First trip to El Paso... Where to go in New Mexico?

Hi, my husband and I will be going to El Paso for 5 days in July. He is attending a conference, and I am just tagging along... One afternoon we wanted to drive into New Mexico since it%26#39;s not that far... can anyone suggest a city or town of interest that we can visit? Not too far of a drive, under an hour if possible. Thanks in advance for your help!

First trip to El Paso... Where to go in New Mexico?

White Sands National Monument is about 1.5 hrs north of El Paso. Guadalupe Mountains National Park is a couple of hours East.

First trip to El Paso... Where to go in New Mexico?

Las Cruses is an obvious choice. There are some fun art galleries and antique stores in the area. (You can tell what types of things we%26#39;re into.)

Cloudcroft and Ruidoso are east of White Sands, NM. If you had more time in the days you could drive up to Santa Fe.

If you enjoy quaint little towns and fun shopping, check out Old Town Mesilla. It was one of my favorite stops when we went to El Paso. Also, be sure to eat at El Rincon de Cortez - best picadillo I have ever eaten! Amazing green chile sauce and super reasonable prices.

Great suggestions! Thank you all for your replies!

if you are in to nature at all and don%26#39;t mind driving a bit further (around 3 hours from El Paso) Carslbad Caverns is pretty amazing to see. Sounds like others gave great suggestions if you want to do more shopping/eating type excursion

Not a whole lot going on in New Mexico, but ... if you feel the need you can check out Columbus. It is a really small border town. It is of interest because it is the only location in the continental United States to have been invaded since the War of 1812. It was interesting to check out the site of Pancho Villa%26#39;s raid. There is a small park dedicated to it now. Again, NM wouldn%26#39;t be my destination of choice if I were planning vacation from my hometown, but if you feel the itch just to cross over to say you%26#39;ve been there this isn%26#39;t too bad a site to see (although there is nothing else around it - just like the rest of the state - for hours).