Main Attractions – Home | North American Regions

Geography

The Southwestern United States is composed of only 4 states, listed with their capitals:

Austin, Texas
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Phoenix, Arizona

Cities

The top 5 cities in The Southwestern United States are:

1. Phoenix, Arizona
2. El Paso, Texas
3. Albuquerque, New Mexico
4. Tucson, Arizona
5. Mesa, Arizona

Climate

This region is known for its dry climate. Summers can be extremely hot in the South, with temperatures climbing up to 100-125°F.

Main attractions

Texas

• Austin’s Life Music Scene – The lone star state’s beat

Although Austin is the seat of state government and home to one of the largest universities in America, its soul resides in its music. Laid-back and fun-loving, the city bills itself as the Live Music Capital of the World and claims more than 250 venues. Austin’s year-round music nerve center is on Sixth Street and in the Red River District.

• The Dallas Arts District – Cultural Jewels in Big D

The Dallas Arts District is the centerpiece of the city’s cultural life, a 68-acre. 19-block enclave built by some of the world’s finest architects to hold some of the best collections of art anywhere. The district includes the must-see unusually angular Meyerson Symphony Center, the extravagant Winspear Opera House and the Dallas Museum of Art containing modern masterpieces in a lush setting. The Crow Collection of Asian Art presents collections containing religious and secular pieces from diverse eras and cultures.

• Houston’s Art Museums – An extensive collection of Texas treasures

When it first opened in 1924, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston was the first art museum in Texas and only the third in the American South. One of the most visited of the 18 venues that make up the city’s Museum District, today it is the fifth largest museum in the country. Also, in the museum district is the Menil Collection, widely esteemed as one of the finest private museums in the United States. For something really different, see the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art. Created by Houston postal worker, it is an architectural wonder and an ode to outsider art made from recycled. Tiles, concrete, tractor, seats, and mannequins.

• San Antonio River Walk – A lively oasis in a multicultural town

Mark Twain rated San Antonio as one of America’s most outstanding cities. Today, he would recognize the city’s historic showpiece, the Alamo, but not its other most-visited attraction, the Paseo del Rio, or River Walk, a lively cobblestone boardwalk that unfolds among cypress, oaks, flowering bushes and willows among both banks of the lazy San Antonio River. The River Walk is particularly wonderful during the Christmas season, when more than 120,000 twinkling lights illuminate its vintage façades and bridges, and in late April, when the whole city stops for the Fiesta San Antonio, 11 days of events highlighted by three parades and set to the score the city’s signature Tejano music, a unique blend of Mexican and German influences. Indulge in more of the city’s Hispanic heritage at Market Square, consisting of El Mercado, the largest Mexican market outside Mexico.

• Texas Hill County – Back roads and bluebonnets

With a gently rolling landscape that never reaches more than 1,900 feet above sea level, Texas Hill County was settled in the mid-1800s, mostly by German immigrants, whose ethnic influence can still be felt in local Octoberfest and Christmastime festivals in and around Fredericksburg, the area’s prettiest town. Here, you can also follow the Fredericksburg Wine road, aka U.S. Highway 290 which links Hill County wineries.

On Saturday afternoons between March and December, the town of Bandera, the self-appointed Cowboy Capital of the World, hosts Cowboys on Main, a street party with chuck wagons, barbeque stands, and roping trick demonstrations.

Oklahoma

• Oklahoma City’s Cowboy Culture – Where the Wild West lives on

When Cattlemen and cowboys come to Oklahoma City, they head straight for Stockyards City Main Street, a retail district right in the center of town and still the location of saddleries and Western-wear clothing stores. On Mondays and Tuesdays, you can see live cattle being auctioned at the world’s largest stocker/feeder market, right next to the Oklahoma National Stockyards. Oklahoma has more horses per capita than any other state and Oklahoma City has more horse shows than any other city in America. Best time to visit this place is during November’s American Quarter Horse Association World Championship Show, where competitors from around the world demonstrate their cowboy skills. Oklahoma is also home to 39 Native American tribes who come together along with other North American tribes for a 3-day Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival in June to showcase their art, dancing, and parades.

• Tulsa’s Gilcrease Museum showcasing artifacts devoted to the American West

An unsurpassed repository for the best of the Old West, the Gilcrease Museum is the lasting legacy of Thomas Gilcrease. He struck it rich in 1905 when oil was found on his 160-acre land. He spent his profits amassing the world’s largest collection of devoted to American West. When the price of oil dropped in the 1950’s he deeded the entire collection to the city of Tulsa. The town itself is a sort of open-air museum, thanks to all the grand Art Deco homes that were built in the 1920s to 1940s period, to remind the world of the town’s status as “Oil Capital of the World”.

Arizona

• Canyon de Chelly – Sacred outdoor museum of the Navajo Nation

Owned by the largest recognized tribe in America, Canyon de Chelly radiates quiet magic and spirituality that inspired mythology guru Joseph Campbell to call it “the most sacred place on Earth”. Canyon de Chelly has partially carved multistore dwellings, which are the oldest dwelling sites in North America. They are the main attraction of this 130-square-mile historic area.

• Grand Canyon – Nature’s masterpiece

Few things in this world produce such awe as the Grand Canyon. The mile-deep chasm carved by the Colorado River is a staggering 277 miles long and up to 18 miles wide. Its striated wall change color by the hour, shifting from crimson to orange to purple. The most popular viewing spot is the South Rim, where the overlooks are the most dramatic and hiking trails wait to be explored. If you are looking for an easy and paved path, check out the Rim Trail. The area’s newest traction is the exhilarating 70-foot-long glass-bottomed Grand Canyon Skywalk, which extends 4,000 feet above the canyon floor. Located in the Grand Canyon West, on the Hualapai Indian Reservation, it’s a popular stop on most day trips leaving from Las Vegas. Adventurers looking for an insider glimpse of the masterpiece for nature should raft the swift-moving Colorado river, make sure to book in advance as spots fill up quickly. The rafting adventure can last between a few hours and 2 weeks, depending on your interests and time allocated for this trip.

• Lake Powell – Man-made sea of the Southwest

Lake Powell is America’s second largest man-made lake, whose turquoise waters shimmer like a mirage in the red rock county of Northern Arizona and southern Utah. Measuring 185 miles long and creating some 2,000 miles of more or less road-free shoreline, Lake Powell has become the “houseboat capital of America”. Countless sandy coves and beaches can be explored by day, while nighttime means spectacular stargazing. On the southern edge of the lake, Rainbow Bridge is a site of deep spiritual significance to the Navajo, who call it “the rainbow turned into stone”. At 290 feet high and 275 feet across, it is the longest natural bridge in the world.

• Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park

Located at the Arizona Utah border, Monument Valley is a vast barren plain punctuated by towering red-rock formations. Follow the rough 17-mile dirt road from the visitor center to see starkly eroded buttes, some reaching 1,000 feet above the valley floor with names like Totem Pole, the Mittens, and Elephant Butte. If you want to wander off the road, you must be in the company of a Navajo guide.

New Mexico

• Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

At roughly the size of a house, the average hot-air balloon is mighty impressive. Now imagine more than 500 of them, slowly inflating and lifting into the sky! Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is the world’s largest hot-air balloon rally, held since 1972. If flying away on a hot-air balloon is not your thing, but you still want to experience the heights, ride the Sandia Peak Tram, which is 2.7 miles long, world’s longest aerial tramway. It runs from the northeast corner of the city to the top of the Sandia Mountains, 10,378 feet up.

• Carlsbad Caverns – Underground wonder in the Chihuahuan Desert

One of the world’s most complex, astounding, and easily accessible cave systems winds beneath the Guadalupe Mountains in southeastern New Mexico. Carlsbad Caverns National Park contains more than 100 known caves, the remains of a fossil reef from an inland sea that covered the area some 250 million years ago. Take a step walkway or an elevator 750 feet underground to the Big Room, one of the most enormous underground spaces on the planet. It is large enough to hold six football fields! Follow the mile-long trail to see natural formations resembling waterfalls, straws, totem poles and draped silk.

• Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad – All aboard!

Ride a steam-powered train for the prettiest and most authentic Old West railroad experience. At 128 miles round-trip, the Cumbres & Toltec is the longest narrow-gauge train route in America. The 3-foot-wide train tracks were built more compactly than standard gauge to hug the sheer sides of Toltec Gorge, 600 feet above the Rio Chama, and to pass through two tunnels and over two 100-foot-high trestles. At Cumbres Pass, elevation 10,015 feet and the highest point in the United States reached by scheduled passenger trains, you can see the pastoral Chama Valley below, surrounded by densely wooded Rio Grande, Carson, and Santa Fe national forests.

• Roswell – Out of this world!

In July of 1947, local ranchers described finding pieces of purple metal inscribed with strange hieroglyphics that crashed to Earth from the sky. Reswell has become synonymous with unidentified flying objects. The place has been the subject of movies and TV shows. Every July Fourth weekend, the annual Roswell UFO Festival features lectures, workshops, and abduction panels, plus lighthearted costume contests, fireworks, and a parade down Main Street. The infamous Hangar 84, where the government stored the debris from the mysterious crash, can be seen year-round as a highlight of Roswell UFO Tour.

Other Resources

The area is mainly served by Southwest Airlines, you can book a flight, rent a car and book a hotel on their website.

A classic road trip on Route 66 through Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Official travel sites for:

If ever you need medical or legal help while traveling, below are the links for professionals in your area:

References & Citations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwestern_United_States

http://reardonhistory.weebly.com/southwest.html

https://www.roswell-nm.gov

https://cumbrestoltec.com

https://www.nps.gov/cave/index.htm

https://www.balloonfiesta.com