Orange Tours
We offer two 8-hour Orange tours. Go once, go twice. Most people do not realize how much this small town has to offer. The town of Orange was originally called Green’s Bluff for Resin in the 1820s. It was renamed Madison in 1840. It was renamed Orange in 1858. It is the county seat for Orange County. It has been known for its orange groves, port, and lumber industry. The population peaked with 28,960, in 1976. Orange is 107 miles/172 kilometers from Houston.
Most of the places in Orange are closed on Sunday and Monday and some places are closed on Saturday so the best days to visit are Tuesday through Saturday. Tour B departs early to avoid being outside during the hottest time of the day and to be at Shangri La at a scheduled time for the swamp tour.
Orange Tour A
10:00 – 11:30 AM | Drive from Houston to Beaumont. |
11:30 – 12:30 PM | Lunch at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood and Texas Steakhouse or some other restaurant in Beaumont. |
12:30 – 1:00 PM | Drive to Orange. |
1:00 – 1:50 PM | Tour the 1894 William Stark House. It is closed on Sunday and Monday. |
2:00 – 2:50 PM | Tour the Heritage House Museum and the Heritage History Museum of Orange County. It is closed on Sunday and Monday. |
3:00 –3:50 PM | Tour the Stark Museum of Art. It is closed on Sunday and Monday. |
4:00 – 6:00 PM | Drive from Orange to Houston. |
Orange Tour B
8:00 – 10:00 AM | Drive from Houston to Orange. |
10:00– 12:00 PM | Tour Shangri La Botanical Gardens (closed on Monday) including a boat ride on a swamp. |
12:00 – 12:50 PM | Have lunch at either the cafe at Shangri La Botanical Gardens, Robert’s Meat Market & Steak House, or at a restaurant in the vicinity of the 1928 Farmer’s Mercantile (closed on Saturday and Sunday). |
1:00 – 1:45 PM | Tour the 1912 First Presbyterian Church on Monday through Friday. It is closed on Saturday and Sunday. It is on the National Register of Historic Places |
1:50 – 1:55 PM | Drive through the Old Orange Historical District and see the abandoned 1907 Pacific Train Depot. |
2:00 – 4:00 PM | Drive from Orange to Houston. |