Amah - I'm pretty familiar with IAH, so let me give it a shot:

The airport is quite a distance north of the center city. Given that fact, I usually rent a car (even on one-day visits). A car would allow you to easily reach far-flung attractions.

If a rental car is not in your plans, you could use either a cab, shuttle service, or Metro bus (of course, all of these will require transit time).

Some suggestions:

The downtown area (specifically Bayou Place) with many restaurants and a high-tech Angelika Film Center with art house films )

The Museum area (the Museum of Fine Arts recently opened a new wing, and the Menil Collection is impressive - and is free).

The Galleria area - the centerpiece is the huge upscle shopping mall with an ice skating rink on its lower level.


The IAH ground transportation website gives suggested proces for cab prices.

http://iah.houstonairportsystem.org/transportation

A link on the above site will show you the shuttle van services. The shuttles to downtown or to the Galleria area run about $20 each way (possible discount for round trip).


The least expensive method is to take the Metro bus. Obviously, this will consume a considerable amount of time (one factor - once on I-45, special busway lanes can speed that portion of the trip.).


Metro Bus Line 102 will get you to within 2 blocks of Bayou Place:

http://www.hou-metro.harris.tx.us/pd...es/102-iah.pdf


From there, the newly-opened MetroRail could get you to the Museum District:

http://www.hou-metro.harris.tx.us/pd...00-redline.pdf




Musuem sites:

http://www.mfah.org

http://www.menil.org