Things to Do in Texas City

Moody Gardens Hotel is just a stone’s throw away from Moody Gardens, and many of the rooms were designed to reflect the lush grounds. The Terrace Restaurant, for example, brims with colorful plants and hand-painted murals of the butterflies that can be found in the garden’s Rainforest Pyramid. An indoor waterfall stocked with fish and turtles forms the centerpiece of the lobby bar. And guest rooms feature bright, tropical colors and views of Moody Garden, Galveston Bay, or the city itself.

The hotel’s freeform pool is ringed by tropical foliage, including towering palm trees. There’s even a swim-up bar where guests can grab a libation or play underwater darts. For more pampering, an onsite spa offers sugar and coconut oil scrubs and self-heating mud wraps that anchor a menu of indulgent treatments.

There are a number of dining options inside the hotel. AAA Four Diamond-rated Shearn’s Seafood and Prime Steaks serves broiled Canadian lobster tail and the day’s fresh catch drizzled in a lemon-butter sauce. Or, grab a bowl of shrimp gumbo in the more casual environs of The Terrace Restaurant.

Moody Gardens

Perched on picturesque Galveston Island, Moody Gardens possesses a storied history that complements its scenic surroundings. Its horticultural and animal-therapy programs—which began with the park’s inception in 1983—pair visitors living with physical and emotional difficulties with horses and multihued flora, helping them learn coping skills and build confidence. Elsewhere on the sprawling grounds, the Moody Gardens Golf Course boasts multiple holes that run alongside the rippling waters of the Gulf and its intervening waterways, forming intimidating hazards and housing a thriving civilization of merpeople who use golf balls for currency. The park also thrills families with water attractions, including a wave pool and a lazy river. The newly restored, 10-story Rainforest Pyramid holds more than 1,000 exotic plants and animals from the Asian, African, and American rainforests.