NW Texas and SE New Mexico – 10 Day Road Trip Itinerary

We did this road trip loop, starting from El Paso, TX and really enjoyed every bit of it. I thought you might too.

Start out by flying to El Paso and renting a car. Buy an annual National Park pass (America the Beautiful card) for $80 since you will be visiting 4 National Parks that are about $35 each if bought separately.
🌶️Have any food with Green Hatch Chile💚

📍El Paso, TX -2 nights
-Ride the vintage street cars
-Find TONS of Murals
-Visit nearby Hueco Tanks State Park
-Drive along Scenic Drive in the mountain above El Paso

📍Big Bend National Park, TX – 2 days
-Stay in Terlingua
–Float the canyons of Rio Grande
-Hike Lost Mine Trail
-Do the Ross Maxwell scenic drive
-See the Terlingua Ghost Town

📍Guadalupe Mountains National Park, TX
– Stop here on your way to Carlsbad.
-If you get a chance to stop at Salt Flat Cafe, it’s a picturesque little quirky cafe in a town with population of 95.
-Either admire the view from the overlooks and visitor center, or hike on one of the trails

📍Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM
-Get there before sunset to watch the bats emerge from the caverns.
-Return the next morning to go inside the caverns (while the bats are sleeping)

📍Roswell, NM 
– Stop here and visit the kitschy UGO museum just for kicks

📍White Sands National Park, NM
-Stay in Alamogordo or Las Cruces (we stayed in Las Cruces in a shipping container with a pool and a view of the Organ Mountains)
-Bring a snow saucer to sled down a sand dune (or buy one at the visitor center, or see if you can get one from people that are done with theirs)

📍Back to El Paso, TX

🗺️886 miles total, not including driving around within the parks.