• Two-wheeled carretas carried goods up El Camino from Mexico City in 1598; walking the trail in the Jornada del Muerto, a scorching 90-mile stretch of El Camino wherein colonists had to leave the cool Rio Grande to continue their journey north

    El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro

    National Historic Trail NM,TX

Plan Your Visit

Videos - Exhibits - Audio Podcasts- Maps

 

While the legislated El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail extends 404 miles in Texas and New Mexico, the historic trail extended all the way to Mexico City. There are museums, historic sites, churches, and original trail segments located all along the length of the trail into Mexico.

To assist with your trip planning, contact information and locations of some trail-related sites and museums can be found at Places to Go in New Mexico and Places to Go in Texas. Find out where you can get your Passport book stamped.

The National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management administer this trail jointly. Visit the BLM website dedicated to El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.

 
Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria Catholic Church, Dona Ana
People enjoy visiting the Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria Catholic Church in Doña Ana, New Mexico.
NPS Photo

Did You Know?

Traces of a dirt road, El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, stretch across a southern New Mexico desert landscape

For 25 years (1821-1846), when New Mexico was part of the Republic of Mexico, El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro was the road that Missouri merchants - known as Santa Fe traders - used to reach Mexico's interior markets. Dry goods and hardware were traded for bullion and mules.