El Camino Real

El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro is a federally designated National Historic Trail across New Mexico, tracing the 16th-century Spanish colonial route from El Paso to Santa Fe. Congress recognized the U.S. portion of the trail, roughly 404 miles running through Las Cruces, Socorro, Belen, and Albuquerque before ending at Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico's first Spanish capital, as a National Historic Trail in 2000. The route itself is far older, predating both Jamestown and Plymouth Rock, and served for three centuries as the primary supply and trade corridor linking Mexico City to Spain's northern colonial outposts. The National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management jointly manage the trail today, working with the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Trail Association to mark and interpret its history. Driving the corridor through New Mexico means passing through the same river valley towns that grew up around the original camino, with historic markers, museums, and colonial-era sites tracing a distinctly Spanish chapter of American settlement history.

• El Paso to Ohkay Owingeh
• ~404 miles (US portion)
• National Historic Trail (designated 2000)
• Las Cruces, Socorro, Belen, Albuquerque
• 16th-century Spanish colonial route
• NPS & BLM administered