If you follow football then you know that Houston is the home of next year’s Super Bowl. This means a few things; the city’s economy will be booming in February, it will be crawling with more people/tourists and traffic will be at it’s worst. People will be flocking to the NFL activities and the big game, but I wanted to share a few other great spots in the city that should be visited.
If you want to do a little bit of shopping you could always hit up the Galleria, but I feel like you’ll get the best bang for your buck and spend less time waiting to get into an actual store if you venture just outside of the city limits and hit up one of the local outlet malls. We have 2 in the Houston area, north of town and south, so you should be able to drive (or Uber) to an outlet mall near you! Houston Premium Outlet is just north of town and it’s a Simon company so it has some of my favorites. I can get lost for hours there at stores like Gap Factory, Kate Spade, Lane Bryant, New York & Co, Off the 5th, Sperry and Tory Burch. And that’s just a few stores there. If you’re staying closer to the south side, near Galveston, I would suggest you venture to the Tanger Outlets. They have a lot of the same stores as the Houston Premium Outlet, so I seriously recommend just going to the one close to you.
If you want to get a bit of culture and enjoy the cool air conditioning I recommend you venture over to the museum district. There’s like 5 museums in a 5 mile radius near downtown that provide hours of education and entertainment. The entry fees are little to none and the exhibits in the museums are totally worth it. I’ve seen some of the most awesome art exhibits and some really neat history ones like the King Tut exhibit that was here a few years ago. And bonus points – you can usually find free parking if you decide to actually drive to the area instead of catching the MetroRail there.
The football season just started so we don’t know which two teams will be going head to head next February, but I know that there will be so many fans crawling the city looking for a good bar. There are so many in Houston! We have entire streets that have great bars, niche-y and the regular ones on Washington and in the Midtown area. So many karaoke bars if that’s your thing (because it’s definitely mine) and kickback type bars. I would say hit me up for bar recommendations, but in all honesty my friend Meg is the best person to ask for those. So just know that if you ask me, I’ll just consult with her.
Oh, and I can’t forget about one of the major places that this city is known for. I haven’t been there in years, so I’m not sure what attractions are there now but NASA is open to the public. Go live out your childhood fantasies and reenact some scenes from Apollo 13. You know you want to!
I remember the last time the Super Bowl was here, I was in high school and this city was swarming with visitors. I know that all of those people didn’t have tickets to the show and I’m sure it’ll be the same this time. I know that my suggestions are just a drop in the bucket of the activities that are going to be going on that weekend, but I hope they help! Do any of y’all plan on visiting the city during that weekend? Comment below or reach out on Twitter and let me know!