Downtown on foot, in half a day
Park once. Plaza, museums, murals, ballpark, and a bar — all inside about a mile.
Downtown El Paso is the only part of the city built before the car, and it still works that way. A mile of walking covers the plaza, three free museums, a 1930 movie palace, a Triple-A ballpark and a bar district.
The route
9 a.m.
Coffee, then San Jacinto Plaza
Start at the alligators. Luis Jiménez’s sculpture stands where live ones lived until 1965.
10 a.m.
El Paso Museum of Art
Free admission, strong Mexican colonial holdings, cold air.
11:30 a.m.
Museum of History and the Digital Wall
Pull apart a century of El Paso photographs with your hands.
12:30 p.m.
Lunch in Union Plaza
Tabla, or a brewery lunch at DeadBeach on Texas Ave.
2 p.m.
The Plaza Theatre
Even if there is nothing playing, look at the building. In August, the Classic Film Festival takes it over completely.
3 p.m.
Murals toward Segundo Barrio
Walk south. The walls get better the farther you go.
Evening
Ballgame or a bar
Chihuahuas in season, otherwise The Tap or Craft & Social.