As you watch the sun rise over a picturesque mountain backdrop, a city brimming with adventure comes to life. El Paso curves around a still-wild terrain of mountains and foothills that promise, after a short climb or a cable-car ride on a Swiss-made gondola, a breathtaking panoramic view. Fresh-air excursions alone can give you plenty of reasons to get up and go. Add 315 days of sun to the equation and you can live a Hemingway novel in about a week — unless you’d rather use all that sunshine to relax by a pool.
In between day trips of skiing, exploring caverns, hiking and rock climbing, you can take in a fun mix of cultures right in the city. Taste authentically handmade tamales and Mexican food just steps from a dazzling performance of a Broadway show. A Western steakhouse will look out onto a Technicolor sunset. The mix is magic, and you’ll never be at a loss for a new experience.
We love making things here. You’ll find handcrafted boots that last a lifetime, with inherited tradition ingrained in every seam, vamp and pull-tab. A custom pair will fit you like nothing else, and will fit no one else — a perfect parallel to the El Paso experience. Every moment — unique and unrepeatable.
The Ysleta and Socorro missions and San Elizario Chapel are living witnesses to the faith of Spanish missionaries and the Native American heritage at El Paso’s roots. Forget velvet ropes — you’ll be walking floors and touching walls built in the 1600s.
El Paso is also home to the Tiguas, a tribal nation older than our own, whose drums are alive and stretched tight, still pounding for dancers and visitors. Come savor baked bread, fresh from the adobe pueblo oven, made the same way it was 350 years ago.
For the outdoor extremist, Franklin Mountains State Park — a 37-square-mile urban wilderness — offers some of the toughest bike trails in America. The land stands untamed and challenges any takers and thrill-seekers. If you can bike here, you can bike anywhere. A little farther away is Hueco Tanks State Park and Historic Site, where expert climbers from around the world test their skills, and where more than 3,000 ancient pictographs are hidden among the rocks.
Back in the present, El Paso offers high-end shopping at local boutiques and The Outlet Shoppes at El Paso — a 385,000-square-foot center with famous brand stores. To relax, tee off on the Tom Fazio–designed, 72-par course at Butterfield Trial, or enjoy horse racing and casino gaming at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino.
Downtown El Paso has The Plaza Theatre — a fully restored 1930s Spanish-revival cinematic palace, home of the world’s largest classic-film festival every August. Year-round, it hosts some of the best traveling Broadway shows.
In the spring, Neon Desert Music Festival takes over Downtown El Paso, bringing some of the most eclectic indie artists in music today for a richly intense musical odyssey. Artists from all over the United States and México headline the 30-act, five-block dance party as the city finds its groove. From the dance-floor anthems of Moby or the electric chaos of Sparta, you’ll feel the pulse of thousands dancing.
A short drive in any direction offers a completely new landscape, from Carlsbad Caverns to snow skiing in Ruidoso to a sea of white gypsum dunes at White Sands National Monument in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
El Paso’s native friendliness, warm sunshine and untamed mountains will make your trip here the absolute opposite of a themed, fabricated experience. It’s for real explorers. Discover it for yourself.
Real adventure is still alive.
Visit the El Paso Convention and Visitors Bureau for travel-planning information, things to do and see in the area, and more great details about the birthplace of the American Southwest.
