Off on a lads trip on Saturday to Houston for 2 days before heading to New Orleans for 5 days.

Anyone been and have any must see/must do/must eat stuff.

Never been before. We’ve got a few ideas but willing to be swayed.

Stuart

Prepare for heat, Houston is a bit dull to be honest but the Montrose area has some good places. Fun road trip.

Houston? It’s like a regular city but with everything spread out to be 30 mins apart. Be ready for taxi fares a plenty.

Top tip for Houston, go to Orleans for 7 days. 😆

In New Orleans be *very* careful where you go – stay on the tourist streets (especially at night) – even just a street or two down from the centre (such as Bourbon Street) you stand a good chance of getting into trouble.

We were there a few years ago and the owner of the hostel we stayed at warned us as much but someone else staying in the same hostel didn’t listen and was mugged on their first night (on Burgundy Street IIRC).

And if you have anyone younger with you – get them to take ID with them into the bars (remembering legal drinking age is 21) as, even though they make it out like anything goes, they can be very strict on ID checks – I was checked and I was 30 when I went!

Top tip for Houston, go to Orleans for 7 days.

This is correct.

Houston (and it’s traffic) sucks!
Mothers and ACME oyster to fulfill the tourist foodie places.
Upperline was amazing food (their 3 course sampler was out of this world) – a reservation might be a good idea. That whole neighbourhood looked packed with good food places.
Bike paths are plentiful – I enjoyed the riverside levy trail, Lake Pontchartrain and Audobon park paths.
National WW2 museum is somewhere I want to visit when I go back.
Just be aware of your surroundings when out and about and you will be fine (I rode all over town on my bike and didn’t feel unsafe).
The drive into the city over the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was a bit more interesting than just coming in on the interstate.

TBH I found New Orleans pretty dull, unless you are there to party 24/7. Eat nice food and get drunk every night is the main thing to do. Visit Cafe Du Monde for a coffee and beignets. A swamp tour is ok, the cathedral and surrounding square a quite nice. There is also a fairly decent aquarium.

If you want to see some real Louisiana don’t just go Interstate 10, get off the beaten track, you could go look for locations from True Detective. Gulf coast is weird 😆

I lived in Houston for 2 years. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. But for 2 days on a lads trip! I echo what others have said – go straight to New Orleans. If you’re committed to staying in Houston then it’s all about the food, and lots of it. Zero culture. Zero entertainment. Be prepared to get fat:
– Tex Mex favorite is Lupe Tortilla (it’s a chain)
– Burger favorite is Five Guys (another chain)
– BBQ favorite is Goode Company (another chain)

Don’t make the mistake of assuming the city centre is the hub of all action – it’s not. It shuts down outside of office hours. And don’t confuse the ‘City Center’ with the actual city centre. City Center is on the west side of Houston and a haunt for women in yoga pants.

New Orleans I went for a long weekend, with the family. I had three small kids in tow, so my experience and advice will differ vastly from what you require. It was enjoyable taking my 1 year old son for a shoulder carry down Bourbon street with topless hookers throwing beads down at us from the balconies.

I had planned something similar, doing Atlanta (because my sister-in-law graduates from a university there next month), on to Austin instead of Houston and back round to New Orleans.

From what I understand Austin is pretty exciting, Houston less so.

Used to travel to Houston regularly with work. The city is a bit dull for sure. There are some areas with some nice bars and restaurants – I spent many an evening in the Flying Saucer bar which is worth a visit – you’ll get decent beer there for a start instead of the super chilled super fizzy and tasteless Bud and the like. There are also some out of town areas that are nice – all the names escape me, but ultimately its all about bars and restaurants from what I could see, but then I was never there as a tourist. The City is dead at night, no life or atmosphere.

The Ubers are the best way to get around. Loads of them and much cheaper than cabs.

Was in Houston for a few days for work last year then went up to Austin too.

Found Houston to be a weird place. Saw a basketball match which was pretty cool but I think the season has finished now. Montrose had a couple of good bars and places to get food. As above, you should definitely check out Goode Co. BBQ on Kirby Drive

Ubers are plentiful

I lived for 5 years in Houston. I’m not sure what a “lads trip” consists of – sounds like hell to me – but I can imagine 2 days in Houston being spent going “is this place as awful as it seems?”. I can confidently answer – “yes, only more so”.

As others have said, head directly to New Orleans. Don’t even think of stopping off in Houston.

In actual fact, rather than skipping Houston and driving straight to New Orleans, I’d skip them both. Get yourself to Austin. It’s a young party town. Full of bars and restaurants. A nice hippy vibe to the place. Plenty of attractions to do during the day and places to eat and be merry at night.

Too late for a dramatic change of plan?

– Burger favorite is Five Guys (another chain)

There’s one of them in Ashton-under-Lyne now. Which is more lively than Houston by the sounds of it, and definitely edgier than New Orleans.

Top tip for Houston, go to Orleans for 7 days.

What Stato and CPH say

No mention of Rick’s – I presume it is still going

Bloody hell, mefty – that brings back some memories!!

Went to new orleans last year and was a bit disappointed to be honest. Bourbon St is tacky but will be ok for a lads break.
I would walk as quickly as possible down bourbon St, take a right at the end and find frenchmans Street it’s where the proper blues bars are.

New Orleans, basically Blackpool with warm weather.