38 Best Sights in Houston and Galveston, Texas

Alfred Finn, a Houston architect, designed this 570-foot-tall monument, which rises over the site (in nearby La Porte) where Sam Houston triumphed over General Antonio López de Santa Anna in the final battle of the Texas Revolution of 1836. The cenotaph, built between 1936 and 1939, is made of concrete and 100-million-year-old Cordova shellstone quarried north of Austin. At its top rests a nine-point, 35-foot-tall star weighing 220 tons. The park also includes the San Jacinto Museum of History; The Jesse H. Jones Theater for Texas Studies, which shows a movie about the battle called Texas Forever!; the Battleship Texas; and the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Library, covering Texas history.

The entire family will have a fun time at this water park, located on the bay side of the island. Schlitterbahn features speed slides, lazy river rides, uphill water coasters, a wave pool (with surfing), and water playgrounds for the little ones. There's even a heated indoor water park for chilly winter months. During summer, less expensive afternoon-only rates are in effect, and ticket prices drop in the off-season. Closing times vary by the season, so outside of the busiest months of June through August, verify closing times on the park's website, or call for exact hours.

The Seawall on the gulf-side waterfront attracts runners, cyclists, and rollerbladers. Just below it is a long, free beach near many big hotels and resorts.

Stewart Beach Park has a bathhouse, amusement park, bumper boats, miniature-golf course, and a water coaster in addition to saltwater and sand. It's open weekdays 9 to 5, weekends 8 to 6, from March through May; weekdays 8 to 6 and weekends 8 to 7, from June through September; and weekends 9 to 5 during the first two weekends of October.

The world's largest medical center is just a few blocks south of the Museum District. As you drive down Main Street, the soaring glass towers and sprawling campuses of the 1,000-acre complex begin to take shape. About 5.5 million patients are treated in the center each year, and its 46 member institutions include two medical schools, 13 renowned hospitals, 4 nursing schools, and schools of dentistry, public health, and pharmacy.

Aboard the restored 1877 tall ship Elissa, detailed interpretive signs provide information about the shipping trade in the 1800s, including the routes and cargoes this ship carried into Galveston. Inside the museum building is a replica of the historic wharf and a one-of-a-kind computer database containing the names of more than 133,000 immigrants who entered the United States through Galveston after 1837.

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.