Houston

Houston is the most populous city in Texas and the fourth most populous city in the United States. Aside from its people, it is also vast in terms of land area. While urban sprawl is associated with Houston, the districts closest to Downtown provide tourists with a diverse range of options in a very compact area. Houston is cosmopolitan and diversified, with some of the biggest Latino, African American, and Asian American populations in the country. It offers a varied museum and cultural culture, dynamic shopping, and has become a booming foodie attraction.

The Theater District is a 17-block district in downtown Houston that includes the Bayou Place entertainment complex, restaurants, movie theaters, plazas, and parks. Bayou Place is a multilevel structure that has full-service restaurants, bars, live music, billiards, and Sundance Cinema. Live concerts, stage plays, and stand-up comedy are all performed at the Bayou Music Center. NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center’s official visitor center is Space Center Houston. The Space Center has several interactive displays, such as moon rocks, a shuttle simulator, and lectures on NASA’s human space flight program’s history. Other tourist attractions in the Uptown District include the Galleria (Texas’ biggest retail mall), Old Market Square, the Downtown Aquarium, and Sam Houston Race Park.

Houston’s contemporary Chinatown and the Mahatma Gandhi District deserve special note. Both locations provide a lovely glimpse of Houston’s diverse population. Both districts include restaurants, bakeries, traditional-clothing businesses, and speciality shops.

Hermann Park, Terry Hershey Park, Lake Houston Park, Memorial Park, Tranquility Park, Sesquicentennial Park, Discovery Green, and Sam Houston Park are among the 337 parks in Houston. The Houston Zoo and the Houston Museum of Natural Science are both located inside Hermann Park. Sam Houston Park is home to restored and recreated mansions erected between 1823 and 1905. Herman Brown Park has been proposed as the site for the city’s first botanic garden.

Houston has the greatest overall area of parks and green space, 56,405 acres, among the ten most populous cities in the United States (228 km2). The city also manages over 200 more green areas totalling over 19,600 acres (79 km2), including the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. The Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark is a public skatepark owned and administered by the city of Houston. It is one of the biggest skateparks in Texas, with a 30,000-square-foot (2,800-square-meter) in-ground facility. The Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park, situated in the city’s Uptown District, is a famous tourist attraction as well as a venue for weddings and other special events. According to a 2011 Walk Score assessment, Houston is the 23rd most walkable of the 50 biggest cities in the United States. Wet’n’Wild SplashTown is a water park on Houston’s northwestern outskirts.

Princess Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line both stop at the Bayport Cruise Terminal in the Houston Ship Channel.

Houston has a distinct personality that is both “Texan” and a tremendous melting pot of different ethnicities and socioeconomic classes. Well-to-do suburban homes, LA-style commercial strips, Latin-American neighborhoods, towering skyscrapers, historic African-American neighborhoods battling gentrification, vast refinery complexes, big Asian populations, and pockets of artist communities may all be found. The weather is typically favorable from October to May, and many restaurants and pubs take advantage of it with lots of outside seating and gorgeous lighting. In contrast to the rest of Texas, Houston’s closeness to the Gulf of Mexico makes it a lush, tropical paradise.

Houston is, in some ways, the gritty step-cousin of rich Dallas and middle-class hippy Austin. Outside of Rodeo season, you won’t see many cowboys or enormous hairdos in downtown Houston, but you will witness a wide mix of individuals serving the oilmen, petroleum engineers, and high-end physicians.

Houston is the most populous city in the United States with no discernible zoning. While there is some zoning in the form of laws, deed restrictions, and land use rules, real estate growth in Houston is only limited by the desire of real estate developers and their pockets. Historically, real estate developers have had a considerable effect on Houston politics and legislation; at times, they have controlled the majority of city council seats. As a result of this arrangement, Houston has become an extremely sprawling and automobile-dependent metropolis. The advantage of this absence of zoning is that certain districts, such as Montrose, have a wealth of hidden pubs and art galleries snuggled amid historic neighborhoods, which is not conceivable in zoned cities around the nation.

For those looking for a walkable experience, the regions around downtown are getting increasingly congested and walkable as islands of stylish mixed-use complexes sprout up. Many neighborhoods might be inhospitable to walkers and bicyclists since sidewalks are privately constructed (if at all) and roads are filled with enormous potholes. The city’s economy is based entirely on the energy sector, and practically everyone has a vehicle and drives wherever they go, even to destinations less than a mile away.

With a few exceptions, practically everything to see and do in Houston is located around the 610 Loop, notably between downtown, the Galleria, and the Texas Medical Center.

VISITOR INFORMATION

The Houston Visitors Center is managed by the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau. The center is situated on the first floor of the historic City Hall at 901 Bagby (corner of Bagby and Walker St.) in the heart of downtown Houston. Find out about Houston’s history, sights, restaurants, and hotels, as well as directions and maps. You can also buy Houston goods and watch an 11-minute video about the city. Over 10,000 brochures and publications are available to help you plan your vacation to the Houston region. Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Houston’s climate normally swings from hot and humid in the summer to moderate in the winter. The months of October through April are ideal for visiting to escape the heat. Visitors from locations with warm summers or dry climates should exercise considerable caution while visiting during the summer months, particularly around August. The combination of high heat and high humidity may create suffocating and uncomfortable conditions. It’s far from “dry heat”! Even some Houstonians who have lived there their whole lives have expressed dissatisfaction with the August weather.

Stay hydrated and attempt to minimize outside exposure between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. if visiting in the summer. The evenings are also quite hot, although not as dangerously so as during the day. Visitors from colder, drier climates will be astounded by some of the inhabitants’ tolerance levels. When the temperature exceeds 100 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity exceeds 90%, individuals will be seen wearing long-sleeved shirts, boots, and jeans. But it cannot be overstated: this region is tremendously hot, and if you are not prepared or used to this sort of heat, you will be in for a harsh awakening.

Houston lies 165 miles (266 kilometers) east of Austin, 112 miles (180 kilometers) west of the Louisiana state line, and 250 miles (400 kilometers) south of Dallas. The city has a total area of 656.3 square miles (1,700 km2), comprised of 634.0 square miles (1,642 km2) of land and 22.3 square miles (58 km2) of water, according to the United States Census Bureau. North of Houston lie the Piney Woods. The majority of Houston is situated on the gulf coastal plain, with flora ranging from temperate grassland to woodland. Much of the city was developed on wooded terrain, marshes, swamps, or grassland, all of which are still evident in the surrounding surroundings.

When paired with urban growth, the flatness of the surrounding topography has resulted in floods becoming a frequent concern for the city. Downtown Houston is around 50 feet (15 meters) above sea level, but the highest point in far northwest Houston is approximately 125 feet (38 meters). Historically, the city depended on groundwater, but land subsidence caused it to rely on ground-level water sources like as Lake Houston, Lake Conroe, and Lake Livingston. The city possesses surface water rights for 1.20 billion gallons of water per day, in addition to groundwater rights for 150 million gallons per day.

Houston is crossed by four main bayous. Buffalo Bayou runs through downtown and along the Houston Ship Channel. It has three tributaries: White Oak Bayou, which runs through the Houston Heights neighborhood northwest of Downtown and then toward Downtown; Brays Bayou, which runs alongside the Texas Medical Center; and Sims Bayou, which runs through the southern part of Houston and into downtown Houston. After Galveston, the ship canal extends into the Gulf of Mexico.

Houston is internationally famous for its energy business, notably in the oil and natural gas sectors, as well as for biomedical research and aeronautics. Renewable energy sources—wind and solar—are also contributing to the city’s economic growth. Additionally, the Houston Ship Channel contributes significantly to Houston’s economic basis. Houston has been declared a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network and global management consulting company A.T. Kearney as a result of these qualities. According to statistics given by the US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, the Houston region is the biggest export market in the United States, overtaking New York City in 2013. In 2012, the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan region exported goods worth $110.3 billion. Last year, petroleum products, chemicals, and oil and gas extraction equipment made for almost two-thirds of the metropolitan area’s exports. Mexico, Canada, and Brazil were the top three export destinations.

Houston is a major location for oilfield equipment manufacturing. Much of its success as a petrochemical complex is attributable to the Port of Houston’s bustling ship channel. The port is ranked #1 in international trade in the United States and tenth among the world’s major ports. Unlike in other cities, high oil and gasoline prices benefit Houston’s economy, since a large proportion of the city’s people work in the energy business. Houston serves as the origin or destination for a number of oil, gas, and product pipelines.

The Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land MSA had a gross domestic product (GDP) of $489 billion in 2012, making it the fourth biggest metropolitan area in the United States and greater than the GDPs of Austria, Venezuela, and South Africa. Except for the United States, only 26 nations have a gross domestic product greater than Houston’s regional gross area product (GAP). In 2010, mining (which in Houston is almost entirely comprised of oil and gas exploration and production) accounted for 26.3 percent of Houston’s GAP, a figure that increased significantly in response to rising energy prices and a shrinking global surplus of oil production capacity, followed by engineering services, health services, and manufacturing.

The University of Houston System’s yearly economic effect on the Houston region is comparable to that of a large corporation: $1.1 billion in fresh funds are drawn to the Houston area each year, $3.13 billion in overall economic gain is produced, and 24,000 local jobs are created. This is in addition to the 12,500 new graduates the University of Houston System generates each year who join the Houston and Texas labor markets. These graduates often remain in Houston. After five years, 80.5 percent of graduates remain in the area and work.

In 2006, Forbes magazine placed the Houston metropolitan region first in Texas and third in the United States in the category of “Best Places for Business and Careers.” Foreign countries have built 92 consulate offices in the metropolitan region of Houston, the third-most in the country. Forty foreign governments maintain commercial and trade offices in this city, along with 23 active foreign chambers of commerce and trade groups. In Houston, twenty-five foreign banks from thirteen countries provide financial services to the international population.

Houston was ranked first in Kiplinger’s Personal Finance’s 2008 list of the Best Cities for Personal Finance, which assesses cities based on their local economy, career prospects, affordable housing expenses, and overall quality of life. According to Forbes magazine, the city rated fourth for the largest rise in local technical innovation during the prior 15 years. In the same year, the city was rated second on Fortune magazine’s annual list of the world’s largest corporations, first on Forbes magazine’s list of the Best Cities for College Graduates, and first on Forbes magazine’s list of the Best Cities to Buy a Home. According to Forbes, the city was voted the best for shopping in 2010.

In 2012, Forbes placed Houston as the top city for paycheck value, while in late May 2013, Houston was named America’s top city for job creation.

Houston was named the number one U.S. city for job creation in 2013 by the United States Bureau of Statistics because it was not only the first major city to reclaim all jobs lost during the preceding economic downturn, but also the first to add more than two jobs for every one lost following the crash. Patrick Jankowski, an economist and vice president of research at the Greater Houston Partnership, credited Houston’s success to the region’s real estate and energy companies’ capacity to learn from past failures. Additionally, Jankowski noted that “over 100 foreign-owned enterprises moved, grew, or established new operations in Houston” between 2008 and 2010, indicating that this openness to external business aided job creation amid a time of problematically low local demand. Additionally, Houston was included on Forbes’ 2013 list of the Best Cities for Business and Careers.

PHONE

Houston has various area codes and requires ten-digit dialing. You must dial areacode + number for any number, including those inside your own area code. For local calls, there is no need to prefix the number with a 1+ or a 0+. Certain calls inside Houston are considered long distance, and you must dial 1 + areacode + number to make them.

Houston has the following area codes: 713, 281, 346, and 832.

INTERNET

At George Bush International Airport, Boingo pays for and organizes the wifi connection (wireless network Boingo Hotspot). Additionally, on the Boingo welcome screen, users may pick a (slow) sponsored free internet connection that lasts an hour. Occasionally, after one hour, the next sponsored link may be established.