El Paso Convention and Visitors Bureau
One Civic Center Plaza
El Paso, TX 79901
(915) 534-0695
Population
515342
Time Zone
Central
Latitude/Longitude
31.79° /-106.45°
Today's Forecast
 |
HIGH: 75
LOW: 50
|
|
|
|
Like a sentinel, El Paso stands alone on the far West Texas desert, situated at the intersection of Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico. The Rocky Mountains begin at its doorstep. Known to early explorers as El Paso del Norte, the Pass of the North, El Paso spans many centuries and many cultures. El Paso's multicultural heritage is an authentic part of its daily life. Local residents and visitors move easily across the Rio Grande River via busy bridges connecting El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
| Attractions |
|
El Paso's museums offer a detailed look at local and international art, history, and culture. The newest addition to the downtown cultural district, the El Paso Museum of History opened in 2007. Using documents, images and artifacts, the museum's permanent exhibits tell the story of El Paso as it has evolved over time. The El Paso Museum of Art's collection includes American, contemporary, and Spanish Viceroyal works as well as excellent Italian Renaissance paintings from the famous Samuel S. Kress collection. Nearby, Insights - El Paso Science Museum has changing and permanent exhibits on a wide range of subjects including light, sound, work, heat, optics, and electricity. Kids will also enjoy the El Paso Zoo and the rides at Western Playland Amusement Park.
The city is the home of the University of Texas at El Paso where the Centennial Museum focuses on the history of humans and nature in the Southwest region. Exhibits feature prehistoric tools, Indian pottery, and dinosaur fossils. The surrounding Chihuahuan Desert Gardens offer more than 600 varieties of desert plants. High above the city, in the Franklin Mountains, the El Paso Museum of Archaeology specializes in the region's natural and Indian history. A mile-long trail leads past replicas of a Pueblo, an Indian meeting house, and a pit house, and Diorama House displays full-sized exhibits of everyday Indian life. The surrounding Wilderness Park has hiking trails and displays of desert plants.
At the Tigua Indian Cultural Center in Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, located within El Paso's city limits, the Tigua invite visitors to their living Pueblo adobe complex. Attractions include shops dealing in traditional arts and crafts (especially pottery), artifacts and exhibits concerning Tigua history, and traditional dance performances on weekends.
El Paso's history also comes alive at sites such as Chamizal National Memorial, which commemorates the settlement of a long-standing land dispute between Mexico and the United States, and at Fort Bliss, where you'll find a replica of Old Fort Bliss as well as the U.S. Army Museum of the Noncommissioned Officer.
El Paso also offers its own symphony and opera companies who perform at the Plaza Theatre. Sports fans can take in the exploits of the El Paso Diablos, members of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, at Cohen Stadium, and the El Paso Patriots of soccer's Premier Development League who play at Patriots Stadium.
Be sure to drive into the Franklin Mountains for fine views of the Sonoran Desert from the Rim Road that borders the mountains' southern flank. Then take the Wyler Arial Tramway, which rises to a height of 5,632 feet, for an even better look at all that wilderness. More driving will take you on a tour of the old Spanish missions in El Paso's Lower Valley. Begin with Nuestra Senora del Carmen, a mission established in 1681, commonly called Ysleta Mission. Next, go to Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion del Socorro, established in 1682. In the village of San Elizario, you can visit the Presidio Chapel in the fort built in 1777 as a Spanish military garrison.
About 30 miles from the city, Hueco Tanks State Historical Park preserves the natural rock basins where the desert's most precious commodity, water, collects after rain storms. This centuries' old stopping point for travelers has thousands of ancient Indian pictographs as well as the names of pioneers scrawled on its walls.
|
Explore another city in Texas
|
|
Weather © 2009 AccuWeather, Inc. All rights reserved.
|
