Must-SeeMission Trail
Three historic adobe missions in a nine-mile stretch, including Ysleta, from 1682, the oldest in Texas, at Native American pueblos.
El Paso
A big border city in the desert, in the Franklin Mountains, with the warmest welcome, a tram to the top, and a mission trail older than Texas.
El Paso faces Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, across the Rio Grande, and the two are one culture. Its Mission Trail has some of America's oldest churches, and the Chamizal National Memorial celebrates a border settled by treaty.
Downtown has Art Deco buildings by Henry Trost, and the mountains rise right through the middle of the city.
- Best Time
- October to April
- Time Needed
- 2 days
- Cost Level
- $$$$
- Open
- Year-round
- Getting There
- El Paso International is 15 minutes from downtown.
The Short List
8 sights, 6 of them free. Tick off what you've seen and rise from Sailor to Captain of El Paso.
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Must-See
Must-See
Must-SeeFranklin Mountains
Texas's largest state park, inside a major city, with hiking and rugged desert peaks. It's lit up with a giant star at night.
Worth a Detour
Chamizal National Memorial
A park and museum honoring the peaceful 1963 settlement of a century-old border dispute with Mexico.
Worth a DetourEl Paso Museum of Art and Downtown
A free museum with European and Mexican art, on San Jacinto Plaza, among historic Trost buildings and a rooftop-bar scene.
Worth a DetourHueco Tanks
A state park of rocky hills with some 5,000 Indigenous rock paintings, and a world-famous bouldering destination.
If You're Nearby
UTEP and the Sun Bowl
A stadium cut into a mountain, on a campus of unusual Bhutanese-style buildings, home to America's second-oldest bowl game. Glory Road was set here.
Concordia Cemetery
The Old West's biggest boot hill, with gunslinger John Wesley Hardin and a Chinese section with its own wall.
If You're NearbyBorder Heritage Museum and Boots
Rockets, cowboy boots and the border's story: visit Rocketbuster, and the Holocaust and Border Heritage museums downtown.
Neighborhoods
- DowntownTrost buildings and San Jacinto Plaza.
- Segundo BarrioA historic Mexican American neighborhood with big murals.
- Kern PlaceA leafy neighborhood near UTEP.
- YsletaThe Mission Trail and Tigua Pueblo.
Getting Around
Sun Metro's streetcar loops through downtown and UTEP, and Brio rapid buses run along major routes. A car is best for the Mission Trail, Hueco Tanks and the mountains. It's two hours by car to White Sands.
Plan Your Visit
- Day 1: downtown, the Mission Trail and Chamizal. Day 2: the Franklin Mountains and a Sun Bowl game, or a Hueco Tanks climb.
Know Before You Go
- Check conditions if you plan to cross into Juárez.
- It's in Mountain Time, unlike the rest of Texas.
Where to Stay
Stay downtown.
What to Eat
- Chico's TacosRolled tacos drowned in tomato sauce and cheese, a beloved local institution.
- Green chile enchiladasStacked or rolled, with Hatch chile, at L&J Cafe near Concordia Cemetery.
- Gorditas and burritosBurritos are king in El Paso. Try Taco Tote or H&H Coffee Shop.
- MargaritasTommy's and others claim its origin from nearby Juárez.
Where to Eat
Our picks are on the way.
Editor's picks. Nobody paid to be on this list.
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Traveler Reviews
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Go Next
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The world's largest gypsum dunefield, 275 square miles of dazzling white waves in New Mexico's desert, great for sledding.
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A vast limestone Big Room, one of the largest in North America, reached by trail or elevator, and hundreds of thousands of bats at dusk.
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Worth a DetourBig Bend National Park
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Desert, mountains and the Rio Grande canyons on the Mexican border, with some of the darkest night skies in the country.
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Last checked 2026-11-01. Part of the Texas list.