<p>Hi,
We shall be accompanying our daughter who is going for graduate studies at Rice university. This will be our first visit to USA. We are coming from India. Please suggest what interesting things to see in and around Rice university and Houston, which nearby cities in Texas we can visit and what are some safe hotels(budget) we can stay. Your suggestions will help me to use our stay more useful. We will be in USA for 10 days.
Motso</p>
<p>Hotels near Rice:
Rice</a> University | Explore Rice
Retaurants near Rice:
<a href="http://www.ruf.rice.edu/%7Eois/docs/Rice.Village.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~ois/docs/Rice.Village.pdf</a></p>
<p>hope this helps!</p>
<p>My favorite hotel so far is the Four Points Sheraton on 59 @ Kirby. The rooms are VERY nice and run about $75 (+ taxes) per night. This is assuming you'll have a car while in the area.</p>
<p>I suggest visiting the museum(s) across the street in Hermann Park, especially the permanent live butterfly exhibit.</p>
<p>When we visited in April (from California), we enjoyed going to Galveston, less than an hour's drive south.</p>
<ul>
<li>recommend having a GPS in your car. saves you a lot of time.</li>
<li>we visited Rice before, really nice school in a nice area of Houston.<br></li>
<li>in Houston, some highways are ez-pass only. for a first-time visitor, it got a little confusing for us. </li>
<li>i agree with berkeleyMom, visit Galveston. chill by the beach.</li>
<li>San Antonio is cool. park downtown, see the Alamo, and walk around the city by the Riverwalk.</li>
<li>Dallas is another possibility for you. park downtown, and revisit history specifically the JFK assassination at the Sixth Floor Museum. The exact place where it all happened is not far from the Museum.<br></li>
<li>Texas is really hot this time of year. </li>
<li>have fun.</li>
</ul>
<p>Definitely visit the museums near Rice, and Hermann Park and the zoo.</p>
<p>And the Texas Medical Center..you cant miss it, just across the street.</p>
<p>I should hope that you don't have to visit the Texas Medical Center!</p>
<p>There are ton of things to do in Houston! </p>
<p>As mentioned, plenty of museums...The Houston Museum of Natural Science is really cool and actually not expensive. You can go shopping at the Houston Galleria (HUGE, excellent stores...my favorite part of Houston :) ). We also have the Houston Zoo. Rice Village is actually a beautiful part of Houston. There are very nice homes and offices there that make for interesting sight-seeing. There are a ton of eclectic shops, clubs, and bars right there by Rice U. If you go into mid-town, there are a lot of bars and clubs also.
If you're willing to drive the hour to Galveston, stop by Moody Gardens. Galveston is not the prettiest beach, but there are some fun little shops and restaurants down there.</p>