Alamogordo, NM

A longtime family Mexican restaurant and Alamogordo institution, doing red and green chile, enchiladas, and sopaipillas in a comfortable sit-down room. The town's reliable New Mexican dinner.

A classic mid-century drive-in slinging green-chile cheeseburgers, the 'Tiger' double, and shakes, a nostalgic Alamogordo fixture. Pure old-school roadside Americana with a New Mexico chile twist.

A casual lunch deli doing made-to-order sandwiches, soups, and salads with fresh bread, the local midday go-to. Quick, fresh, and unfussy.

A locally owned coffee shop just east of downtown that doubles as a neighborhood gathering place, pouring espresso, tea, and house drinks like the toasted-marshmallow 'White Sands' and an Apple Crisp Chai. Warm, independent, and an easy stop before a run out to the dunes.

A well-liked pan-Asian restaurant on White Sands Boulevard serving Thai, Japanese, and Chinese dishes plus a sushi menu that comes as a pleasant surprise this far from the coast. The town's go-to for drunken noodles, curries, and rolls.

The top-rated New Mexican restaurant in nearby Tularosa, serving red and green chile, enchiladas, and combination plates in the heart of the historic village. A natural lunch or dinner stop when looping through Tularosa and the pistachio country.

A roughly 5-mile loop marked only by posts across the heart of the dunefield to the edge of an ancient dry lakebed, a genuine trek through a surreal sea of white with no shade and no landmarks but the dunes themselves. The signature White Sands hike.

An easy one-mile loop near the park entrance with interpretive signs about the surprising plants and animals that survive in the gypsum, climbing a few dunes for views. The family-friendly White Sands walk that doesn't require a trek.

A strenuous trail that climbs steeply up the face of the Sacramento Mountains escarpment south of town, gaining over 3,000 feet to sweeping views over the Tularosa Basin and White Sands. The hard, dramatic hike for fit walkers, into a surprising creek-fed canyon.

A gold-cube museum on the hillside above town tracing the history of rocketry and spaceflight (much of it tested in this basin), with a planetarium, an outdoor rocket park, and the grave of Ham, the first chimp in space. Genuinely engaging and the area's best indoor attraction.

One of the oldest zoos in the Southwest, a small, shady, walkable park-zoo in the heart of town with a mix of native and exotic animals. An easy, inexpensive family stop under the big cottonwoods.

A restored 1898 depot housing a model-railroad museum, with a narrow-gauge miniature train that runs a loop through Alameda Park. A charming, low-key family attraction and railroad-buff stop.

Home of the 'world's largest pistachio,' a 30-foot roadside sculpture, plus a working pistachio and grape farm with free samples, a country store, and tram tours of the orchards and Arena Blanca winery. Quirky, tasty, and pure New Mexico roadside fun.

The world's largest gypsum dunefield, 275 square miles of blinding-white, sugar-fine sand that ripples to the horizon against the Sacramento Mountains. Sledding down the dunes on a waxed saucer and watching the sunset turn the sand pink are the area's defining experiences.

A small historic village just north of Alamogordo, founded in 1862, with a 49-block original townsite of adobe homes, old cottonwoods, and a historic church, plus the area's pistachio and wine country at its edges. A quiet, atmospheric counterpoint to modern Alamogordo.

The historic core along New York Avenue, with a few blocks of early-1900s storefronts, the 1898-rooted Alameda Park, and the towering cottonwoods the town was named for (alamo gordo, 'fat cottonwood'). A modest but pleasant walkable center.