Sepdn a day at Buffalo Bayou

From Shepherd Drive to Sabine Street between Allen Parkway and Memorial Drive lies a recreational park known as Buffalo Bayou Park. The 160-acre park is managed for the Houston Parks and Recreation Department by the Buffalo Bayou Partnership. The park remains in its natural state and contains an incredibly diverse urban ecosystem supporting dozens of native species of flora and fauna. The Park includes beautiful gardens and native landscaping, hike and bike trails, public art, paddle craft and bike rentals, a creative nature play area, the go-to dog park in the city , two visitor centers, and gathering places for visitors to picnic, relax and enjoy outdoor activities. 

Paddling Trail along Buffalo Bayou: A 26-mile trail that stretches from the west side of the city right to downtown, the Buffalo Bayou Paddling Trail has 10 access points to drop into the water and will land paddlers in the heart of H-town. There are shuttle services that provide rides and parking along the waterway, but the parking situation is pretty limited, especially the closer to downtown you get.

It’s a tradition that every year, the bayou helps to host the Annual Buffalo Bayou Partnership Regatta. Hundreds of paddlers, from beginners to experts, participate in this popular local’s festival. Even if you don’t sign up to paddle, it’s worth a watch. 

Picnicking:  The original point of Buffalo Bayou Park, to have recreational space amid natural beauty on both banks of the bayou, was lost when the roadways alongside it became high-use thoroughfares. Parkland was restored to the area in the form of Tranquility Park, a 4.3-acre expanse of futuristic fountains and plantings atop an underground garage across Walker Street from City Hall and Hermann Square, but it does not physically connect to the Buffalo Bayou parkway. Designed to enhance the bayou with fountains, walkways, staircases, and sculpture, making the waterway an attribute rather than the utilitarian eyesore it was in the early parts of the Twentieth Century, Sesquicentennial Park would connect with Sam Houston Park and Buffalo Bayou Park.