Must-see attractions in East Texas

Commissioned by Dominique and John de Menil (also founders of the Menil Collection) in 1964 to create a nondenominational chapel, American abstract…

This 445-acre park is home to playgrounds, a lake with paddleboats, a picturesque Japanese Garden, the Hermann Park Miniature Train and the Houston Zoo…

The Menil Collection is considered one of the most important privately assembled art collections of the twentieth century and is a Houston highlight…

This sinuous 160-acre city park follows Buffalo Bayou west from downtown, with easy pedestrian access and plentiful parking en route. Sweeping views…

Don’t even dream you’ll see the whole of this colossal and absolutely stellar museum – the most popular in Texas – in a single visit. The permanent…

Dream of landing on the moon? You can’t get closer than the visitor center/museum alongside NASA's Johnson Space Center, where interactive displays…

This state historic site preserves and recreates parts of the original settlement that numbered 200 people in 1835. Make sure to watch the visitor center…

Romantics, be prepared to swoon: home to the country’s biggest domestic supply of roses, Tyler is also home to this 14-acre garden with 38,000 plants in…

Caddo Lake State Park is a good place to start your lake adventure. Take an interpretive hike through the cypress forest on the lake’s western edge. Or,…

Whether you agree with the former president's politics or not, it's hard not to be fascinated by this museum. Exhibits trace George HW Bush's life and…

A hallowed site for some Texans, this 1100-acre park is where Texas fought for – and won – its independence in 1836. You can learn about the battle by…

This nationally renowned palace of art starts its displays with ‘Splendors of the Ancient World’, and has a fine collection of pre-Columbian golden…

A superbly curated and presented museum offers an in-depth education on the context, history and aftermath of not only the holocaust itself but of Nazi…

These recently opened gardens have a spiral climbing hill that affords views of the construction cranes poking up through the skyline. It also has…

It's as impressive as it is sad: this never-used Saturn V rocket, a specimen of the most powerful rocket ever used by the US, which took astronauts to the…

Several Sam Houston–related buildings are located in a 15-acre park on the campus of Sam Houston State University, just south of downtown. The museum…

Camp Ford was the largest prisoner of war (POW) camp run by the Confederacy west of the Mississippi. Opened in 1863, it held over 5000 Union prisoners;…

Remnants of Texas’ Native American past are few and far between. So the 1200-year-old ceremonial mounds at Caddoan Mounds State Historic Site, just 25…

This historic cemetery received its first customer in 1837 and was soon the preferred resting place for a variety of early Texas pioneers. Note how early…

In the center, this museum was opened by the organizer of the annual Houston quilt show. Two refurbished mid-19th-century buildings make an excellent home…