Update February 6, 2017: CityPASS will be increasing the price on this package on March 1, 2017. Since this article was published in November 19, 2014, the price of the Houston package had increased to $56 USD for adults. On March 1, 2017, that price will increase to $59.
Spending some time in Houston, Texas in the future? From the Houston area? The best value when it comes to enjoying the city’s attractions is via the CityPASS Houston package. For a mere $49 for adults, you can enjoy five of the Houston’s top attractions. This equates to a nearly 50% savings off regular pricing if you were to walk up to each attraction individually. For kids from three to eleven, the rates are even better at $39. If you’re not going to this Southern Texas city, why not?
CityPASS Houston
What is CityPASS? This is a company that works with attactions in a number of North American cities and combines attractions into neat and tidy packages that provide you with incredible savings. The package is best ordered on-line. To get to their official website, click through the ad next to what you’re reading right now.
The tickets must be used over a period of nine consecutive days – plenty of time, especially in Houston with a good portion of the attractions located within walking distance of each other. The nine day period never starts until you want it to start. Once you enter the first attraction, only then does the clock start ticking. Is CityPASS legit? Absolutely. Nothing is shady here – each and every attraction in any of the cities where CityPASS packages are available openly advertise the package option.
What’s included in the Houston package? The Space Center Houston, Downtown Houston Aquarium and the Houston Museum of Natural Science are included in each package. Then, just like school, you have electives. You have a choice between the Houston Zoo or the Kemah Boardwalk and you have a choice between the Houston Children’s Museum and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.
The Space Center and Kemah Boardwalk are out of town, located south towards the Gulf Coast. The Museum of Natural Science, Zoo, Children’s Museum and Museum of Fine Arts are all located in the Hermann Park Area. The Aquarium is located right in the centre of the city, near the junction with Interstate 10 and Interstate 45. For a city with a population of 2.2 million and a metro population of over six million, the main attractions are thankfully clustered.
Some important notes to consider when making your choices: The Children’s Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts are both closed on Mondays while the others are open seven days per week. Depending on your timing, you can get six attractions out of this for no extra cost. The Museum of Fine Arts is always free to enter on Thursdays. If you are a Bank of America cardholder, their are also other options for free entry to the Museum of Fine Arts.
Jump To An Attraction
- Space Center Houston
- Houston Downtown Aquarium
- Houston Museum of Natural Science
- Houston Zoo
- Kemah Boardwalk
- Children’s Museum of Houston
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Space Center Houston
Located at 1601 NASA Parkway, the Space Center is the official visitor’s center of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The Center is located southeast of Houston near Trinity Bay, nearly halfway between downtown and Galveston. Parking is available on-site at a cost of $6.
Regular pricing is $22.95 for adults, $18.95 for those aged 4-11, $21.95 for seniors while those three and under are free. The Center is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm, Saturday 10am to 7pm and Sunday 10am to 6pm.
Affiliated with the Smithsonian, the Space Center opened in 1992. Included is the theatre, tram tours and a selection of space craft, both original and replicas. Food is available on-site in the form of the Zero-G Diner and Starbucks.
By the way, if you plan to visit Houston, Texas and don’t have time to take advantage of all these attractions, there is still a way to get a decent discount on admission to the Space Center. If tickets are ordered online through their official website instead of at the door, it gets you $5 off.
Downtown Aquarium
Located at 410 Bagby Street at Memorial Drive in the downtown core, near the junction of Interstate 45 and Interstate 10. Regular pricing has adults paying $10.99 while seniors 65+ pay $9.99, children under 42″ pay $7.99 and those under two are free. Parking is available onsite for $7. It should be noted that the rides and Stingray Reef are additional.
The Aquarium is open seven days per week. From Monday to Thursday, hours are 10am to 9pm. On Friday and Saturday, the aquarium is open from 10am until 11pm while on Sunday the hours are 10am to 9pm.
Located inside a redeveloped fire station and central waterworks building, the aquarium holds 500,000 gallons that houses over 200 species of aquatic life. There is a full-service restaurant attached, along with an upscale bar, ballroon and amusements.
Houston Museum of Natural Science
Located at 5555 Hermann Park Drive on the grounds of Hermann Park, adjacent to Rice University and just to the southwest of the downtown core. The Houston Museum of Natural Science is open daily from 9am until 5pm and was first opened way back in 1909.
Regular price for general admission is $20 for adults and $15 for children, students and seniors 62 and over. Yes, that’s right – 62 and over, not 55, not 60, not 65. Exhibits at the museum include gems, wildlife, pre-historic wildlife, ancient Egypt, space science and much more. It looks to be similar to the Royal Ontario Museum, an attaction included in the CityPASS Toronto package.
Houston Zoo (alternative choice to the Kemah Boardwalk)
The Houston Zoo is also located on the grounds of Hermann Park, south of the Museum of Natural Science. The official address is 6200 Hermann Park Drive. The zoo is open daily from 9am until 5pm, except for December 25, the only official day the zoo is closed. Regular general admission pricing is $15 for adults, $11 for children 2-11 and $8.50 for seniors 65+.
There is free parking in Hermann Park but the word is that it fills up pretty fast. Exhibits at the Houston Zoo include birds, primates, aquarium, african forest, sea lions, elephants, reptiles and amphibians, children’s zoo, hoofed animals and carnivores.
Kemah Boardwalk (alternative choice to the Houston Zoo)
The Kemah Boardwalk is an amusement park located at 215 Kipp Avenue in Kemah, Texas. Located 20 miles southeast of downtown Houston on the shores of Trinity Bay, the attraction is close to the Houston Space Center.
Regular pricing is $22.98 for those 48″ in height and up and $17.99 for those under 48″. That fee includes unlimited riding on all rides, except the Boardwalk Beast and Stingray Reef, along with all games and the arcade. Boardwalk Beast is a speedboat thrill ride out into the Trinity Bay and Stingray Reef is a hands-on rainforest exhibit.
Rides that are included in the CityPASS Houston fee include the Boardwalk Bullet, a 96 foot tall wooden rollercoaster. The Flare is a 73 foot tall looping coaster. Drop Zone provides visitors with a 140 foot free-fall. The C.P. Huntington Train is a replica of the 1863 steam train with that name. There is also a 65′ high ferris wheel, along with many other smaller rides.
The park first opened in 1997 on a sixty acre plot of land on the coast. Kemah Boardwalk is open Monday to Thursday from 12pm to 9pm, Friday 12pm to 11pm, Saturday 10:30am to 11pm and Sunday from 10:30 in the morning until 10pm.
If you’ve got some cash and this is the highlight of your visit, you might want to consider staying at the Boardwalk Inn, a 56 room boutique hotel located right on site.
The Children’s Museum of Houston (alternate choice to the Museum of Fine Arts)
The CMH is located at 1500 Binz, two blocks north of Hermann Park and near the Museum of Natural Science. Regular pricing has anyone one or older paying $9 while seniors 65+ get a dollar off that price. Entrance includes ALL activities and exhibits. Closed on Mondays, the Children’s Museum is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am until 6pm with hours extended until 8pm on Thursdays. On Sunday, staff sleeps in, opening at 12pm and closing at 6pm.
Originally, the museum opened in 1984 at a different site. The location has been home to the Children’s Museum since 1992 and has been expanded significantly since. In 2011, Parents Magazine named the museum as the best children’s museum in the United States.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (alternate choice to the Children’s Museum)
This museum is located at 1001 Bissonnet, just nort of Hermann Park and the Museum of Natural Science, about 4-5 blocks northwest of the Children’s Museum. Regular admission to the Museum of Fine Arts is $15 for adults, $10 for seniors 65+, $7.50 for students and youths, while children 12 and under get in free.
As mentioned above, the admission is free on Thursdays and Bank of America cardholders have special priviledges that include at least one free admission. Like the Children’s Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts is closed Mondays. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, hours are 10am until 5pm. Thursdays have extended hours, closing at 9m. On Friday and Saturdays, the museum is open from 10am until 7pm. On Sunday, it’s 12:15pm until 7pm.
Established in 1900, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts is one of the largest museums in the United States of America. There are over 64,000 works of art from six continents.
Getting There and Staying There
From a Toronto point of view, Houston is a very affordable destination. Leaving from Buffalo, New York, flights via Southwest Airlines can be had from as low as $246 return, including taxes. Typically, there is one stop along the way and Southwest flies into William P. Hobby Airport (HOU), located about seven miles south of the downtown.
If you want to fly out of Toronto, things get a little more expensive. You’re still going to have to connect somewhere in the U.S. and flights start at around $500 for a return trip. Mostly United and Delta fly out of YYZ and they land at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), located at the far north end of the city.
Hotel pricing is very good. As with the flight pricing, we looked at mid-January, 2015 for some sample rates. Rates were obtained from Hotels.com. There are hotel rooms at chain hotels in Houston as low as $42 per night. There are many options under $75 per night.
