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Threaded along the slow, meandering Buffalo Bayou between downtown Houston and the leafy neighbourhood of Memorial Park, Buffalo Bayou Park is one of the most ambitious urban parks built anywhere in the United States this century. The 160-acre linear park, which follows two and a half miles of the bayou through the heart of the city, was reimagined and rebuilt at a cost of more than fifty million dollars in a public-private project completed in October 2015. The transformation turned what had long been a neglected drainage corridor into a landscape of restored riparian woods, native prairie, sweeping bicycle and pedestrian paths and a series of stylish bridges, overlooks and public art installations. The Lost Lake visitor centre, the Eleanor Tinsley and Sam Houston parks at the eastern end and the soaring metal bat sculpture beneath the Waugh Drive Bridge, near a colony of well over a quarter of a million Mexican free-tailed bats, all draw steady crowds. Visitors can navigate the park on foot, by bike, by canoe or kayak rented from the park, or aboard the popular electric pontoon boat tours that ply the bayou itself. The skyline rises in dramatic ascent at the eastern end, giving the park a striking sense of place that few urban green spaces can match. A network of dog parks, playgrounds, a skate plaza, a small bistro and a brewery built into the park infrastructure give visitors plenty of places to pause, while a regular calendar of events includes outdoor yoga, movie nights, free concerts and the much-loved annual Buffalo Bayou Regatta. Free, open from dawn into the evening and easily reached from downtown, the park offers a refreshing, refreshingly green counterpoint to a city long defined by sprawl, freeways and oil. Bring sun protection and bug repellent in summer, and consider an early morning or evening visit, when temperatures are coolest and the wildlife along the bayou is at its most active. The summertime bat colony emergence beneath the Waugh Drive Bridge each night at dusk remains one of the most memorable free spectacles in Houston.

Type: Outdoors

Address: 1800 Allen Parkway, Houston, TX, United States

Telephone: 713-752-0314

Website: buffalobayou.org

Opening Date: 03/10/2015