Discover 20 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in El Paso (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: El Paso Zoo, McKelligon Canyon, and Fort Bliss. Also, be sure to include Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in El Paso (Texas).
Table of Contents
El Paso Zoo
35-acre park with 220 species. The El Paso Zoo is a zoo located in El Paso, Texas. The 35-acre facility houses animals representing over 220 species, including such critically endangered species as the Amur leopard and the Aruba rattlesnake. The zoo is home to a sea lion exhibit, which hosts daily shows, as well as exotic animals from around the world with feature attractions such as the African Star train and the Hunt Family Desert Spring. The zoo recently expanded in size with the addition on the new African Exhibit featuring lions, zebras, and giraffes.
The El Paso Zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).[1]
Address: 4001 E Paisano Dr, 79905-4223 El Paso (Central El Paso)
McKelligon Canyon
Amphitheater in El Paso, Texas. McKelligon Canyon is the location of a 1,503-seat amphitheater located in El Paso, Texas, United States, where the play Viva El Paso! is presented. The amphitheater is also used for concerts, graduation ceremonies, and other special events. Adjacent is the 300-seat McKelligon Canyon Pavilion.[2]
Fort Bliss
Census-designated place in Texas. Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Named in honor of LTC William Bliss, a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor, Ft. Bliss has an area of about 1,700 square miles; it is the largest installation in FORSCOM and second-largest in the Army overall. The portion of the post located in El Paso County, Texas, is a census-designated place with a population of 8,591 as of the time of the 2010 census. Fort Bliss provides the largest contiguous tract of restricted airspace in the Continental United States, used for missile and artillery training and testing, and at 992,000 acres boasts the largest maneuver area. The garrison's land area is accounted at 1.12 million acres, ranging to the boundaries of the Lincoln National Forest and White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.[3]
Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens
Museum. The Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens is a cultural history and natural history museum on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso in El Paso, Texas, United States.The museum was built in 1963 to commemorate the centenary of Texas independence, making it the oldest museum in El Paso.
The Centennial Museum is an academic support and outreach unit of The University of Texas at El Paso focusing primarily on the natural and cultural history of the Chihuahuan Desert. It promotes and shares knowledge and understanding of the natural diversity of the region and its people. The museum meets its responsibilities through the presentation and curation of the permanent collections, including the Chihuahuan Desert Gardens. Furthermore, the museum promotes the scholarly research of UTEP students, faculty, and alumni, and supports the general mission of The University of Texas at El Paso.[4]
Address: 500 W University Ave, 79968-8900 El Paso (Central El Paso)
Wyler Aerial Tramway
Park in El Paso, Texas. Wyler Aerial Tramway is an aerial tramway in El Paso, Texas, United States. The tramway is operated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and is located in Franklin Mountains State Park. The tramway complex covers 196 acres on the east side of the Franklin Mountains. The gondolas travel along two 2600 foot 1 3/8" diameter steel cables to Ranger Peak, 5,632 feet above sea level. The trip takes about four minutes and lifts riders up 940 vertical feet above the boarding area. From Ranger Peak you can see three states and two countries on a clear day. The tramway was closed indefinitely to the public in September 2018.[5]
Address: 1700 McKinley Ave, 79930 El Paso (Central El Paso)
Cathedral Parish of Saint Patrick
Catholic cathedral in El Paso, Texas. St. Patrick Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of El Paso, Texas. The cathedral is located at 1118 N. Mesa Street, north of the downtown area. It is the mother church for 668,000 Catholics in the diocese. The cathedral parish operates one of El Paso's Catholic high schools, Cathedral High School, and St. Patrick Elementary School adjacent to the church.[6]
Address: 1118 N Mesa St, 79902-4095 El Paso (Central El Paso)
International Museum of Art
Museum in El Paso, Texas. The International Museum of Art is a museum in El Paso, Texas housed in a historic residence designed by Henry C. Trost. The home was the W.W. Turney residence built for state legislator, lawyer, and rancher William Ward Turney in 1908. The International Museum of Art shares history with the El Paso Museum of Art, which occupied the Turney building until 1998. After it moved into its new building, the International Museum of Art reopened in 1999.[7]
Address: 1211 Montana Ave, 79902-5511 El Paso (Central El Paso)
El Paso Museum of Art
Museum in El Paso, Texas. Founded in 1959, The El Paso Museum of Art is located in downtown El Paso, Texas. First accredited in 1972, it is the only accredited art museum within a 250-mile radius and serves approximately 100,000 visitors per year. A new building was completed in 1998. In addition to its permanent collections and special exhibitions, the museum also offers art classes, film series, lectures, concerts, storytelling sessions and other educational programs to the West Texas, Southern New Mexico and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico community. EPMA's Algur H. Meadows Art Library houses a special collection of art and art history reference books.[8]
Address: 1 Arts Festival Plaza, 79901-1135 El Paso (Central El Paso)
San Jacinto Plaza
Plaza in El Paso, Texas. San Jacinto Plaza is a historic park located on the corner of Oregon and Mills in the heart of Downtown El Paso, Texas.[9]
Address: 101-199 E Main St, 79901 El Paso (Central El Paso)
Sun Bowl Stadium
Stadium in El Paso, Texas. The Sun Bowl is an outdoor football stadium in the southwestern United States, on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso. It is home to the UTEP Miners of Conference USA, and the late December college football bowl game, the Sun Bowl. The stadium opened in 1963 and has a current seating capacity of 51,500.[10]
Address: 2701 Sun Bowl Dr, 79902 El Paso (Central El Paso)
Don Haskins Center
Sports venue in El Paso, Texas. The Don Haskins Center, formerly known as the Special Events Center, is the home of UTEP Miners men's and women's basketball. The venue is located in the heart of El Paso, Texas. In addition to hosting sporting events, the Don Haskins Center is also used by many area schools, such as El Paso Community College, for graduation and commencement ceremonies. Due to its large seating capacity, the center is also the city's premier entertainment venue and has hosted big-name acts such as pop star Shakira's Tour of the Mongoose, Oral Fixation Tour and The Sun Comes Out World Tour, Britney Spears during her Circus Tour, comedian George Lopez and rock band KISS.[11]
Address: 151 Glory Road, 79902 El Paso (Central El Paso)
Bridge of the Americas
Bridge in El Paso, Texas. The Bridge of the Americas is a group of international bridges which cross the Rio Grande and Texas State Highway Loop 375, connecting the Mexico–United States border cities of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua and El Paso, Texas, via the MX 45 from the south and the I-110 from the north, crossing the El Paso BOTA Port of Entry. The bridge is known colloquially as "Puente Libre" in Ciudad Juárez, officially as "Puente Internacional Córdova-Las Américas" or "Puente Internacional Córdova de las Américas", and also as "Puente Río Bravo", "Cordova Bridge", and "Free Bridge".[12]
Cohen Stadium
Stadium in El Paso, Texas. Cohen Stadium was a stadium on the Northeast side of El Paso, Texas, by the Patriot Freeway, next to the Franklin Mountains. It replaced Dudley Field and has been replaced by Southwest University Park. It was primarily used for baseball, and was the home field of the El Paso Diablos minor league baseball team. It opened in 1990 and held 9,725 people. A demolition contract for the stadium was awarded on April 2, 2019, to be completed in 120 days. Demolition took place on Wednesday, June 5, 2019. The site will become the Cohen Entertainment District, featuring a water park, open spaces, shopping and restaurants.
The park was known as being an extremely hitter-friendly park, due to its high elevation, low humidity, and favorable wind currents toward the outfield. Primarily used for baseball, Cohen Stadium also hosted concerts, boxing, and soccer games. In 2012, it was home to the El Paso Santos minor-league soccer team playing from February until April, but despite being Pecos Soccer League (PSL) champions, they were displaced by the Diablos' departure.
Cohen Stadium was named for the former Major League Baseball players Andy Cohen and his brother Syd Cohen who grew up in El Paso.
In December 2009, the stadium's cement canopy was partially torn away by heavy winds in El Paso. Winds of the storm which caused the damage exceeded 70 mph.
World famous DJ Tiësto made an appearance at Cohen Stadium on May 6, 2011 with an estimated attendance of 10,000 people.
Cohen Stadium hosted the first annual Sun City Music Festival on September 3 and 4, 2011. The festival was dedicated to the world's largest electronic-dance music artists having headliners such as Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk, Afrojack, Funkagenda, Sander van Doorn among others. In 2012, SCMF was moved to Ascarate Park.[13]
Address: El Paso, 9700 Gateway North Blvd. El Paso, Texas
Concordia Cemetery
Burial ground. Concordia Cemetery is a burial ground in El Paso, Texas. It is known for the being the burial place of several gunslingers and old west lawmen. The first burial took place in 1856. There are between 60,000 and 65,000 graves in the cemetery. Concordia is the only place to have a Chinese cemetery in Texas.[14]
Address: 3700 East Yandell Drive, 79903 El Paso (Central El Paso)
Chamizal National Memorial
Museum and park at the U.S.-Mexico border. Chamizal National Memorial, located in El Paso, Texas, along the United States–Mexico international border, is a National Park Service site commemorating the peaceful settlement of the Chamizal boundary dispute.[15]
Address: 800 S San Marcial St, 79905-4123 El Paso (Central El Paso)
Popular Department Store
The Popular Department Store is a historic building in El Paso, Texas. It was built in 1917 for The Popular, a chain of department stores founded by Adolph Schwartz in El Paso in 1902. His heirs inherited the building, and they sold it in 1995; it later became the Fallas Department Store. The building was designed in the Chicago School architectural style by Trost & Trost. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since September 24, 1980.[16]
Address: 102 North Mesa Street, El Paso (Central El Paso)
Paso del Norte International Bridge
Bridge in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. The Paso del Norte International Bridge is an international bridge which crosses the Rio Grande connecting the United States-Mexico border cities of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. The bridge is also known as "Paso del Norte Bridge", "Santa Fe Street Bridge", "Puente Benito Juárez", "Puente Paso del Norte" and "Puente Juárez-Santa Fe". The Paso del Norte International Bridge is a four-lane bridge for northbound non-commercial traffic only. The bridge was constructed in 1967. The American side of the bridge is owned and operated by the City of El Paso.
On March 26, 2019, dozens of illegal immigrants were captured by United States Customs and Border Protection agents, who had insufficient space for them in local holding facilities. So they erected chainlink fencing and concertina wire under the bridge to construct a "transitional shelter" to detain them. As of March 30, hundreds of immigrants were sleeping on dirt and rocks, with mylar blankets, portable toilets and plastic portable sinks.
By mid-June, conditions had worsened, with between 100 and 150 detainees reporting most have been held for over a month, without being allowed to bathe or change clothing, in temperatures exceeding 100 °F (38 °C).[17]
Address: Avenida Benito Juárez, El Paso (Central El Paso)
International Boundary Marker No. 1
International Boundary Marker No. 1, U.S. and Mexico is a monument on the Mexico–U.S. border, on the west bank of the Rio Grande River near El Paso, Texas. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1976.
The monument was placed there in 1855 by the Emory-Salazar Commission. It is a dressed cut stone monument 12 feet (3.7 m) tall, 5 by 5 feet (1.5 m × 1.5 m) at its base and 2.5 by 2.5 feet (0.76 m × 0.76 m) at its top. The monument was repaired in 1892 by the Barlow-Blanco Commission, and again in 1929 by the International Boundary Commission. It was repainted in 1933 and in 1959, the latter time by the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC). It was refurbished in 1966 by both sections of the IBWC, which stripped its old plaster coating down to the original masonry monument and re-faced it with white marbleized concrete. A 9 by 9 metres (30 ft × 30 ft) concrete slab platform was added then, too.
It has also been known as Western Land Boundary Marker No. 1, U.S. and Mexico.
It is located in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, west of El Paso off Interstate 10.[18]
WestStar Tower
Building. The WestStar Tower is a high-rise located at 601 North Mesa Street in Downtown El Paso, Texas. It was completed in 2021 and surpassed the Wells Fargo Plaza as the tallest building in El Paso, with a height of 314 ft. The tower has 20 stories in total. Covering an entire city block, the tower has a ground-level park area, outdoor seating and dining, and about 262,000 square feet of Class A+ office space. Alongside this, it also has 13,000 square feet of office and retail space on the ground floor. On completion, the building was the first skyscraper above 300 feet built in El Paso for nearly 50 years.[19]
Roberts-Banner Building
The Roberts-Banner Building is a historic building in El Paso, Texas. Old adobe houses were demolished to make room for the construction of this five-story building in 1910. It was built with concrete, and designed by Trost & Trost. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since September 24, 1980.[20]