10 Best Sights in Downtown/Theater District, Houston and Galveston

Northwest of Tranquility Park, this 1939 modernist structure of Texas limestone was designed by Joseph Finger, Houston's premier architect of the time. There's a visitor center on the ground floor.

This 12-acre greenspace across from the George R. Brown Convention Center features Wi-Fi access, a lake, a model-boat pond, an amphitheater, and The Grove, serving steaks, seafood, and acclaimed burgers.

A Landry's property with a themed restaurant, this one's a lot of fun for the kids. There's a giant Ferris wheel, arcade games, and rides, plus an enormous aquarium with exhibits that include a Louisiana swamp, a 17th century shipwreck, a tropical rain forest, a shark voyage, and an exhibit featuring white tigers.

Got a date? On your way to visit a friend at the hospital? Or perhaps for some reason you need fresh tulips at 3 am? The 24-hour Fannin Flower District is filled with shops offering super-cheap flowers, plants, and arrangements any time, night or day. While you're there, you can stock up on garish knickknacks like teddy bears, bonsai trees, giant topiary monkeys, and helium balloons, plus greeting cards.

This massive convention center on the east side of downtown, one of the 10 largest in the nation, is named for Houston entrepreneur, civic leader, and philanthropist George R. Brown. Adjacent to the hotel are the Discovery Green Park and the Hilton Americas-Houston, which is connected to the convention center via several skywalks. With 1,800,000 square feet, the center hosts the nation's largest quilt show, as well international technology conferences like ITEC.

Get a quick overview of Houston by taking in the entire urban panorama from the 60th-floor observation deck of Texas's tallest building (weekdays 8–5). Architect I. M. Pei designed this 75-story structure, built in 1981.

The Houston Astros play in this modern-but-retro baseball stadium, which has a retractable roof and a monster a/c system to defy Houston's frequently changing weather. Upper-deck seats on the first base side have great views of the downtown skyline—even when the roof is closed, due to a very cool retractable glass wall. The stadium incorporates Houston's 1911 Union Station (designed by Warren and Wetmore of New York's Grand Central Station fame), which houses the ball club offices, retail stores, and eateries. Heavy hitters can rent out Union Station's rooftop, which has views into the stadium from above.

Houston's first and oldest municipal park contains nine historic structures and a museum gallery. The Kellum-Noble House is Houston's oldest standing brick structure still on its original foundation. If you're visiting around the holidays, try to catch the annual Candlelight Tour in the Park, when costumed actors give tours of the park's homes.

The National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets, the WNBA's Comets, and the American Hockey League's Houston Aeros play in this downtown arena. Concerts and other events are also held here.

This cool oasis of fountains and walkways was built to commemorate the first landing on the moon by the Apollo 11 mission. The terrain of mounds and depressions throughout the two-block park evokes the cratered surface of the moon, and the fountain's stainless steel cylinders are designed to resemble rocket boosters.