We have booked a spur of the moment trip to meet up with our DD in Bocca Raton Ft Lauderdale April 2016. We are flying Air NZ direct to Houston, and are staying three nights there before we fly to Ft Lauderdale.

We will not have a car, and have been looking at hotels in downtown Houston which seem to be all quite expensive, as our NZ$ has dropped markedly in relation to the US$. However I was wondering whether it would be better to find a hotel close to a metro station.

Any recommendations for an affordable clean hotel where we have some transport options to different parts of Houston. Have thought about using Priceline. Also looked at VRBO and AIrBNB, there are some possibilities there.

Also appreciate some sight-seeing ideas. I know my DH wants to go to the Space Centre.

It's really hard to navigate Houston without a car - and Houston is a big, sprawling city. Is there a particular reason you want to spend three days there?

The Houston Metro is in early stages of development here . . but enough does exist that would let you see most of the cultural ( Playhouses, Art Museums, Museums, Zoo, ) if you stayed on a hotel close to the line.

A map of the rail system can be found here:

http://www.visithoustontexas.com/tra...on/metro-rail/

The Bus system is designed for daily users and is not very visitor friendly, but can be used with some pre planning.

A rental car for three days would not break the bank and would let you see things outside the city. Of course, we drive on the wrong side here, so take that into ac count

You REALLY need a car in Houston, especially since you want to go out to Clear Lake to see the Space Center (which as a space nut myself, I enjoyed).

Unfortunately, some of the more interesting cities in Texas (e.g. San Antonio and Austin) are at least 2.5 - 3 hours from Houston, not making them viable destinations for your short trip. I might suggest you find a hotel in the Clear Lake area and rent a car to get around. You should be able to find well-priced hotels in this area. This would put you close to the Space Center and to Kemah Boardwalk (which I have not visited, but which I have heard lots of good things about.) You could also easily drive to Galveston Island for a day. It's probably too cold to go in the water in April, but you can walk on the beach, eat some good seafood and visit some of the attractions like Moody Gardens. And, of course, you could drive into Houston itself if you want to visit some of the excellent museums and galleries there.

One museum idea -
http://www.hmns.org/

A tiny "homemade" museum when we were there has evidently moved to a new location -
Buffalo Soldiers Museum
http://buffalosoldiermuseum.com/cate...seum-location/

Eat where fajitas were created - or least first marketed -
http://ninfas.com/

Her story -
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/ente...ed-5466650.php

I would probably use Uber to get around - but a rental car would be better.

You really need a car in Houston, it is a very spread out city and kind of sprawling like LA where I live.
Look into renting from a third party broker like traveljigsaw.com.au which will include all the insurance you need.

Renting a car is not an option. We would be driving on the wrong side of the road to normal, and even though my DH can do it, he would be concentrating so much that he doesn't actual enjoy himself.

We are not meeting our DD until Saturday, so thought we would stay in Houston from the 13th until the Saturday morning the 16th April. Maybe we should fly on to someone else like New Orleans!! Another air fare though.

No need for a car there . . as I said, staying close to the rail line will let you see a lot of Houston, but not NASA or Kemah . . not sure I would want to spend three days here without a car. I don't know how well UBER works here or how much cabs are ( I live here )

Well it's actually only two days, we arrive at 3,30pm after a 15 hour flight so probably won't do much other than sleep when we arrive. We are leaving for Ft Lauderdale mid morning on the Saturday. We will probably spend most of one day at NASA, which just leaves one more day for sight=seeing.

Without a car, you are going to have to either pay a lot of money for a taxi to Space Center Houston (it's 25 miles through heavy traffic from downtown to the Space Center) or for a bus tour. It looks like the bus tours are around $80 per person. A taxi from downtown would probably cost around $80 (and another $80 back from the Space Center.)

I have googled and other tourists have been able to get a bus 246, or 249 from downtown, that can give you at least 5 hours there, and the bus-stop is right at the centre.

Yes, it's possible by bus--about 90 minutes each way. You can use the "Plan Your Trip" feature on the Metro website for details on how to do it.

http://www.ridemetro.org/Pages/index.aspx

Sounds like you have a plan . . have fun!

nelsonian, may I ask what dates you will be in Houston?

PM we get there mid afternoon 13th April and leave mid morning on Saturday 16th April.

Well darn, I was hoping you would be there over a weekend. I go to Houston often for weekends and I would love to drive you to NASA. I haven't been there in many years but it's a lot of fun, especially if you are a space buff.

I stayed last year in Houston at the Hotel of the America's and they had a shuttle for anything within a few miles, which worked nicely.

That being said, we also tried to take the Metro/Bus combo and it is NOT user friendly! Nothing like being in Washington DC or San Francisco... completely frustrating and we lost/wasted several hours of our trip because we just couldn't figure it out.

If you have that short a time, I would stay at the Houstonian, which is a beautiful property with a nice spa near Memorial Park and not far from the Galleria area. You could easily taxi/uber/shuttle where you wished to go and not hassle with a car

I do not believe you would enjoy your stay using only public transportation..

The Houstonian is a bit out of our price range. I have booked the Magnolia hotel at the stage, it is cancellable if I find something else. There seem to be some nice places on AirBNB also.

"I haven't been there in many years but it's a lot of fun, especially if you are a space buff."

What I meant by this is that I haven't been to NASA in many years, not Houston.

I hope something will work for you nelsonian.

Thanks for the thought anyway PM. Another Fodorite who is on Facebook has also got in touch and offered to drive us to NASA.