Houston Nightlife - A Night On The Town

When night falls, there’s no excuse for staying in your hotel room and calling for room service, no matter how fabulous the room and how tempting the food may be. After hours Houston begs to be explored with its vibrant and exciting mix of live music, impeccable cuisine, world-class arts performances, casual sports watching venues and even places to test your best two-stepping skills. So why order pay-per-view? Get up, get out and see what the evening holds.

As with any metropolitan city, downtown is the hub of nightlife. Main Street is lined with clubs, bars and restaurants and even the street itself is alive with alfresco performers entertaining passersby. The 7.5 miles of METRORail conveniently carries revelers from downtown to just south of Reliant Park, home of the NFL’s Houston Texans. A resurgence of hip boutique hotels has added a wealth of classy hotel bars where style-savvy Houstonians gather for evening cocktails.

On any evening, club-goers easily mix with theater patrons on downtown’s busy sidewalks. The performing arts scene is one of the city’s crown jewels, with something to suit every taste.

Hop on the rail line and head southwest to Midtown, Houston’s newest hot spot. If you left your dancing shoes at home, Midtown is the perfect place to enjoy an evening out, lounge style. This burgeoning part of the city is full of casual restaurants and low-key lounges.

The Galleria and Uptown Park areas are also ripe with restaurants serving everything from sushi and steak to tacos and tortellini. Many restaurants double as trend-setting nightspots, where the best DJs take up residence and spin a few, much to the delight of those enjoying a nightcap. Several restaurants offer a mix of good food, great company and exciting nightlife.

Just east of The Galleria is Rice Village, a historical section of the city that retains its cool quotient with its close proximity to Rice University. Local and chain restaurants mix harmoniously in the area off Kirby Drive that attracts medical types from the nearby Texas Medical Center and laid-back students from the university. The clubs in Rice Village are a mellow bunch with the emphasis on casual. Fun and oh-so-smooth wine rooms are all about excellent grapes with none of the snobbish hype found in cities not quite as comfortable with themselves as Houston is. Live bands add to the easy-going atmosphere.

With so many places to go, you just may find yourself begging your boss for another “business” trip to the city. Who knows what out-of-this-world adventures are waiting for you in Space City?