Town · 57 min northeast
Ruidoso
A mountain resort town ringed by national forest, with a walkable Midtown, nearby lakes and horse racing at Ruidoso Downs.
- Full day · Easy
- Year-round
- Free
Day Trippin' › New Mexico › From Alamogordo
Day trips from Alamogordo
From Alamogordo, White Sands National Park is about 20 minutes away, Oliver Lee Memorial State Park about 20, Cloudcroft and its old railroad trestle about half an hour, and Ruidoso under an hour. The best day trips from Alamogordo, by drive time.
40 places within a 3-hour drive, by real roads.
10 day trips from Alamogordo
- Mexican Canyon Trestle 28 min northeast
- Three Rivers Petroglyph Site 44 min north
- Ruidoso 57 min northeast
- Dripping Springs Natural Area 1 hr 7 min southwest
- Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park 1 hr 7 min southwest
- Mesilla 1 hr 13 min southwest
- Prehistoric Trackways National Monument 1 hr 26 min southwest
- Caballo Lake State Park 2 hr 3 min west
- International UFO Museum and Research Center 2 hr 8 min northeast
- City of Rocks State Park 2 hr 31 min west
Within an hour from Alamogordo 5 spots
Viewpoint · 28 min northeast
Mexican Canyon Trestle
A roadside overlook and short trail to a towering 1899 wooden railroad trestle just outside Cloudcroft.
- 1 hr · Easy
- Year-round
- Free
Historic site · 44 min north
Three Rivers Petroglyph Site
A basalt ridge with more than 21,000 Jornada Mogollon petroglyphs of masks, animals and sunbursts.
- 2-3 hrs · Moderate
- Year-round
- Day-use fee (per vehicle)
Lake · 58 min northeast
Grindstone Lake
A mountain lake minutes from downtown Ruidoso with summer swimming, trout fishing, paddling and 18 miles of hiking and bike trails.
- Half day · Easy to moderate
- Year-round (swim late May to Labor Day)
- Parking fee (per vehicle) in summer
Town · 31 min east
Cloudcroft
A cool mountain village at nearly 9,000 feet in the Sacramento Mountains with the historic 1899 Lodge, trestle trails and forest drives.
- Half day · Easy
- Year-round
- Free
1 to 2 hours from Alamogordo 14 spots
Town · 1 hr 13 min southwest
Mesilla
A walkable historic town by Las Cruces built around a lively plaza and the 1906 Basilica of San Albino.
- 2-3 hrs · Easy
- Year-round
- Free
Trail · 1 hr 7 min southwest
Dripping Springs Natural Area
Easy trails in the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument wind through desert scrub and oak woodland, with good odds of seeing hawks, eagles and mule deer.
- 2-3 hrs · Easy
- Year-round
- Day-use fee (per vehicle)
Wildlife refuge · 1 hr 7 min southwest
Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park
A day-use park of river woodland and restored wetlands near Mesilla, known for birding from wildlife blinds.
- 1-2 hrs · Easy
- Year-round
- New Mexico State Parks day-use fee (per vehicle)
National monument · 1 hr 26 min southwest
Prehistoric Trackways National Monument
Rocky canyons in the Robledo Mountains holding fossil footprints and petrified wood about 280 million years old, older than the dinosaurs.
- 2-3 hrs · Moderate
- Fall to spring
- Free
Historic site · 1 hr 14 min southwest
Fort Selden Historic Site
Adobe ruins of an 1865 frontier fort once home to Buffalo Soldiers, north of Las Cruces.
- 1 hr · Easy
- Year-round (closed Mon-Tue)
- Admission
Family fun · 1 hr 20 min north
Ski Apache
A ski area on Sierra Blanca near Ruidoso that runs a gondola to 11,500 feet, a long zip line and mountain-bike trails in summer.
- Half day · Easy to moderate
- Summer and ski season
- Admission (lift or activity tickets)
State park · 1 hr 19 min southwest
Leasburg Dam State Park
A quiet park on the Rio Grande near Las Cruces with a cactus garden, short trails and paddling and swimming spots.
- 2-3 hrs · Easy
- Year-round
- New Mexico State Parks day-use fee (per vehicle)
Town · 1 hr 34 min west
Hatch
The self-named Chile Capital of the World, a farm village with roadside chile stands and the smell of roasting chile in harvest season.
- 1-2 hrs · Easy
- Year-round (best late summer)
- Free
2 to 3 hours from Alamogordo 18 spots
State park · 2 hr 31 min west
City of Rocks State Park
Volcanic rock pinnacles up to 40 feet tall laid out like city streets in the desert between Silver City and Deming, with trails and an observatory.
- 2-3 hrs · Easy
- Year-round
- New Mexico State Parks day-use fee (per vehicle)
Museum · 2 hr 8 min northeast
International UFO Museum and Research Center
A quirky downtown Roswell museum about the 1947 Roswell incident and UFO reports.
- 1-2 hrs · Easy
- Year-round
- Admission
Lake · 2 hr 3 min west
Caballo Lake State Park
A reservoir framed by the Caballo Mountains with boating, swimming, fishing and hiking.
- Half day · Easy
- Year-round
- New Mexico State Parks day-use fee (per vehicle)
National monument · 2 hr 6 min north
Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument
Three sites, Abo, Quarai and Gran Quivira, preserve the stone ruins of Spanish mission churches beside ancestral Pueblo villages.
- Half day · Easy
- Year-round
- Free
Town · 2 hr 8 min northeast
Roswell
A ranching city on the Pecos famous for UFO lore, with the UFO Museum, art museums and alien-themed storefronts.
- Half day · Easy
- Year-round
- Free
Wildlife refuge · 2 hr 11 min northwest
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge
A Rio Grande refuge where thousands of sandhill cranes, geese and ducks spend the winter, seen from a 12-mile gravel scenic drive.
- Half day · Easy
- Year-round (best early Nov to late Jan)
- Day-use fee (per vehicle) or America the Beautiful pass
Swimming · 2 hr 19 min west
Elephant Butte Lake State Park
New Mexico's largest state park, a big reservoir on the Rio Grande with beaches, boating and swimming.
- Full day · Easy
- Year-round (swim in summer)
- New Mexico State Parks day-use fee (per vehicle)
Wildlife refuge · 2 hr 21 min northeast
Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge
A refuge on the Pecos River near Roswell with a sunrise-to-sunset auto tour, fall cranes and geese, and over 100 kinds of dragonflies.
- 2-3 hrs · Easy
- Year-round
- Free
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Drive times are by road on a typical day from ZIP 88310 (OpenStreetMap data with the OSRM route planner). Facts checked against official sites; passes and hours change, so check before you go.