Elephant Butte Lake State Park
Check pricesNew Mexico's largest state park, centered on a large reservoir with beaches, boating, camping, and trails.

Photo: CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.
Drive a 12-mile tour loop and walk nature trails to watch sandhill cranes, geese and ducks on Rio Grande wetlands.
1001 State Highway 1 · San Antonio, NM
Bosque del Apache is a 57,331-acre national wildlife refuge along the Rio Grande, established in 1939 as a stopover for migrating waterfowl. Tens of thousands of cranes, geese and ducks winter here each year, and you can watch them from a scenic drive of about 12 miles or from twelve nature trails. Dawn and dusk tend to be the liveliest times for wildlife all year. Start at the visitor center on State Highway 1 for maps and water refills.
The closest stops to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.
New Mexico's largest state park, centered on a large reservoir with beaches, boating, camping, and trails.
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A mineral and geology museum on the New Mexico Tech campus in Socorro, known for its New Mexico mineral displays.
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Tour the famous radio telescope array's visitor center and walk out to the base of its giant dish antennas.
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Three historic mission and Pueblo sites in central New Mexico, run by the National Park Service.
56 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing
A restored 1910 Santa Fe Railway Harvey House with exhibits on the Harvey Girls and railroad history.
Transit: reachable by public transit
60 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums