Big Bend National Park Travel Guide

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Cradled in the warm, southwestern elbow of Texas, the 801,163 acres of Big Bend National Park hang suspended above the deserts of northern Mexico. From the craggy, forested Chisos Mountains rising up to almost 8,000 feet to the flat and stark plains of the Chihuahuan Desert, Big Bend is one of the nation's most geographically diverse parks, with the kind of territory that inspired Hollywood's first western sets. Visitors can ride the rapids of the Rio Grande, trek through the classic, Old West landscape, and marvel at the moonscape that skirts Boquillas, Mexico.

Hotels

Big Bend National Park Hotels

At the only hotel in the park, the Chisos Basin Mountain Lodge, visitors can select from a freestanding cabin or a hotel room, both within a pace or two...read more

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Restaurants

Big Bend National Park Restaurants

One word can sum up the fare available in the park: casual. You can wear jeans and sneakers to the one park restaurant, which has American-style fare. Outside...read more

Things To Do

Things To Do in Big Bend National Park

Explore the best sights, entertainment, and shopping with our top choices and insider tips.

Travel Deals in Big Bend National Park

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Hotels

Big Bend National Park Experiences

  • Top Reasons to Go to Big Bend National Park

    Varied terrain: Visit gilded desert, a fabled river, bird-filled woods, and mountain spirals all in the same day.... Read more

  • Bluebonnets: the Pride of Texas

    Ever since men first explored the prairies of Texas, the bluebonnet has been revered. American Indians wove folktales around this bright bluish-violet... Read more

  • Flora and Fauna

    Because Big Bend contains habitats as diverse as spent volcanoes, slick-sided canyons, and the Rio Grande, it follows that species here are extremely... Read more

  • Big Bend's Buffalo Soldiers

    During the Indian Wars of 1866 through 1892, the U.S. government enlisted vast numbers of black soldiers to serve in its cavalry. Those that... Read more

  • Good Reads

    Naturalist's Big Bend, by Roland H. Wauer and Carl M. Fleming, paints a picture of the park's diverse plants and animals.... Read more

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