Texas to Arizona: Discover the Southwestern Trails

A road trip through US history

A road trip through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona has all the scenery and kudos of Route 66, but you’ll come home with more than a T-shirt and neat wall plaque. This drive touches key moments in American history, like in Houston where you can walk in the footsteps of astronauts, touch a piece of moon rock and see a real Space Shuttle at the NASA Space Center. Dallas Texas made history for all the wrong reasons on November 22 1963 when President John F Kennedy was assassinated while riding through the city in a motorcade, and you can go even further back in history at the Alamo where some say the American spirit of independence was born.

The Alamo, San Antonio, Texas

Boots, hats and gunfights at the OK Coral

The history is serious, but there’s a lot of fun to be had on this tour too. In Fort Worth Texas, grab a ten-gallon hat and head to the historic Stockyards to see the real Wild West in action. The wooden corals and original brick walkways might feel like the set of your favourite John Wayne film, but when you watch real Texas cowhands drive a real herd of longhorns down Main Street, you’ll know you’re really there.

Longhorn cattle drive, Fort Worth Stockyards, Texas

Old Tombstone is another film-set-worthy location. Once a silver mining boomtown, it’s best-known as the place where the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was fought. Although it lasted less than a minute, this is easily the most famous gunfight in the history of America’s Old West, and today a whole industry has grown up around it. Reconstructed saloon bars, hotels and shaded boardwalks - not to mention gunfight re-enactments - keep stories of Tombstone’s 1880s heyday alive.

Tombstone Arizona at sunset

Sarsaparilla, steaks and cheesy burritos

While you’re in Old Tombstone, slide a beer down the bar at Cantina’s or order a Western-style sarsaparilla (in a souvenir bottle) to keep you hydrated during one of the thrice-daily ‘histarically correct’ gunfight shows. For something more substantial, Chuckwagon serves chicken steaks, burgers and pulled pork to satisfy the hungriest cowhand. Other must-eats during your Texas to Arizona road trip include giant Texan steaks and cheesy enchiladas or burritos - a true TexMex speciality.

Cadillacs in Texas to ancient Pueblos in New Mexico

Some of the best memories from any tour or road trip come from the people you meet and the photos you take while you’re there, and this tour is no exception. In Fort Worth, you can shake hands with a Texas cowboy and get up close to those famous longhorn steer. In Amarillo, who wouldn’t want a group photo at Cadillac Ranch, where 10 Cadillac cars are buried hood down in Texas soil? Who could resist a selfie beside one of Arizona’s cartoon-like saguaro cacti, some over 40-foot high? And in Santa Fe New Mexico, there’s the unique opportunity to visit Taos Pueblo, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed Native American community that has been continuously inhabited for over 1,000 years. Learning about its culture, history and people with a local Native American guide really adds to the whole experience on this US road trip.

Taos Pueblo, New Mexico

Does Titan do a road trip through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona?

Yes, we do! Southwestern Trails drives from the huge landscapes of Texas, through the vivid colours and culture of New Mexico, to the arid mountains and deserts of Arizona. It’s a road trip through history, as well as a tour around some of America’s most iconic and other-worldly scenery including the hills and canyons of the Texas Panhandle and the extraordinary spectacle of New Mexico’s White Sands National Park.

White Sands National Monument New Mexico

Call us today to discuss this and the other US road trips in our collection, or order our latest Worldwide brochure and choose from our full range of North America tours.