Our favorite thing to do in Houston, right now, is to visit Hermann Park. The train, pedal boats, gardens and zoo are great, but we love the rocket ship playground and nature water play area.
And yes, I do know that Hermann Park's The Commons playground and water play area is not new. It opened in 2024, but I swore off my weekly Houston Park post when my day job got crazy. But here we are with a website with things to do in Houston, with kids... and it's missing one of our favorite things.
So here is a post about a not-new park, but with new photos and the latest information for visiting The Commons!
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About the The Commons at Hermann Park
The Commons is located on the west side of Hermann Park... walkable from the Houston Zoo entrance, train and pedal boats.
The green space is open early until late and has open areas to run, the Gorilla Playground, Allegator Playground, Swing Hill and picnic areas.
The rocket ship playground and water play area are open 9am to 9pm. Both are surrounded by a fence that is locked when closed.
The play areas are free to visit. Just the carousel costs a few dollars.
What you should know about the Space Adventure Play Area
- The playground side of the park has it's own entrance and is fenced off to keep kids inside.
- The center piece of the play space is the 45 foot tall rocket ship slide. It is surrounded by a lot of wooden play structures and "secret" pathways.
- The rocket ship slides are made of metal and can get hot in the Houston sun.
- The cool thing about the play area is all the pockets of play areas. The catch is that you cannot sit in one spot and watch the kids. If you don't follow, you can easily lose sight of them.
- Bathrooms are located next to the play area and have always been clean.
- The playground is separated from the water play area, so you can avoid the wet clothes if you want to.
What you should know about the Nature Cove Water Play Area
- The Splash Cove is the coolest water play area with trees, rocks, sand and pumps.
- When we are the first ones there for the day, we like to go to the top of the hill to turn on the splashpad button. This gets the water flowing down the "bayou" to the sand area. The other water areas require you to actually pump the water, so it takes some work.
- This spot gets very busy on weekends, but sometimes that is better because there are a lot of kids to help get the water flowing.
- You know how sometimes you go to a park and you are so tired you want to just sit on a bench and let the kids play? This is not the park to visit when you feel that way! Not only do you need to follow the kids so you can watch them in all play areas, but you probably have to pump the water if you have little kids.
- But don't let that scare you! The water play area is the unique, most interactive water play area around!
- There are sometimes ants, so watch for them.
- More bathrooms are located next to the water area and have always been clean.
- The water play area is fenced off.
More to do at The Commons
- The Lott Family Carousel is near the playgrounds. They lowered the every day cost (good!) and if you plan to stand on the side of your kids, but not ride and animal, you only need one ticket.
- There is a little cafe in the pavilion. We sometimes get a drink or ice cream, but they have more than that.
- The smaller playgrounds do not have a gate and are open before the bigger play areas open at 9:00am. If you arrive early, play there for a while.
- The lake, benches and pathways are really beautiful. It's a great spot for a walk or picnic.
- Just a short walk away is the zoo, train, pedal boats and rest of Hermann Park.
Best place too park at Hermann Park
Parking is free at Hermann Park. If you find yourself closer to the museums, there is metered street parking.
The closest parking to The Commons is the small lot along Fannin Street and in the Palmer Memorial Church lot. The bigger parking lot is at the Zoo entrance at Lot G. I would use these on a week day or any day before 9:00am.
On a weekend, I would arrive before 9:00am... or I would park by the Centennial Gardens in Lot C. You will need to walk through the park to get to The Commons, but for me, that's better than going 1mph on Hermann Park Drive at peak hours.
Or, if you are up for more of a walk, I would park on the street behind Prosperity Bank and MFAH, for free. I would then walk through the Museum of Fine Arts Sculpture Garden, get some tacos at Bodegas, walk through the air conditioned grand hall at the Houston Museum of Natural Science... and then walk through Hermann Park to get to The Commons, Houston Zoo, train, pedal boats, Miller Outdoor Theatre and all the good stuff. The walking map is HERE.
For me, as long as I don't have to fight traffic and parking, I don't mind big crowds at Hermann Park.
Map of The Commons
Find the Google map HERE.
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