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This 90-minute voyage aboard the M/V Sam Houston is free and fascinating. Reservations are required, so plan ahead.

History comes alive at The Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park. This outdoor, interactive museum and park features meticulously restored historic structures on ten acres of verdant parkland. Admission is free every day. A free audio tour makes this living history site a vacation bargain to rival your Houston hotel deal.

The Museum District is an educational and cultural crossroads that features 20 museums within a 2-mile radius. It’s easily accessible by the METRORail, so you don’t even have to worry about parking. Here are some highlights:

• The Art Car Museum is an always-free, “only-in-Houston” venue that will make you rethink junking your old car. Here, autos are more like the artists’ medium—or their canvas. Where else can you see a bedazzled Chevy, hand-painted murals on a Cadillac, or a VW made entirely of wire—all in one place?
• The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston was one of the original members of the Museum District Association. Covering 6,000 years of history with approximately 64,000 works. Thursdays are free.
• The Buffalo Soldiers National Museum is dedicated to celebrating the legacy of African American soldiers in the U.S. Admission is free, 1-5 p.m. on Thursdays. All other days, it’s $10 per person. Students pay half price.

80 years of free cultural events, and the Miller Outdoor Theatre is still going strong in Hermann Park, near the Houston Zoo. Check out the site’s calendar, March through October, for performances that range from symphony to Shakespeare, and musicals to children’s plays.