National & State Scenic Byways
El Camino Real National Scenic Byway
South Region
photo by Elmo Baca
Stretching over 200 miles, the route has been of great importance to New Mexico for centuries. Today the byway connects multiple New Mexico MainStreet districts, traveling through Las Cruces, Truth or Consequences, Belen and Albuquerque.
"In 1598, Don Juan de Onate led 500 colonists through the remote and unfamiliar country, encountering people with vastly different languages and cultures, not knowing what awaited them at the end of the journey. The land is now known as New Mexico, and the route Onate followed became El Camino Real, "the royal road", which up until then only reached the frontiers of northern Mexico. Onate's journey was the beginning of almost three centuries of travel and commerce in New Mexico on the Camino, which is commemorated by a state Scenic Byway." - http://www.newmexico.org/el-camino-trail/
Las Cruces, NM
open
