Get up close and personal with the Buffalo Bayou this season with these exciting variety of boat tours – from private charters to bat colony tours! [Featured image: @buffalobayou]
Buffalo Bayou Partnership is a non-profit established over three decades ago whose purpose is to maintain and activate Buffalo Bayou through a variety of conservation and development plans and programs.
In part of their activation efforts, the partnership offers events that range from happy hours, to park bingo, as well as yoga and meditation sessions. Additionally, the group also offers a range of cistern, art, and walking and biking tours.
Of course, the partnership also offers a quartet of boat tours to cruise through sites Houstonians rarely see.
The Spirit of the Bayou is a private charter tour that departs from Allen’s Landing at 1005 Commerce Street. It seats up to 20 guests through the downtown waterways coasting through historic Buffalo Bayou, past Allen’s Landing, Sabine Promenade and Sesquicentennial Park, the McKee Street Bridge, and the city’s industrial side. The trip runs about an hour and a half, in which guests are invited to bring their own food and beverages. $500 flat rate ($25 per person for group of 20).
Their History Tours, scheduled from 10 – 11:30 am on select dates, give an educational take on the cruise. With a local historian on deck, guests can get an education on the Allen brothers as well as an historical take on the many people, places, and events that contributed to the development of the City of Houston. $40 per person.
You can also get a closer look into the natural side of the city with their Waugh Bat Colony Tours. These tours depart a half hour before sunset and give guests a breathtaking look at 250,000 Mexican free-tailed bats emerging from Waugh Drive Bridge. $30 per person.
Lastly, BBP offers 30-minute Twilight Tours from 5:30 – 8:30 pm on select nights. Departing from Allen’s Landing at 1001 Commerce St., these half hour cruises give guests the chance to enjoy the evening breeze while looking upon a vibrant variety of local wildlife that include herons, jumping fish, and maybe even an alligator. $7 for adults, $5 for children (4 – 12).
Children under 4 are not permitted on boat tours.
See also: The Bayou City Art Festival Returns To Houston This October