Houston is a car-dependent city spread across more than 600 square miles — renting a car or using rideshare (Uber/Lyft) is the most practical way to explore. The METRORail Red Line is useful for the Downtown-Midtown-Museum District-NRG corridor and costs just $1.25 per ride or $3 for an all-day pass, but neither major airport has a direct rail link. Parking inside the I-610 Loop is generally manageable, but traffic on I-10, I-45, and the 610 Loop during weekday rush hours (7-9 a.m. and 4-7 p.m.) can be severe. Use the Waze or Google Maps real-time routing features and build extra time into any cross-city journey. Uber's flat rate of $7.31 applies within the Inner Loop and the Galleria area.