Museums
History BuffChinati Foundation
$25–$50Take a guided tour of large installations by Donald Judd, Dan Flavin and other artists on a former Army post in Marfa.
Photo: Allison Meier from Brooklyn, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.
SightseeingQuirky FunLocal Gem
Marfa Lights Viewing Area
A roadside viewing area on U.S. 90 east of Marfa where you scan the dark desert horizon after sunset for the Marfa Mystery Lights.
U.S. 90, about 9 miles east of Marfa toward Alpine · Marfa, TX
About Marfa Lights Viewing Area
The official Marfa Lights Viewing Area is a roadside stop on the south side of U.S. 90, about nine miles east of Marfa toward Alpine, on the site of the former Marfa Army Airfield. Its viewing center opened in 2003. After dark you look out over the desert for glowing lights that observers most often describe as yellow-orange, and sometimes as green, blue or red. Visit Marfa says the lights show up at random through the night, in any season and any weather. The first recorded report dates to 1883, when cowhand Robert Reed Ellison saw a flickering light near Paisano Pass. Studies by UT Dallas students in 2004 and Texas State University researchers in 2008 tied many sightings to car headlights.
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- #mystery lights
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- #roadside attraction
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What's around here?
The closest stops to Marfa Lights Viewing Area, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.
8.8 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums
- Museums
Museum of the Big Bend
Under $25Regional museum on the Sul Ross State University campus in Alpine, covering the natural history, culture, and art of the Big Bend area.
15 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums
- Sports & OutdoorsOutdoor Adventure
Davis Mountains State Park
Under $25Drive the CCC's Skyline Drive to mountain overlooks, hike to Fort Davis, and stay up for dark West Texas skies or a night at the adobe Indian Lodge.
22 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors
- Sightseeing
Fort Davis National Historic Site
Under $25A preserved frontier Army post in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, run by the National Park Service.
22 mi awayMore like this
- SightseeingQuirky Fun
Prada Marfa
No admission feePull over on a lonely stretch of US-90 to see a sealed Prada storefront sculpture standing alone in the desert.
44 mi awayMore like this
- SightseeingHistory Buff
Fort Leaton State Historic Site
Under $25Walk the thick adobe walls and restored rooms of an 1800s border trading fort on the Rio Grande road, the western gateway to Big Bend Ranch.
57 mi awayMore like this
