'The Biggest Little Town In West Texas' Is A Historic Gateway To Guadalupe Mountains National Park

West Texas is much more than just a sparse desert landscape with underrated, scenic Texas towns like Marfa spread throughout the area. It's home to Guadalupe Mountains National Park, one of two national parks in the massive state, as well as the gateway town of Van Horn. If you're planning to visit Guadalupe Mountains National Park, there's no better place than Van Horn to use as your home base. 

Located on Interstate 10, about an hour drive south of the park's Pine Springs Visitor Center, Van Horn has long welcomed travelers passing through on their journeys west or east. Before the interstate highway system was built, Van Horn sprouted up as a railroad town along the Texas and Pacific Railway in the late 1800s. Notably, it's located about five miles from the border between the Central and Mountain Time Zones, with a sign calling out the switch to Mountain Time on the side of the road as you're driving west, making it the westernmost settlement in the U.S. to observe Central Time. 

As the county seat and biggest city in Culberson County, Van Horn houses the Culberson County Airport, though you won't be able to fly in here via passenger aircraft. You'll have to fly into El Paso International Airport, about an hour and 40 minutes away, and rent a car from there. Once you arrive in Van Horn, take your pick from the quaint roadside inns and motels, including the picturesque Hotel El Capitan, to rest up before your Guadalupe Mountains adventure. 

I-10 is dotted with blink-and-you-miss-it towns across the Southwest, but Van Horn is worth getting off the road and stretching your legs around town, even if you aren't planning to continue north to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. 

Hotel El Capitan, built in a charming Spanish-colonial style, sits smack in the center of town (in front of its only two stoplights) and offers a great place to stop in for dinner at the on-site restaurant, a drink at The Gopher Hole Bar, or a night in one of its 50 rooms. If you want to take in the crisp desert air at night, upgrade to a suite with your own private patio. 

In 2025, Van Horn got national attention for its proximity to Blue Origin's spacecraft launch site. Though the launchpad, located on U.S. Route 54 about midway between Van Horn and Guadalupe Mountains National Park, has seen test flights for more than a decade, Van Horn and the surrounding area made headlines when Katy Perry, Gayle King, and other celebrities launched into space and landed back down safely in the remote desert spot. The site isn't open to the public to watch takeoffs, but you can get unobstructed views in Van Horn, or even pull over on the side of the road for a closer look. 

Whether you're looking for a simple trail-hiking day or an overnight camping experience, Guadalupe Mountains National Park offers an breathtaking mountain getaway in one of the country's least-crowded national parks. The Frijole Ranch Museum, offering fascinating bits of history inside, is the jumping-off point for trails ranging from casual to strenuous. And if you want to climb up to the highest point in Texas at Guadalupe Peak, be prepared for at least six to eight hours of hiking 8.4 miles and climbing more than 3,000 feet. It's not for the faint of heart, but the panoramic views are more than worth it. 

Haven't had enough of an outdoor fill? Guadalupe Mountains National Park is less than a half-hour drive away from Carlsbad Caverns National Park on the other side of the New Mexico border. Check out the breathtaking stalactites and stalagmites in The Big Room, the largest accessible cave chamber in North America by volume, and learn why Hollywood icon Will Rogers called it "The Grand Canyon with a roof over it." If you're physically up for the task, you can descend about 750 feet on the Natural Entrance Trail and get up close and personal with landmarks and cave formations like Devil's Spring, the Whale's Mouth, and Iceberg Rock.