El Paso Travel Guide — Best Time, Things to Do & Where to Stay

Why El Paso

El Paso is a major city in West Texas, serving as the seat of El Paso County. Positioned along the Rio Grande, it lies directly across the United States–Mexico border from Ciudad Juárez in Chihuahua. Together with nearby Las Cruces, New Mexico, these international communities comprise a binational metropolitan region historically known as the Paso del Norte or Borderplex, characterized by a large bilingual population and a shared border geography.

Human presence in the surrounding landscape extends back thousands of years, as evidenced by early hunter-gatherer artifacts at Hueco Tanks and subsequent maize-farming settlements. Native groups including the Manso, Suma, Jumano, and Mescalero Apache inhabited the area prior to Spanish expeditions along the Rio Grande in the late sixteenth century. Following periods of Spanish governance and Mexican control, the area on the river's northern bank became part of the United States in 1848, with downtown street layouts planned in 1859 and formal municipal incorporation following in 1873.

The arrival of several major rail lines in 1881 transformed El Paso from a quiet settlement into a rapidly expanding Southwest hub. After a volatile period during its early boom years, the city gradually matured into a primary regional center for manufacturing, retail, and transportation. The city experienced further growth in the early twentieth century during the Mexican Revolution, which brought an influx of residents, capital, and middle-class institutions including Spanish-language newspapers, schools, and theaters.

Today, El Paso maintains a prominent Hispanic heritage, with roughly four-fifths of its population identifying as Hispanic. Educational and medical institutions in the city include the University of Texas at El Paso and the Medical Center of the Americas. The community also hosts the annual Sun Bowl, which ranks among the oldest postseason college football contests in the nation. A substantial defense and government infrastructure further shapes the area, marked by military facilities such as Fort Bliss and Biggs Army Airfield, alongside regional headquarters for federal law enforcement and border security.