Here is an article with a good list of things to do if you want to see Houston like a local. This list is legit.
There is a home game at Minute Maid Park on Friday evening at 7pm, Houston Atros vs. Seattle Mariners. Fireworks after the game. There is also a game on Sunday at 1pm.
Old water cistern turned into an art space. Worth touring even without art installations!
Adjacent to NASA's Johnson Space Center, about 30 minutes SE of downtown. Houston's top tourist destination. Includes tram tours that enter the NASA site.
A brewery tour on bikes, this company was started by a friend of Michele's and is a great way to get to know a Houston neighborhood and try beer at some of Houston's awesome breweries. If you want to visit a brewery without going on a bike tour, the website has a map with all the Houston breweries. Pick one or 5 to visit!!
A fun place for kids. It's in Hermann Park, a large park near the Museum District, Medical Center, and Rice University. Miller Theater is within the park, which holds outdoor performances in the warm months. It's also a great place to walk.
Historically, ice houses sold ice before refrigerators were a thing. They began selling beer and convenience items and became neighborhood hangouts. Now, they mostly sell beer, but there is still no air conditioning and they are still nice places to hang out. West Alabama Ice House is one of the most well known. Google "ice houses in Houston" to find one near you. Great modern takes are Moon Tower Inn, Kirby Icehouse, Axelrad, and Truck Yard. Many sell liquor and food as well.
One of the best museums in Houston. Also recommended are the Museum of Fine Arts and the Menil & Rothko Chapel.
Urban park Downtown. Perfect for families. There is a playground, fountains to jump in, art installations, restaurants in and around the park, and there are often performances or movie screenings.
Michele's favorite place to run in Houston. Beautiful views of the downtown skyline. Run, walk, rent a bicycle, or rent a kayak. Bring a picnic. Visit the Buffalo Bayou Cistern. Eat at the Dunlavy restaurant. Watch the bats emerge from the Waugh Street bridge at sunset. Walk along the bayou downtown - Sesquicentennial Park, activate the "Big Bubble", Allen's Landing.
This is the most popular place to run in Houston, with a 3 mile loop.
The theater district is downtown, as well as Minutemaid Park (Astros), an aquarium, parks (Discovery Green, Market Square, Sam Houston, Allen's Landing), live music venues, shopping, and tons of restaurants and bars. See the Downtown Houston website for a calendar of events and a full list of restaurants and bars. There are 2 great food halls: the Conservatory and Finn Hall.
The East Downtown neighborhood, just on the other side of the highway from Downtown, is home of the MLS soccer stadium (Dynamos & Dash), several great breweries (8th Wonder, True Anomaly, Sigma), wall after wall of murals and street art, live music venues (Warehouse Live), and a number of clubs, bars, and restaurants. This neighborhood used to be a warehouse district and is now becoming more residential.
The Houston Heights is a residential neighborhood with beautiful historical houses. There is also good shopping, and great dining and nightlife. Check out 19th and 11th Streets. Two great live music venues, Fitzgerald's and White Oak Music Hall, are here.
Monstrose is the most eclectic neighborhood in Houston. Great food, nightlife, coffee. Shop for antiques, or get a tattoo!!
A great place for shopping, dining, and nightlife. Hermann Park is nearby, as is Rice University. Rice has a running trail around the university, as well as an interesting art exhibition called "Skyspace." Be sure to make reservations for this one-of-a-kind light show.
If you love Asian food, this is the place to come! It's not as pretty as a lot of big city Chinatowns (it's made up of a bunch of strip malls), but the food is as good! If crawfish are still in season when you are here (late June is pushing it), we recommend visiting Crawfish & Noodles for Vietnamese Crawfish, a style of preparing boiled crawfish that has taken over the Cajun style here in Houston.
Eat Mexican / Tex-Mex!! Navigation Boulevard has a cluster of great Mexican restaurant, including the famous Ninfa's, and also Villas Arcos (tacos). You will find good Mexican anywhere in the city. If you end up near NASA, we highly recommend Taqueria Chalupas.
One of the best places to shop in Houston. There are some nice cafes as well. And it is close to the Galleria, Houston's premier mall (which we avoid at all costs, but to each their own!)
A great place for family fun. There is an amusement park, shopping, and dining. For adults, there are lots of good restaurants, all near the water. We recommend Tookie's Seafood, which is just north of Kemah in Seabrook. There is also a bomb Thai place in Seabrook, called Merlion.
For anyone who lives anywhere but the South Coast west of New Orleans, you may not be impressed by the beauty of the beaches in Galveston. But the unique character of the place, the history, and the amount of things to do make up for it. Aside from the beach, there is a pleasure pier (amusement park), Moody Gardens (aquarium, rainforest exhibit, and various other attractions), Schlitterbahn (water park), various museums (oil rig, train, etc), Galveston Island Brewery, the historic downtown "Strand", historic mansions, great restaurants and bars. You can even rent a golf cart to ride around in! Galveston is about a 1.5 hour drive from Houston.
Houston doesn't have an extensive or user friendly public transportation system. But the light rail is an easy option for getting between downtown and the Museum District / Medical Center or U of H.
Stay late to enjoy Houston's 4th of July events, including the huge Freedom Over Texas Festival in Eleanor Tinsley Park near downtown.
Come early to attend the Houston Price Festival and Parade! The parade is 8pm - 11pm on June 22 in downtown Houston.