The Best of Houston Self-Guided Driving Audio Tour

Buffalo Bayou Park

10 min

Next, we'll arrive at the Buffalo Bayou Park, where we'll get a chance to see the enormous cisterns the once quenched the thirst of the entire city! We'll also learn how the city transformed and found new uses for these cisterns once they weren't needed for drinking water any longer.
NOTE: This 39+ mile-long tour covers the essentials of Houston in 2-3 hours.

Sam Houston Park

10 min

Our drive takes us past Sam Houston Park next, where a row of preserved historic homes display how Houstonians from all walks of life lived, from freed slaves building new lives for themselves to affluent merchants.

Houston City Hall

10 min

We'll park at City Hall and hear about the challenges of building it during the Great Depression. We'll also get a good look at the statues of Houston's founders which stand before the hall, and learn about how those statues had to wait over 80 years to be built!

Pennzoil Place

10 min

We'll keep driving until we see Pennzoil Place, a pair of huge black towers looming over Houston. Here, we'll pick up some facts about the imposing buildings and the innovative architect behind them.

Market Square Park

5 min

Our route takes us next through Houston's Historic District, chock full of gorgeous old buildings. We'll also hear about the multiple fires which swept across the old City Hall, and the celebrities like Johnny Carson who have partied in this very district!

JPMorgan Chase Tower

5 min

The next sight we'll see is the Chase Tower, the tallest building in all of Texas. Here, we'll uncover some secrets of its construction, like how the original design was hazardous to air traffic and it sports a helipad that's never been used!

Christ Church Cathedral

5 min

Next, we'll park at the Christ Church Cathedral, Houston’s very first religious congregation which dates back to 1859. We'll also hear about the generous stranger who's responsible for a steer's head being part of the church seal.

Minute Maid Park

5 min

Our route then passes Minute Maid Park, the famous baseball stadium designed to imitate the Golden Age of baseball.

Emancipation Park

5 min

Next, we'll see Emancipation Park, a lovely recreational space with a rich history. We'll hear about emancipation, Juneteenth in Texas, and how this park became an epicenter for the Black community in Houston. Then, we'll get the real facts on some of Houston's most notorious urban legends.

Houston Museum District

5 min

As we drive, we'll enter Houston's Museum District, home to fascinating museums covering everything from Black history to natural science to fine arts and beyond. If you want a really deep dive into the city of Houston, this is the place to be.

Hermann Park

10 min

Next, we'll pass Hermann Park, home to plenty of attractions for the little ones, including an entire zoo featuring cheetahs, chimps, and more!

Rice University

10 min

Our route brings us through the Rice University campus next, where we'll get some insight into the founder and hear about a baffling--and very ambitious--senior prank conducted by an alum known only as "The Mastermind."

William Marsh Rice Statue

5 min

Next, we'll see the subject of the prank itself: the William Marsh Rice Statue, and learn about how the pranksters banded together to protect one of their own from repercussions.

James Turrell's Twilight Epiphany Skyscape

5 min

As we continue through the Rice campus, we'll see the strange, pyramid-shaped building known as Skyspace. Here, we'll get a quick rundown of what this odd building is for, and how you can experience its beautiful sky viewings for yourself.

MacGregor Park

10 min

We'll keep driving past MacGregor Park and listen to the story of how he revolutionized Houston's transit system by replacing the donkeys it relied on for far too long.

MacGregor Park MLK

5 min

At the end of the boulevard, look to the right. You should be able to spot the bronze statue of Dr. King. For a full picture of his life and achievements, check out the African American Culture Museum in Midtown.

Old Spanish Trail

5 min

As we drive, we'll end up on the Old Spanish Trail. Once upon a time, it spanned the entirety of the country! This trail stretched over 2,750 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. Next, we'll look down get the inside scoop on the importance of oil and gas in Texas's development, and look up at the stars to hear about NASA, the infamous Apollo 13 mission, and world-famous astronomer Carl Sagan.

San Jacinto Street

5 min

The San Jacinto Monument is a 567.31-foot-high column located on the Houston Ship Channel in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, near the city of Houston. The monument is topped with a 220-ton star that commemorates the site of the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution.

Discovery Green

5 min

Discovery Green is an 11.78-acre public urban park in Downtown Houston, Texas, bounded by La Branch Street to the west, McKinney Street to the north, Avenida de las Americas to the east, and Lamar Street to the south.

Houston Graffiti Building

5 min

Grouping of industrial structures featuring rotating displays of colorful street art & murals.

Holocaust Museum Houston

5 min

The Holocaust Museum Houston is located in Houston's Museum District, in the U.S. state of Texas. The Holocaust memorial museum is the fourth largest in the U.S., and opened in 1996. A major commitment of the Holocaust Museum Houston is education.

The Houston Museum of Natural Science

5 min

The Houston Museum of Natural Science is a natural history museum located on the northern border of Hermann Park.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

5 min

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, located in the Houston Museum District, Houston, is one of the largest museums in the United States. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 6,000 years of history with approximately 70,000 works from six continents.

Children's Museum Houston

5 min

Bustling family museum with a wealth of hands-on activities such as a Bubble Lab & a Tot Spot.

James Turrell's Twilight Epiphany Skyscape

5 min

Built in 2012, the pyramidal structure accommodates 120 people between two levels. Twilight Epiphany is acoustically engineered to host musical performances and to act as a laboratory for Shepherd School of Music students. Constructed of grass, concrete, stone and composite steel, the structure is equipped with an LED light sequence that projects onto the ceiling and through an aperture in the 72-foot square knife-edge roof during sunrise and at sunset. Turrell's composition of light complements the natural light present at twilight, and transforms the Skyspace into a locale for experiencing beauty and reflecting on the surrounding campus and the natural world.

The Health Museum

5 min

The John P. McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science, or The Health Museum in short, is a museum in the Museum District of Houston, Texas. The museum is a member institution of the Texas Medical Center.