New Mexico Road Trip Overview - 1 Week in the American Desert

White Sands National Monument is worth a visit both during the daytime and then again at sunset.

UPDATED: 2/5/2023

Note: Some links throughout our site are affiliate links, which means we may receive a small commission at no cost to you.

Enchanting is a word often used to describe New Mexico. I’m not certain that the English language has the right word to describe New Mexico, but that one might come closest.

In my years living on the East Coast of the United States, I have come across very few people who have visited New Mexico. Periodic stories emerge in the news about Americans who purportedly think New Mexico is in Mexico. True or exaggerated, those stories hit a very real nerve: New Mexico is probably underappreciated as a destination in the United States.

I first fell in love with New Mexico (and neighboring Arizona) as a child living in Southern California. We took one family vacation to both states and later visited both again when we drove cross-country as we moved to the east. I have been back to visit both as an adult (read about our trip to Arizona here) but in each case, feel I have only scratched the surface and could easily spend a month or more exploring what these hauntingly beautiful states have to offer.

In the early spring of 2015, we took a week-long trip to New Mexico and explored the state right up its spine (see the map below for the visual!). To this day, when I think about amazing spots I have visited, several of the sites from this trip immediately spring to mind.

The Living Desert State Park is a botanical garden of sorts for desert ecosystems.

Planning our New Mexico Road Trip

how we determined our itinerary and route

As I mentioned above, I had visited New Mexico a few times as a child and have specific memories of the Taos area and of visiting a relative in Albuquerque, though no memories of the city itself. The rest of the state is blurred with the passage of time. So, while I had a general idea of the types of things I wanted to see, the starting place to plan this trip was a travel guide. We used the Moon Travel Guide: New Mexico by Zora O’Neill.

(click on the image above to order this book through our affiliate)

After flagging a number of spots that looked interesting, I realized that there was no way we could see everything in one week for our Saturday to Saturday trip, which was all the time we had given that we planned this trip to accommodate family members who are teachers and were cramming this in during spring break. We also looked at airport options, which are not extensive in New Mexico and realized any sort of loop trip starting and ending in Albuquerque, the most populous city in the state but still with less than one million residents, would create excessive drive time.

Top on my list was a visit to White Sands National Park. Being in the middle of undulating hills of white desert sand stretching out in all directions? Yes, please! We also wanted to see some petroglyphs, which we have seen in other places before but which continue to interest us. And, we decided Carlsbad Caverns were a must-see as well. There are several cliff dwelling spots in the western part of the state, but after plotting out different route options, we were honest with ourselves that we couldn’t see everything in one trip.

what route did we take?

So, we got creative and decided to start our trip in El Paso, Texas, a city squashed in a small corner of Texas right between Mexico and New Mexico, and end it in Albuquerque. On some trips, we have ended up staying at hotels for only a night but find that kind of travel to be exhausting and so try to stay at least two nights per stop when possible. On this trip, we stayed 2-3 nights each in a total of three locations.

Because the spots we wanted to visit were fairly spread out in this mostly rural state, each of the three locations where we stayed at night would serve as jumping off points for day treks out in different directions. We picked locations that seemed central and had accommodation options. I cannot underscore enough how limited accommodations can be in small, rural sections of states. So, with one exception, our accommodations were practical and pragmatic selections, nothing to write home about, which was perfectly fine given that we basically just slept in them.

Our Route: Here’s a map of the general route, not accounting for all destinations and side trips. For those details, check out all of the related posts that describe this trip in more depth.

If you are interested in ancient history, a stop a Petroglyph National Monument is in order.

Trip Highlights on our Week-long Adventure in New Mexico

We will provide a much more thorough overview of these highlights and many other stops on this trip in the day-by-day posts. Trying to select the highlights is tough because we did so many different things that we enjoyed! Here is just a flavor of some of our favorites to whet your appetite to keep reading our related posts!

White Sands National Park - Why a place like Mount Rushmore elicits attention when practically no one has ever heard of White Sands is one of those oddities of life. Picture an image of the desert with waves of sand rising and falling like a white ocean in slow-motion that is so slow you can't see it move as winds constantly reshape and move each peak and valley one grain of sand at a time. Stand at the bottom of a wave, and all you'll see are white mountains looming above you. Stand at the top, and you'll have an endless and epic view stretching out in all directions. Pictures of White Sands are beautiful but none possess the breathtaking experience of wandering through the dunes. During our trip, we were able to join a park ranger for a sunset stroll and talk. As the sun set, the color of the sand shifted from white to shades of cream, then took on a purple-blue hue.

Carlsbad Caverns - There are a number of different tour options at Carlsbad. The most popular tours are self-guided, which (in our experience) is fairly rare and unique. We took a 2.5 mile trail - keep in mind that this is entirely underground! - at our own pace to enjoy all of the geologic formations in this underground wonderland. Just pause on the length of this underground trail for a moment, and you'll have a general sense of the enormity of this cavern!

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge - This wildlife refuge is famous for its Sandhill cranes, who winter here. This spot is also one of the most diverse locations for bird-viewing with nearly 400 species spotted over the years. Even for those visitors less interested in birds, the refuge is picturesque and lush, nestled along the Rio Grande. There is a 12-mile car loop and numerous hikes of varying lengths for those looking to stretch their legs. We even saw a Great Horned Owl on our hike! (Less fun: We served ourselves up as dinner for some very hungry mosquitoes.)

Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument - 6 to 7 million years ago, a volcano erupted and spewed a thick layer of pumice, ash, and tuff. Over the intervening eons, a large amount of that has eroded away, leaving the strongest or largest segements in place that today form hoodoos, or tent rocks, standing spires that range from a few feet to 90 feet tall. At this national monument, there are several hikes. We chose the harder trail (go figure) that took us into the heart of this forest of tent rocks and then sent us up to the top of a mesa after a 630-foot climb. The views from its top were astounding, if you didn't think too much about the wind trying to blow you off the edge. Everything about this hike and views were mesmerizing!

Take a drive around the lakes or get out and hike at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.

Would we return to New Mexico?

A resounding yes! The state is incredibly varied from sandy deserts to high elevation forests, and there are endless hikes and sites to explore. There are entire sections of the state we want to visit still, and New Mexican cuisine is to-die-for. New Mexico is a state where you can truly enjoy the entirety of the day - from brilliant colors at sunset and sunrise to star-gazing in the rural parts of the state with nothing but open skies above. One of our favorite things about the desert - and not limited to New Mexico - is just how far you can see and how weather patterns show up in fascinating ways. Watching lightning strike and dark clouds move across the terrain miles and miles away from you is something people who live in more hilly areas can’t even fathom.

Trip Do-Over: What would we do differently?

While we had many great meals, we also didn’t fully take advantage of finding amazing places to eat throughout the trip. On a future trip, I would do more research and try to incorporate more food-focused stops along the way where possible.

Click the image below to save this post to Pinterest!