Hi everyone, Newbie Baseball fan here from Bristol, England, UK. Ok, we are thinking of booking a trip to Houston predominantly to catch a few Astros games, flying over 1st June for a week. Few questions: Are we likely to get tickets easily for the Red Sox/Mariners games? Can we do a tour of Minute Maid Park? What should we put on our 'to do' list? Any idea how much the Taxi will cost from George Bush Airport? Thanks in advance for any replies, forgive me if i don't reply straight away (its late over here ya know and i start work early) And lastly, Good luck for the 2018 season! .....Back to Back World Champions...well why not?
Mariners tickets will likely be much easier/cheaper to get than Red Sox. Sox have a huge fan base nationwide and tend to fill up opposing stadiums. I would check Astros.com for tours, I'm not really sure. Taxi will probably be $40-60. There may be some shuttles that go from the airport to downtown but you'd probably have to research whether they would accommodate large luggage. And just so you know...Houston is a great city to live, not the best tourism destination unfortunately. There is a light rail that runs mostly near downtown, but other than that it will be lots of taxi/uber rides. Great city to try different types of food (Mexican, Barbecue, and anything else you think you might want to try is here). In downtown, there is an area called Discovery Green that is nice, but you can really only kill a couple of hours there. Other notables things to see/do: Museum of Natural Science, Houston Rockets playoff game , shopping at Galleria/Cypress Outlet (I have several English and Scottish coworkers that rave about these)
Cheers Die Hard. Yeah we don't have the best transport system here either! Interesting you say catch a Rockets game, i didn't think we'd have a chance of getting tickets, that would be the icing on the cake if we could! Would also like to get to Galveston if its not too difficult or the rodeo. But i'm not hiring a car so may prove expensive.
I agree with Hunted.You speak English well! Don't take a taxi. Take an uber. Also make sure to try Jackson St BBq and whataburger.
Probably best to book your game tickets online as availability at the door can be unpredictable. Mariners should be no problem, but BoSox are a little different unless you want to sit very far from the field of play. I grew up in Houston but haven't been there in over 25 years, so probably couldn't say much about what to do. In the 90s when I left the city, there were great concerts you could go to at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. It's a lovely place to walk around even if the concerts are no longer still going on (they might not be in the summer). Tex-Mex and barbecue foods absolutely must be sampled aplenty. Even if you or your traveling companions are vegetarian, there are plenty of things in the Tex-Mex tradition that are meatless. There is a special type of local/traditional music called Tejano which you can hear at certain clubs (http://traveltips.usatoday.com/tejano-clubs-houston-54972.html). I miss it a lot -- kind of gives you a sense of the Northern Mexican roots of Houston/Texan culture. There might be something interesting going on in Hermann Park in the mornings before it gets too hot. Glad you can make it over. Wishing you have a good time.
You should not have too many issues buying tickets for either series. I do recommend buying the tickets online ahead of time to guarantee admission and to save some money. Information on touring Minute Maid Park: https://www.mlb.com/astros/ballpark/tours For stuff to do in Houston, here are some good suggestions: Houston is a very large city, practically the size of London. If you are in Houston for a week, you should definitely consider renting a car.
Thanks PW. Some good tips there buddy. Might try to catch a show in theatre land too. Jeez this is getting expensive, to be honest i'm not what you'd call a big earner so i maybe getting close to my budget just gettin there and seeing a game! I've seen many sporting events but this is a big one for me, but hoping Houston is a real 'Bucket List' moment.
I work in downtown Houston so here is what I can tell you about downtown Houston.... the eastside of downtown Houston (near Minute Maid Park) is dominated by the George R. Brown convention center which is a absolutely massive convention center. That area also has Discovery Green (a park area). A few blocks south of Discovery Green is the Toyota Center where the Houston Rockets play. In that area there are a lot of hotels (Marriott, Hilton... etc..) and a fair amount of restaurants to accommodate the convention center. If you go west into downtown proper pretty much all you will find is skyscrapers filled with lawyers, bankers, accountants and people who work in oil and gas. There is nothing to see or do here. Main St. has a "night life" area with 8- 12 bars strung together but that is about it culturally. Generally speaking, very few people live in downtown Houston and it doesn't really have much of anything for tourists to see or do. If you want to come in, get a hotel near the ballpark and go to a couple of games and check out a few restaurants that could work. If you want to explore Houston more than that you will find it difficult to get around because Houston is very spread out. A car is mandatory so you will either have to pay people (taxi/uber) to shuttle you around a lot or rent a car. Some local food places I regularly go and enjoy are Pappas family restaurants (they have tex-mex (pappasitos) cajun (pappadeux) bbq (pappas bbq) you get the idea...) and Goode Co. restaurants ... Goode Co. BBQ (my favorite BBQ), Goode Co. Seafood, Goode Co. Taqueria ... etc... If you intend to stay downtown there are some restauranta I would recommend... Pappadeux (on the south end of the George R. Brown Convention center) Pappasitos (inside the Hilton Americas).... "Hearsay" which is in a hotel across the street diagonally from Pappasitos.... Franks Pizza which is one-off pizza parlor which sells by the slice in central downtown... kind of unique and cool... Happy to answer any questions. Good luck.
How to execute a successful Astros weekend: Uber from the airport. Stay in a nice hotel near Minute Maid (walking distance if possible). There are a ton of good ones. JW Marriott was a great deal for us last year. Watch them play a good team (however, if money is an issue, you can save quite a bit by watching a less popular opponent). Food is Houston’s best tourism. Eat steak (Pappas if you can afford it), Tex-Mex (Chuys or Pappasitos), and breakfast (Breakfast Club). Uchi is very good if you like sushi. Gatlin’s bbq is good as well. Some will laugh but I suspect you would also enjoy fast food: Whataburger, Torchy’s, Rudy’s, and Chick-Fil-A make the cut. A lot of international tourists enjoy shopping at the Galleria. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed a typical weekend like this: Friday: check into hotel, go eat steak. Come back to the hotel, have a drink at the bar if you like. Relax. Saturday: go for breakfast at Breakfast Club. Go shopping and have lunch at the Galleria. Back to the hotel in time to leisurely clean up for the game. Hotel bar for a pregame drink. Go to the game. There’s a torchys in Minute Maid, eat there or get a hot dog for nostalgia/tradition. Watch the world champion Astros win. Back to the hotel bar (or another bar near the hotel, there are plenty) to celebrate and have a night cap. Sunday: sleep in, hit up Gatlins or Chuys for an early lunch, head out.
Don't know how many baseball games you've been to, but understand that most people don't mind being chatted up during the game, so don't be afraid to tell people that you're from (way) out of town and ask them many annoying questions. People in Houston are often surprised and elated to discover someone is visiting our city for pleasure and will happily talk your ear off about the team, the city, where you're from, etc. We're friendlier than we look! If you've never been to an MLB game before, you're definitely going to want a hot dog, cracker jack (it's awful) and the largest "lite" beer on offer.
Just be ready for the heat and humidity. It will be around 28C here. If you are planning out door activity do it in the morning. Since you are on a budget there are plenty of great places to eat without spending a fortune. As already mentioned can't miss. Whataburger, Tex-Mex, and BBQ. Rinse repeat. I add in some seafood and steak places. But it's true as food goes we have it all. Some of the best Greek food I've eaten in the world and I've been to Greece twice. If you get home sick my buds from across the pond always hit Richmond Arms for pub food and a few pints. Since you are hitting Minute Maid I would recommend Irma's as a breakfast/lunch drop in for Tex-Mex. Get the "lemonade". There are no menus and the prices are a high for Tex-Mex but the food and local décor is a nice find. It's about 20 bucks a lunch but plenty of food. If you can talk with Irma she's a huge Astro fan. You can walk off the lunch on your way to the ball park. Check out this website for June dates, several shows already on the books. http://www.houstontx.gov/events/ Welcome to Texas! .
York was my favorite town in Northern England. Terry Puhl was my dad's favorite ballplayer. So there's that.
Bristol! Home of one of my favorite groups, Massive Attack. As others have said, in addition to the games, make your trip to Houston all about food. We have awesome restaurants here in every type of cuisine you can think of.
El Tiempo is the spot for Tex Mex imo, best fajitas in town with good margaritas too. There's one on Navigation which is less than a five minute drive from MMP... great place to grub and get liquored up before a game.
This. Chuy's? That place is just nasty. Like the worst "Texmex" in Houston. Case Ole even laughs at their food.
Many locals would probably tell you not to make Galveston a priority, but if you are desperate to see the ocean/beach then it might be worthwhile. The beach itself is not all that pretty, but even for me there is something relaxing about being near the water. Plenty of good restaurants, shopping at the strand, and if you have kids maybe the Pleasure Pier (small carnival/amusement park). You almost certainly need a rental car to get there though but you could check to see if maybe there are some tourist shuttles that go there. Rockets playoff tickets will likely be expensive should they still be playing in early June; and the rodeo is very seasonal, it's only here for a few weeks in March. BTW for Mexican food, my vote goes to El Tiempo with Ninfas on Navigation second. I like Chuy's but it doesn't compare to me.