Big Bend National Park

Big Bend National Park covers 801,163 acres, or 1,252 square miles, where the Rio Grande forms 118 miles of the border with Mexico. The park takes its name from the bend in the river. Within it are the Chihuahuan Desert, the Chisos Mountains, rising to 7,832 feet on Emory Peak, and three river canyons. In 2025 it had 568,104 recreation visits, 77% of them between October and April.

Big Bend is a long way from anywhere, and its headquarters are 235 miles from the nearest airport with the major airlines. We checked every figure below on 27 October 2026 on the park's own pages and Daily Report, Recreation.gov, the lodge operator's site and NOAA's normals.

What does a week in Big Bend cost at the entrance?

Big Bend charges $30 per car for seven days, $25 per motorcycle and $15 per person on foot or bicycle. Children under 16 enter free. There is no day pass, no entrance reservation and no daily limit on visitors. The park takes no cash: "credit/debit card only".

Big Bend is not on the 2026 list of eleven parks with a $100 surcharge for non-residents, so visitors from abroad pay exactly what Americans pay. The $250 non-resident annual pass does not pay off here on its own. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors lists the parks where it does.

The entrances are open 24 hours a day, all year, and late arrivals pay later at an entrance station. The Panther Junction and Chisos Basin visitor centres sell passes, as do the Maverick and Persimmon Gap entrance stations. The one fee-free day left in 2026, 11 November, applies to US residents only.

Is the Chisos Basin open after the cancelled rebuild?

The Chisos Basin is open, because the rebuild that was to close it from May 2026 was cancelled. On 1 April 2026 the Park Service said the project "will not proceed as planned" and that the closures of the Basin "will not take place". It gave rising construction costs since 2019 and a budget shortfall as reasons. It now plans work on the Basin's water system only, without a new lodge, and has given no schedule.

Several older Park Service pages, and older press reports, still say the Basin closes on 1 May 2026 for about two years. They are out of date. On 25 October 2026 the park's conditions page listed the Chisos Basin Visitor Center as open daily, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a lunch closure from noon to 1 p.m.

The Chisos Mountains Lodge, at 5,400 feet, is the only lodging in the park and is open all year. Its 72 rooms have no TV or phone. The lodge's dining room and bar are closed "for the foreseeable future", and a food truck outside the main building serves meals instead. The Basin Store stays open.

The operator expected the lodge to return to full capacity by September 2026, after a spring and summer with limited rooms. It had not updated that line by 27 October. It advises booking at least six months ahead, and one to two years for the stone cottages. Outside the park, the Park Service points to lodging in Terlingua, Study Butte, Lajitas, Alpine and Marathon. The Basin Road is not recommended for motorhomes over 24 feet or trailers over 20 feet.

Which Big Bend roads were closed in late October 2026?

The paved road from Cottonwood Campground to Santa Elena Canyon was closed on 27 October 2026 because of the weather. Panther Junction had 3.79 inches of rain in October up to the 26th, against a normal of 1.17 inches for the whole month. The park's conditions page of 25 October, its Daily Report of 26 October and its alerts listed these closures:

• the paved road between Cottonwood Campground and Santa Elena Canyon;
• Hot Springs Road beyond the overflow parking area;
• Paint Gap Road;
• River Road West to Glenn Springs Road;
• Black Gap Road and Old Ore Road.

The only way to Santa Elena Canyon is then Old Maverick Road, a 14-mile improved dirt road from Maverick Junction. A Daily Report post of about 20 October said it was open to all vehicles. The 26 October report said high clearance and four-wheel drive are required on Maverick Road. Ask at Panther Junction before taking an ordinary rental car down it.

The park's online alert list did not mention the Santa Elena closure, so read the conditions page instead. The same road and the Hot Springs district flooded in July 2025, when the river topped 30,000 cubic feet a second at Rio Grande Village. The primitive dirt roads always need "High Clearance AND true Four-Wheel Drive", and Old Ore and Black Gap roads allow no cars, minivans or motorhomes.

How do you cross the Rio Grande to Boquillas del Carmen?

The Boquillas Crossing Port of Entry opens from Friday to Monday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the Park Service says it will not switch to winter hours. It closes when the river runs high, as it did from 16 to 19 October 2026. On 23 October the Daily Report said it was open again, but muddy.

Everyone crossing needs a valid passport book or passport card; an Enhanced Driver's Licence does not count. The Park Service says US and Canadian citizens can cross with a passport, and that travellers from other countries "may need additional documentation". We could not read the border agency's own page, so a visitor from anywhere else should call CBP in Presidio on 432-229-3349 before going. Re-entry is through a virtual kiosk and document scanner.

A small rowboat ferries visitors across the river for $5 round trip, and wading is allowed only at the crossing. Boquillas del Carmen is half a mile away on foot, or by burro, horse or vehicle for a fee. On arrival, check in with Mexican immigration and pay $7 for the Maderas del Carmen protected area. Staying overnight needs a temporary visa.

Boquillas has about 200 inhabitants and two restaurants, and takes US dollars, so bring small notes. No food of any kind may be brought back north, and pets may not cross. The crossing is for people on foot only, and it is the only legal way into Mexico from the park. Buying from sellers on the riverbank is illegal.

Which hikes suit the desert, the river and the Chisos?

Big Bend's hikes split between short river walks on the desert floor and longer climbs in the Chisos Mountains, which the Park Service recommends in summer. The distances below are the park's own.

Santa Elena Canyon is a 1,500-foot limestone chasm whose left wall is in Mexico and right wall in Texas. Its trail first crosses Terlingua Creek, which may be dry sand, thick mud or flowing water, and is impassable in flood. The Window Trail ends at a pour-off of slickrock with no railings, and the walk back is uphill. The last 25 feet of Emory Peak are a scramble up an exposed rock face.

No trail in the park allows pets. Carry a gallon of water a day in summer and at least 2 quarts for a half-day hike, because Boot Spring in the Chisos is usually dry. Black bear and mountain lion tracks are not uncommon on the mountain trails.

How much hotter is the river than the Chisos Mountains?

The Rio Grande side of Big Bend averages about 18°F hotter than the Chisos Basin on a June afternoon. The Park Service's forecasts describe Panther Junction, at 3,750 feet, and it warns that the desert and the river are 10 degrees hotter still. The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 average highs and lows for four stations.

June is the hottest month at all four stations. Rio Grande Village averages 117.3 days a year at or above 100°F and Castolon 109.2, while the Chisos Basin averages none. The rainy season runs from July to September, with local thunderstorms and flash floods. The park warns hikers off Ernst Ridge from April to September, when daily temperatures regularly exceed 110°F.

The park's busy season runs from November to April. Many desert plants flower between late February and late April, and March is the busiest month: 106,911 visits in 2025, against 19,830 in August.

Why must every campsite from the Chisos Basin to Rio Grande Village be booked ahead?

Big Bend has no first-come campsites, and every Park Service campground takes bookings only through Recreation.gov. The Park Service says that from November to April the lodge and all its campgrounds are full every night. There are no overflow sites, and rangers cite anyone camping in a car park or by a road.

• Chisos Basin Campground, at 5,400 feet: about 60 sites at $16 a night, open all year, for motorhomes up to 24 feet and trailers up to 20 feet.
• Rio Grande Village Campground: 100 sites at $16 a night, pull-throughs up to 40 feet, generators from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Cottonwood Campground, at 1,900 feet: about 30 sites, no generators, closed for the summer and reopening on 1 November.
• Rio Grande Village RV Park, run by the lodge operator: 25 sites with full hookups, booked by phone.

Most sites open for booking six months ahead, and a set of sites 14 days ahead. Campers may stay up to 14 nights in a row, and from 1 January to 15 April no more than 14 nights in the park in total. The park bans wood fires and ground fires everywhere.

How do you get a backcountry permit at Panther Junction?

Every night in Big Bend's backcountry needs a permit, which costs $10 a night, and day-use river permits are free. Until further notice, after the rain and road closures, the park issues backcountry campsites only in person at the Panther Junction Visitor Center, up to 24 hours ahead.

The Chisos Mountains have 42 designated backpacking campsites, normally bookable online from 1 November to 15 April. Groups are limited to 15, and there is no dispersed camping anywhere. Roadside backcountry sites need high clearance, which Recreation.gov defines as tyre rims of at least 15 inches and at least 8 inches of ground clearance.

How remote is Big Bend, and where do you fill up?

Big Bend's headquarters at Panther Junction are 235 miles from Midland/Odessa airport and 330 from El Paso, and there is no public transport to or within the park. The routes in are TX 118 from Alpine or FM 170 from Presidio to Study Butte, or US 90 or US 385 to Marathon. The park warns that GPS apps may recommend wrong or dangerous roads, so carry a paper map.

The figures to towns and airports are the park's own; those inside the park are our own routing. The speed limit is 45 mph throughout the park, and javelina and deer cross at night.

Panther Junction has 24-hour petrol pumps and the park's diesel, and Rio Grande Village sells petrol. Outside the park there is fuel at Study Butte, Lajitas and the Stillwell Store. Big Bend has no electric car chargers: the nearest is 130 miles away in Fort Stockton. Phone signal is patchy, fairly reliable only in the Chisos Basin, on Verizon alone, and near Panther Junction. Every visitor centre has free Wi-Fi.

The remoteness has one reward. Big Bend has been an International Dark Sky Park since 2012, and the Park Service counts about 2,000 stars on a clear night.

What happens at the Border Patrol checkpoints on the roads out of Big Bend?

US Customs and Border Protection runs checkpoints on every north–south highway leading out of the Big Bend area, staffed at all times. Agents stop every vehicle heading north and must establish the immigration status of every traveller. The Park Service tells visitors from abroad to carry the right documents to avoid delays.

The park also asks visitors not to pick up hitchhikers, and to call 911 rather than intervene if they see people in distress. Big Bend is on Central Time, while El Paso is on Mountain Time, so the drive from El Paso loses an hour. Clocks went back an hour on 1 November 2026. The park is one of the places in our guide to Texas. The other national park in Texas is Guadalupe Mountains National Park.