. Ruth & Chris. Also great steaks. Mortons. Pricy but good. San Francisco Steakhouse. pricy but great Taste of Texas... probabaly the cheapest of the ones ive named, but my 2nd favorite steakhouse. I would recommend this one. Its not too pricy but the steaks are great. The baked potatoes are big. Cajun, Soulfood On Scott (near the University of Houston) there are a couple mom and pop restaurants that sell POBoys, Cajun food, and Soul Food. They are actually pretty good. I ate Soul Food for the first time not too long ago. I was kind of skeptical at first, so a buddy of mine took me to this soul food buffet just so i can get a feel for everything...WOWWW free refills on the koolaid!! Name of the place is called Viola's Budan Soulfood buffet... or something along those lines. money is tight but still want to eat good You got of course the taquerias, mexican restaurants, chinese buffets, etc... Chinese/Asian: Lucky Village #2 on Westheimer & Fountain view (its either fountainview or chimney rock... on of the 2) Timmy Chan's on Scott heading towards OST...near UH (real CHeap, good, and you get alot) just outside the george r brown convention center in downtown... are a lot of asian businesses. They have some cheap chinese buffets around there and are good. On Milam and Travis St.. there are a lot of vietnamese restaurants and chinese restaurants as well. Pho Cong Ly is a great noodle restaurant. you order a bowl and you probabaly wont finish it. cost you about 5-7 dollars depending what type of noodles you get. Padu. Great thai food. from 11-2 pm m-f they have a buffet. not a lot of variety...but the food sure makes up for it. Its in the Rice Village. American: Steak Kountry Buffet on I-10 (katy freeway) near IKEA (forgot the the name of the exit sorry) cheap but good. BW-3. best wings in Houston IMO. Its in the Rice Village.
For anyone interested in World Music, Palestianian oud player Simon Shaheen will be in Houston on May 9th. A friend in Houston told me about it. I haven't been able to find anything concrete on it yet, but will post that as soon as he sends it to me. Shaheen is an amazing player and this will be an interesting performance.
Hotels in Houston I'm working with the folks in Houston to arrange a Sam's Army group discount at a hotel near Reliant stadium for the game on May 8th. Stay tuned... Ed
Can any Reliant veterans shed some light on the parking situation? Ticketmaster is selling $10 parking passes. Do I need one, or can I pay at the gate? (I will be getting there 3-4 hours early to tailgate). The Reliant parking map shows a bunch of color-coded lots. Are all open to the general public? Which ones are the easiest to deal with? Thanks in advance. GB
If you are leaving that early, it will not be difficult for you to get into the game and figure it all out. I bought a parking pass, just to make it easier since I might be pushing it time wise with work and all. There are plenty of signs when you approach Reliant indicating where to go and pay to park. Don't quote me on this, but I think the Yellow one is typically the one that they allow you to go in and pay and park.
parking Just as an additional thought, there's also a limited amount of game-day parking in some private lots along a street called Naomi on the East side of Reliant Park, between the South Loop (I-610) and Holly Hall Drive. They charged between $10-20 during the rodeo. I don't know if they'll be open for this game, but it may be worth a drive-by if you don't already have a parking pass.
couple thoughts first off..hey all..been away awhile..i have been talking with the metro(bus)about bus routes and such to reliant..also have told them that other host cities (bham,boston)have arranged shuttles for fans and it would be a big snafu for us texans to not offer the same.maybe one of the houstonians could post the bus routes and fares if shuttles don't happen.. if fans are making a weekend of it.thurs thru sunday fly into houston rent a car ..thurs nats..fri: san antonio(ih 10 west) spend the nite then (i35n)to dallas on saturday for the burn-wiz match leave sun(45 s) back to houston for flight home..all the spring flowers on highways should be in full bloom it is something to see..sa about 2-3 hours from hou..dall from sa about 5.5 hours..dal-hou about 3 hrs.. not that my friends is a soccer filled trip..frank