Where to go for winter weekend? Dallas, Houston, New Orleans?
 

Some friend are deciding on where to meet for a mid-winter weekend. People will be coming from different part of the U.S.

Requirements are:
1. not Las Vegas, San Francisco, or Los Angeles
2. reasonably well served airport. This would exclude places like Mount Rushmore/Sioux City, SD.

Candidate cities include:
1. New Orleans (drawback include unable to identify things to do besides the French Quarter)
2. Houston (I like it but it may be too generic a city)
3. Dallas
4. Chicago (drawback is that it can be very cold in January and February)
5. Orlando (drawback is that it is Eastern time. Central and Mountain time is easier for many due to flight schedules)

I think it boils down to New Orleans, Houston, and Dallas. What is there to do in Dallas? What is there to do in New Orleans besides the French Quarter.

Age? Interests?

Things to do in New Orleans:
- Eat. It's got some of the best food in the county, from dives and po boy joints, up to 5 star elegance.
- Music. From relaxed jazz bistros to rock, blues, and brass funk.
- Shopping along Magazine St and Royal St.
- Do a walking tour of the stately homes of the Garden District.
- Explore the unique culture of the city, like the floats at Mardi Gras World, and the Mardi Gras Indian costumes at the Backstreet museum.
- The WWII museum is supposed to be terrific.
- Take a drive or a tour upriver to see some of the antebellum Plantation Homes.

Dallas has some nice museums. I'm partial to the Nasher (and the Kimball in Ft Worth). Note that the winter weather isn't as reliable as NOLA or Houston. January highs may be in the 60s, or maybe down in the 30s & 40s.

Consider Austin.

The only problem with Austin is that it isn't a major airline hub and could require an airplane change to get here. Depending when specifically, hotels in downtown Austin could be extremely expensive (but you can save a bit by staying out of town).
For DFW or Houston, there's so many nonstop flights that shouldn't be a problem.

However, if asking about New Orleans, then you'd run into the same issue as Austin (limited nonstop flights, except to hubs).

Austin has NY non-stops so that makes it acceptable. I am leaning towards that. Arrive Saturday, eat out, listen to some live music, see the city on Sunday, leave.

When are hotels expensive? When there is a large convention?

So tentative choices are Austin versus New Orleans versus Houston. I like Houston but I think it others might not like it. I have never been to Austin. I have been to New Orleans but can't think of things to do outside the French Quarter.

Ideas?

I would highly recommend the World War 2 museum. That will take up a whole day. It's in the Warehouse District. There is also the Art Museum in City Park, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Southern Food and Beverage Museum, Audubon Aquarium and Insectarium.

If you are not into museums, definitely head to Magazine St. and just start walking. Lots of amazing restaurants, shops, etc. to check out. Magazine St. extends from the Central Business District all the way to Audubon Park. Other cool streets to check out are Oak St. (take the St. Charles Ave. Streetcar) and St. Claude Ave. (take the new Rampart St. Streetcar to the end of Elysian Fields and start walking. You can also check out the very cool Crescent Park on the riverfront in the Bywater neighborhood.

If you are into biking take the new Lafitte Greenway from the French Quarter up to Mid-City and City Park. Mid-City has a great commercial district adjacent to the Greenway.

If you are into nature, either rent a car or set up a trip with a tour group to do a swamp tour. You could also head up River Road and visit some of the historic plantations if you are into history. I would highly recommend Whitney Plantation. Chalmette Battlefield is also interesting (site of the Battle of New Orleans).

Hotels in Austin can be randomly expensive, especially in fall and spring, especially around South by Southwest.

I'd check out the schedules for ACL:
http://acltv.com/

And the Cactus Cafe:
https://cactuscafe.thundertix.com/

Perhaps see if there's something that interests you, then check hotel prices, then airfare to get a match.
I've been on AUS-JFK (AA) on my way to Rio, and the fares are usually pretty reasonable (about $250).

There's plenty of other venues also, those just popped in my head right away.

hotels in austin are always expensive because the municipal government is corrupt and nothing gets done/built. austin is the least texas place in all of texas; think portland but without any real mass transit and density. and all the god awful politicians work there. and citizens who would repeal uber by ballot. some love that it's the least texas, some don't. it is worth checking out. the city has changed over the past 30 years, mostly for the worse. (watch slackers when austin was almost magical). but it is a cool town to check out, 6 st is still fun.

depends what you want,
live music and partying = austin+nola
strip clubs = houston
museums and culture = houston
food = all
golf = houston dallas austin

new orleans is amazing because of everything outside the fq. frenchman st, uptown, magazine, city park, marginy, drive thru daiquiris (although you can do that in houston too). go for some walking tours.

i personally love dirty ugly houston, really good hiphop scene (rest of the nightlife is meh), amazing museums, cheap rental cars and hotels on the weekend, and lots to do. and in winter you could even get 80f (but also it can be a cold af 40). the anthony bordain episode on houston aired the other night.

Being a resident of Houston I am going to be bias and say Houston.

As previous posters have mentioned: tons of great food, museums, and parks.

The one downside is that it's not a walk-able city. Luckily we have uber here (unlike Austin).

If ya choose Houston I'll send ya a list of great restaurants.

New Orleans wins by a country mile in my opinion.

Want things to do outside the French Quarter? Visit Cajun country, take a bayou boat ride, etc.

Is Star Pizza still there and still good?
It was in an area where streets were named after cities in Virginia. Kind of an old house.

I used to go to Houston regularly for work and found some good places, but it has been a while.

I'll be there visiting family around Thanksgiving, staying in NW Houston/Cypress area. Anything good out there, or better to drive into town?

star pizza is still very decent! but ya pizza in houston is something imo they don't do very well. are you talking about heights or rice village? if you're downtown or east downtown i like flakey's, they finally got their act together and that chipotle blue cheese is mmmm. everyone raves about pinks and frank's but i don't get it. but franks makes a great burger. and so does market square. awman memories.

triple j's for bbq all the way.

and if you're going in winter make sure youg et some crawfish. la crawfish is a good place to start

^
avery island

fan boat ride

get drunk with some cajuns in some redneck village

aztimm

Houston Pizza: Best we have had is Romano's off of W. Gray. We just moved here from NY and their pizza is pretty damn spot on.

I would also just drive into downtown*. That's where the heavy hitters of food are. One of our favorites is Coltivare but it can be a PITA (pain in the...) to get in. They don't take reservations and the line forms before they open at 5.

*I consider midtown, heights, river oaks, all downtown lol

OP, for your description I'd say New Orleans, and I say that as somebody who has lived in San Antonio, Houston, and Nola. Nothing against Dallas, but I find it kind of buttoned up/stuffy compared to Houston and Austin. The big D does have good 20s female talent though.

Anyway if you do New Orleans, the airport is a shithole. It just is. French Quarter is very overrated, IMO, and worth 1 night at most and only if you've never done it. You're going to want to explore Magazine Street and the garden district. Fantastic restaurants all over and also look in the Uptown neighborhood. I'm going to repeat here that the French Quarter is overrated and there are only a handful of places worth visiting (mainly restaurants). When I lived there, the only time I'd go there is when friends/family were in town and wanted to see it.

We've got a suburb person in our midst :p To those of us in/near the loop, only Midtown could remotely be considered downtown

LOL - well, I do it mostly b/c I don't know my way around yet. When we moved to Houston we lived in the woodlands. That was just over a year ago. We just moved to the Energy Corridor this past April.

In my defense, the wife just tells me when to turn and I get us there. lol