Texas is a huge state, and Texans won’t let you forget it! It’s roughly the same size as France and Switzerland combined. And they say everything in Texas is big. When it comes to a Texas road trip, I’d say this is true: Texans love their big trucks, big speed limits, and big swaths of wide-open land. That said, West Texas often gets ignored because it’s way out there! But for those willing to make the effort to get there, a West Texas road trip is surely one of the best road trips in Texas. I’ve now done variations of this trip twice, both in March, and am itching for a third trip to really do some hiking! (The first trip I got sick, and the second trip I took Bailey, and dogs aren’t allowed on the trails at Big Bend.) So, here are my suggestions for your West Texas road trip itinerary!

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Planning Your West Texas Road Trip Itinerary

The first thing you need to decide is how and where you will start your road trip through West Texas. When I visited Texas from Chicago, we flew into El Paso, as there were direct flights on American Airlines. Flying into Midland is another option, although you will likely have a connection unless you are coming from Dallas, Phoenix, Houston or Vegas. Either way, you’re still looking at about a 3-hour drive once you land. On my second trip, I drove from Tucson, which took about 8 hours to the starting point of my West Texas road trip.

Guadalupe National Park and Carlsbad Caverns

If you are starting your Texas road trip in El Paso, then heading to the Southeast corner of New Mexico is a great place to get started! We picked up a rental car and drove to Whites City, NM for one night. Not a lot of lodging choices here, so we stayed at a Rodeway Inn – definitely a 1-star kind of place! In Guadalupe National Park we hiked into McKittrick Canyon, which is a 5 mile out and back hike. It was a hot, dry hike, with a small stream crossing and the hike ends at an old cabin. There are a lot of cool desert plants and trees along the way.

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Carlsbad Caverns National Park is right here, too, so if you haven’t been, it’s definitely worth a visit!

Fort Davis and Davis Mountains State Park

About 3 hours from Whites City or El Paso is the tiny Texas town of Fort Davis. At an elevation of 5,000 feet, Fort Davis is the highest town in Texas, which means a bit of relief from the surrounding desert, plus amazing night skies!

Davis Mountain State Park is such a gem! The Indian Lodge is an original Civilian Conservation Corps building dating back to the 1930s. If you get a chance to stay here, do it! The rooms are super cute and you can’t beat the setting! The campground is also nice, with great facilities including hot, free showers. Davis Mountains State Park also has several miles of trails for hiking and mountain biking, a birding station, interpretive center, and lookout points along Skyline Drive.

Another good place to stay in Fort Davis is the Hotel Limpia, a hotel from 1912 with 31 guest rooms, right on the main street in town. They have 4 large porches, perfect for catching a sunset with a glass of wine. The restaurant, Blue Mountain Bistro, is a good option for grabbing a meal in Fort Davis.

If you are visiting Fort Davis, you have to visit McDonald Observatory. The night skies here are incredible, and a visit to the observatory is the icing on the cake! Every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday night they hold a Star Party where guests get to look through the big telescopes and learn a bit about our solar system. These are very popular, so make sure you make reservations in advance and plan your trip to be in Fort Davis on one of these nights.

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Marfa, Texas

I have not stayed in Marfa yet, but it’s an easy trip from either Fort Davis or Alpine and is an essential part of any West Texas road trip. This tiny Texas town first became famous when James Dean, Rock Hudson, and Elizabeth Taylor filmed Giant here in 1956. You can sleep where they did, at the Hotel Paisano, or enjoy a “Giant” burger at Jett’s Grill (only $17!)

In the 1970s, minimalist artist Donald Judd moved to Marfa from New York City, bought an army base and transformed it with art installations, eventually starting the Chinati Foundation. Marfa has been attracting artists ever since, including Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset who created the Insta-famous Prada Marfa. When I had dinner on the patio at El Paisano, I was surrounded by smoking New Yorkers with designer bags, which was pretty funny for this little dot on the map in the middle of nowhere!

Finally, the Marfa Mystery Lights are another big draw for this area. This mysterious phenomenon has no explanation but has been occurring for at least a century. The town of Marfa has built a viewing platform just outside of town, where tourists flock each night, hoping to get a glimpse of these moving and merging lights on the horizon. Supposedly, the Marfa lights only “show up” every 10 days or so, but I was lucky enough to catch them when I visited. They look like headlights, but they don’t get closer to you. They also blink on and off, merge into one, split into two, etc. If you’re in the area, you have to at least stop by and judge for yourself.

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Big Bend National Park

Big Bend National Park was the real impetus for my first trip to this area, so it’s my number one recommendation for your West Texas road trip. I obviously love National Parks, and this one receives just 400,000 visitors a year. (Yellowstone received twice that amount last August!) Big Bend has three regions, including park facilities in each of these regions.

Rio Grande Village

This area sits at the east end of the park along the Mexican border. There is a nice campground here (with $2 showers!), a border crossing to Boquillas Mexico, and a hot springs hike! A nice hike in this area is Boquillas Canyon, where I was surprised to see you could just walk on over to Mexico. The Mexicans bring small gifts and walking sticks, leaving them on the rocks for tourists to browse, while they watch their “shops” carefully from across the river.

I got a kick out of the canoe just hanging out on the Mexican side. This is the U.S. border and I chuckle at what people probably think about this! The official border crossing is only open a few days a week but involves being ferried across or wading across, then walking into the village of Boquillas, or hiring a donkey to take you the 1/4 mile to town.

Terlingua / Castolon

Castolon is the visitor center at the West side of the park, and where you’ll go to see Santa Elena Canyon. Do not go to Big Bend without visiting Santa Elena Canyon! There is a rustic campground at Castolon, as well as a store and visitor center. For more facilities on this side of the park, the town (and ghost town) of Terlingua is about 30 minutes away and deserves exploration as well.

A great option on this side of the park is to go whitewater rafting on the Rio Grande. Unfortunately, water levels were too low on my first visit, so we settled for a canoe trip instead. We spent the day in Santa Elena Canyon, which is probably in my top 10 most beautiful places.

It was a really fun, very scenic day of quiet paddling. Of course, our guides were great and fixed a delicious lunch on the shores of the river. We went with Far Flung Outdoor Center – super convenient in Terlingua and excellent guides! (Make sure you pack the proper rafting clothes for a river trip!)

Chisos Basin

In the heart of Big Bend National Park is Chisos Basin, sitting at 5,000 feet in the Chisos Mountains. There is a campground, lodge, visitor center and restaurant here, as well as several trailheads. I highly recommend staying at the Chisos Mountain Lodge. The room itself is nothing extraordinary – pretty typical of most National Park lodges (very basic and dated) but the location was magnificent, magical! The lodge is more like a motor court, with a couple of chairs outside each room. We had javelina come right up to our room each night, and it was also a great spot for bird watching.  Big Bend NP is a destination for birders, especially in the winter/spring!

The trailhead to the “Window Trail” is just a short walk from the hotel and restaurant.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have the chance to hike past the trailhead, so I have a great reason to travel to Big Bend National Park again!

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Have you been to West Texas? Do you agree that Marfa to Big Bend is one of the best road trips in the USA?