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Big Rivers Water Park and Adventures in New Caney, Texas, is one of the best amusement parks near Houston. It features rides, water slides, a lazy river and plenty more activities for families.

A woman and young boy have fun on a splash pad at Big Rivers Water Park & Adventures in New Caney, Texas, near Houston.

The entrance to Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier. The nostalgic amusement park features dozens of rides, as well as games, dining and other ways to enjoy a day on the water.

One of the many water slides at Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Splashtown near Houston is shown here. 

Whether you love the white-knuckle thrill of a roller coaster as it loops through the air or you want to get a bird’s-eye view at a more leisurely pace from a gigantic Ferris wheel, the amusement parks in Houston have you covered.

Houston's amusement parks run the gamut from indoor palaces with wall-to-wall fun to classic boardwalk experiences that offer a heavy dose of nostalgia. No matter what type of thrills you like and whatever the season, there’s sure to be a Houston amusement park that will give you and your family an unforgettable day.

Keep reading to discover five of our favorite amusement parks around Houston—or within a short drive of the city—and what makes them worth the price of admission.

Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Splashtown has 40 slides and attractions. The sizable water park is in Spring, Texas, just north of Houston.

The folks at Six Flags know you can have just as great an adrenaline rush in the water as you can on dry land, and they’ve got rides that have the thrill of roller coasters—only wetter. Located just a few miles north of Houston, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor is a water park where all ages can have a blast while staying cool during the city's hottest days, whether they want death-defying plunges or a gentle float.

If rides like the RipQurl (where you move 26 feet per second in a giant bowl) or Paradise Plunge (a seven-story free fall) aren’t your cup of tea, they have a lazy river and a 500,000-gallon wave pool. Even the littlest mermaids can enjoy Coconut Bay or the Treehouse, designed for kids. If that isn't enough, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor also hosts concerts and other live events, too—check their calendar to catch your favorite stars on stage.

Find it: 21300 Interstate 45, Spring, Texas 77373; 281-355-3300

Riders enjoy the Aviator swing ride at Kemah Boardwalk near Houston, Texas. The ride takes you high above the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

A Texas family destination since the late 1990s, the Kemah Boardwalk spans 60 acres along Galveston Bay and Clear Lake and is owned and operated by Landry’s, a mega hospitality and entertainment corporation. It's about a 30-minute drive out of town and well worth a day trip. The Boardwalk is home to 15 rides, an aquarium, shops and 10 restaurants.

Among the rides, the Boardwalk Bullet is a unique wooden coaster that’s almost 100 feet tall and reaches speeds of 51 miles per hour. Naturally, there are classics like a 65-foot Ferris wheel, a carousel and a 140-foot drop tower, plus swing and pendulum rides. There's even a speedboat ride that will take you on a 25-minute trip around Galveston Bay hitting speeds of 40 miles per hour. The boardwalk also features an arcade, Midway games, playground and splash pad.

Kemah has a marina with 400 slips and a charter yacht, the FantaSea, offering dinner cruises around the Gulf. With an on-site boutique hotel and plenty of dining and entertainment options, you can easily make a weekend staycation out of it.

Find it: 215 Kipp Ave., Kemah, Texas 77565; 281-535-8100

Houston Funplex is a sprawling indoor amusement park with arcade games, bowling, skating, rides and more. The park also includes a drop tower, shown here.

Where can you find more than 200 arcade games, bowling and rides all under one roof within the city limits? At Houston Funplex—and no matter the weather, it's a unique amusement park the whole family will enjoy. Houston Funplex has its own esports arena, where groups of five or more gamers can gather and play multiplayer favorites like Fortnite and Apex Legends. And younger gamers can enjoy Minecraft and Roblox, too. For gamers who prefer to be unhooked from a PC, there are nearly 200 arcade games to enjoy, from retro classics like Pac Man and Skee-Ball to modern picks like Injustice and Pump-It-Up, and they all earn you tickets to exchange for prizes at the end of the day. The park also has virtual reality car simulators and roller coasters, but there's even more to do outside of looking at screens.

Houston Funplex has a 40-lane bowling alley complete with a restaurant, an indoor go-kart track and a roller rink (where Beyonce filmed the video for “Blow,” NBD). When mom and dad are worn out, they can turn the kids loose in a two-story, Texas-sized playground complete with a treehouse, arcade games, ball and foam pits, inflatables, slides, and trampolines. No amusement park would be complete without rides, and Funplex has some impressive ones—despite being totally indoors—including bumper cars, a drop tower and a Ferris wheel.

Find it: 13700 Beechnut St., Houston, Texas 77083; 281-530-7777

Blake Schortino, right, laughs beside Aidima Abdukerimova after going down the Sabine Scream at Big Rivers Water Park & Adventures, Thursday, June 3, 2021, in New Caney. Grand Texas is a 632-acre development in New Caney consisting of two major parks spanning 80 acres: Big Rivers Water Park and Gator Bayou Adventure Park. The entire development also boasts a racing park, RV resort and a shopping and dining district.

Part of the planned Grand Texas Amusement Park, a mammoth 645-acre entertainment complex being built just northeast of Houston, Big Rivers Water Park & Adventures is open and full of family fun. It's home to Houston's biggest lazy river, a massive wave pool and a slew of slides that cater to all ages. That's not even to mention GatorSplash, a kid-friendly area loaded with slides and more than 300 water-play elements that the park has claimed is the largest interactive play structure in all of Texas. More wet fun can be found at Wild Isle, a challenge course loaded with inflatables right in the middle of a lake on the park's campus.

If you want to stay dry, you will find plenty of rides at the Big Rivers Fairgrounds area, including an intense pendulum ride, a pair of flying rides and a unique roller coaster called Rolling Thunder that spins and flips riders in their car as they go along the track. Meanwhile, the Dry Adventures zone has a huge maze you can navigate, archery, axe-throwing, sluice “mining,” a petting zoo (where you can actually handle baby alligators) and a stocked fishing hole. There are two zip lines in the Aerial Adventures area as well, along with a pair of ninja courses, a bungee jump and a rock climbing wall.

Find it: 23065 Texas State Highway 242, New Caney, TX 77357

Aerial shot of the historic pier and the beach in Galveston, Texas at sunset. 

Stretching out over 1,100 feet into the Gulf of Mexico, Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier is on the site of the original amusement park in the area, which operated from the early 1940s until 1961, when it was demolished by Hurricane Carla. The contemporary iteration of the park opened in 2012 but was designed with a heavy dose of nostalgia for its original days. Like you’d expect in a place that once billed itself as “The Coney Island of the South,” there are plenty of places to eat, from ice cream and an old-fashioned candy shop to pizza by the slice and foot-long dogs.

When it comes to rides, you’ll find the requisite Ferris wheel—this one with a sky-high view of the ocean and the city from 100 feet up—a two-story carousel, a Viking ship, spinning tea cups, bumper cars and other boardwalk icons. The park also has some unique thrills. The Iron Shark is a 1,200-foot steel coaster that hits 52 miles per hour after a 100-foot lift and Cyclone launches riders through a 60-foot loop forward and backward, while the Pirate's Plunge log flume will cool you off with a pair of drops into major splashdowns. But the best ride might be the Texas Star Flyer, which lifts you more than 200 feet above the Gulf for a swing ride with incredible views.

Find it: 1501 Seawall Blvd., Galveston, Texas 77550; 855-789-7437

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Rebecca Treon is a freelance food, travel and lifestyles writer whose work has appeared in BBC Travel, Hemispheres, the Huff Post and Thrillist. Peep her adventures on her Instagram @RebeccaTreon.