Houston to Buffalo road trip: Best stops, distance & time
The best road trip stops on the Houston to Buffalo drive are Hot Springs AR, Nashville TN and Columbus OH. The distance from Houston to Buffalo by car is 1,484 miles, with a 22h driving time.
Planning a Houston to Buffalo road trip itinerary
The Houston to Buffalo drive connects the biggest city in Texas to Lake Erie in New York State.
The top Houston attraction is unquestionably the NASA Space Center, which takes you behind the scenes of the Johnson Space Center. This includes the Mission Briefing Center, and a vast array of high tech exhibitions.
Other attractions include the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Children’s Museum,
For more Houston experiences, try hip hop party bike tours, foodie walks in the Montrose neighbourhood and quirky tours of Houston’s tunnel system.
Top Houston accommodation options include the superb value Club Quarters Houston Downtown and the upscale but boutique Magnolia.
Buffalo is often written off as the gateway to Niagara Falls, but there’s more to the city than that. Cultural highlights include Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House, the Buffalo Museum of Science and the Buffalo AKG Art Museum.
The waterside Buffalo Harbor State Park, meanwhile, offers paddleboard and kayak rentals plus a beach and playgrounds.
Good experiences in Buffalo include Best of Buffalo double decker bus tours, a history of chicken wings food tour and the Theodore Roosevelt Inauguration National Historic Site.
For excellent places to stay in Buffalo, try the historic landmark Richardson Hotel or the charming Hotel at the Lafayette.
Houston to Buffalo distance and driving time
By car, the distance from Houston to Buffalo is 1,484 miles. You can expect a driving time of around 22 hours. The best stops to add to a Houston to Buffalo road trip itinerary are Hot Springs AR, Nashville TN and Columbus OH. This is based on roughly even distances between stops, but there are plenty of other options.
For more suggestions, check out the guides to the individual legs of the drive.
- Houston to Hot Springs drive.
- Hot Springs to Memphis drive.
- Memphis to Nashville drive.
- Nashville to Louisville drive.
- Louisville to Cincinnati drive.
- Cincinnati to Columbus OH drive.
- Columbus OH to Cleveland drive.
- Cleveland to Buffalo drive.
Houston to Buffalo road trip attractions: Hot Springs, Arkansas
Hot Springs in the Ouachita Mountains has loads to do. The natural highlight is Hot Springs National Park, which strings thermal springs together on a series of hiking trails. The historic bathhouses are also part of the national park.
There are also several amusement parks, of which Magic Springs is arguably the best as it has a water park.
Other Hot Springs experiences include zip line adventures and the Star Wars and superhero-obsessed Galaxy Connection.
For well-rated Hot Springs accommodation with charm, go for the Hilltop Manor B&B or the Gables Inn.
Best stops between Houston and Buffalo: Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is renowned for its country music, but the National Museum of African American Music is also in the Tennessee capital.
The best Nashville experiences include backstage tours of the Grand Ole Opry House, helicopter flights over the city and tasting tours at the Big Machine Distillery. You can also try line dancing classes, the Country Music Hall of Fame and haunted pub crawls. Or, for lavish old homes, visit Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, the Travellers Rest Historic House Museum and Belmont Mansion.
Excellent Nashville accommodation choices include the gloriously evocative Belle Air Mansion and Inn, plus downtown’s grand dame, the Hermitage.
How to see Nashville the smart way
You can save money in Nashville by combining a tour ticket with admission to two top attractions. These combo tickets give you a half day tour of the main sights, plus entrance to the Ryman Auditorium and Country Music Hall of Fame. Find out more here.
Houston to Buffalo drive: Columbus, Ohio
In Columbus, a three day attractions pass covers most of the top sights. These include the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens and the National Veterans Memorial and Museum. For other Columbus experiences, try scavenger hunts, a town tour aboard the Trolley Pub and the Legoland Discovery Center.
More Houston road trips
Abilene to Houston | Houston to Albuquerque | Houston to Amarillo | Arlington TX to Houston | Houston to Atlanta | Houston to Austin | Houston to Baltimore | Houston to Baton Rouge | Houston to Beaumont TX | Houston to Biloxi | Houston to Birmingham AL | Bryan TX to Houston | Carrollton TX to Houston | Houston to Charlotte | Houston to Chattanooga | Cincinnati to Houston | College Station to Houston | Houston to Colorado Springs.
Dallas to Houston | Denton TX to Houston | Houston to Denver | Houston to Destin FL | Houston to Detroit | Houston to El Paso | Frisco TX to Houston | Houston to Fort Lauderdale | Houston to Fort Worth | Houston to Fredericksburg | Garland TX to Houston | Houston to Gatlinburg | Houston to Hot Springs | Indianapolis to Houston | Irving TX to Houston | Houston to Jackson MS | Houston to Jacksonville | Houston to Knoxville.
Houston to Lafayette | Houston to Lake Charles | Lewisville TX to Houston | Little Rock to Houston | Longview TX to Houston | Houston to Lubbock | Magnolia TX to Houston | Marshall TX to Houston | Houston to Memphis | Houston to Milwaukee | Houston to Mobile AL | Nacogdoches to Houston | Nashville to Houston | Houston to New Braunfels | Houston to New Orleans | Houston to New York City | Houston to Oklahoma City | Houston to Omaha NE | Houston to Orlando.
Houston to Panama City | Houston to Pensacola | Houston to Philadelphia | Houston to Phoenix | Houston to Pittsburgh | Plano TX to Houston | Houston to Salt Lake City | San Angelo TX to Houston | Houston to San Antonio | Houston to San Marcos | Houston to Santa Fe | Shreveport to Houston | Houston to St Louis | Houston to Tampa | Temple TX to Houston | Texarkana to Houston | Houston to Tucson | Houston to Tulsa | Waco TX to Houston | Houston to Washington DC | Houston to Wichita | Wichita Falls to Houston.
More Buffalo road trips
Albany NY to Buffalo | Buffalo to Atlanta | Boston to Buffalo | Chicago to Buffalo | Cincinnati to Buffalo | Cleveland to Buffalo | Columbus to Buffalo | Dallas to Buffalo | Detroit to Buffalo | Buffalo to Fort Lauderdale | Ithaca to Buffalo | Nashville to Buffalo | Buffalo to Pittsburgh | Rochester to Buffalo | Syracuse to Buffalo | Buffalo to Tampa.