The Big Bend region of Texas offers visitors more than a million acres of public lands, including the largest state park in Texas.  The area boasts amazing sights, activities and destinations. Let's take a look at some of the most popular visitor spots in Big Bend.

Big Bend National Park is the highlight attraction of the entire region. It is at the same time an 1100 square mile playground and classroom. The 800,000-acre national park contains three basic habitats: river, desert, and mountains.

Big Bend Ranch State Park, although just west of Big Bend National Park, offers a completely different experience with rugged volcanic landscapes and many opportunities for backcountry solitude

The Rio Grande is a continental river which forms the border between Mexico and the US and gives the Big Bend and the state of Texas their distinct shapes.

The Chisos Mountains are the heart of Big Bend National Park. They extend twenty miles from Punta de la Sierra in the southwest to Panther Junction in the northeast. It is the only mountain range totally contained within a single national park.

Camp Pena Colorado, known also as the Marathon Post played an important role in the settling of the Big Bend region and the coming of the transcontinental railroad.

Historic Terlingua was a booming mining town from the turn of the 20th century through World War II. Today, parts of it have been restored, and visitors find gift shops, restaurants, bars, hotel accommodations and other amenities.

On May 1, 2008, a group of excited supporters attended the formal opening of the new Visitor Center for Big Bend National Park.

Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive is the most interesting of the paved  sightseeing routes in Big Bend National Park, giving the greatest variety of habitats, geology and a variety of interesting short walks and interpretive pull overs.

Camino del Rio, or River Road is state highway 170 between Lajitas and Presidio. For over 30 miles, El Camino twists and winds with the Rio Grande, crossing arroyos, climbing mountains, and hugging canyon walls.

Santa Elena Canyon is one of the best-known natural features in Big Bend National Park. A short nature trail enters its shady depths, 8 miles west of Castolon, accessible by either Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive or the Old Maverick Road.

Colorado Canyon, in Big Bend Ranch State Park, is the most accessible of the area's major river canyons, and offers vehicle accessible views of the river as well as a choice of short float trips.

Mariscal is the most remote of the Park River Canyons, and the only way to see it is by river. Getting to the put-in point at Talley requires over 30 miles of driving on rough dirt road. It is important to check road and weather conditions before entering this remote desert backcountry. Difficult as it may be to get there, the trip is worth well worth the effort.

Boquillas Canyon is the longest and deepest canyon in Big Bend National Park. The vertical relief from nearby Pico del Carmen, to river level is over 7,000 feet, somewhat deeper than the Grand Canyon of the Colorado.

Below Boquillas Canyon and the boundary of Big Bend National Park, lies the third longest wilderness river section in the continental US. River enthusiasts putting in at Heath Canyon Ranch, across the river from La Linda, Coahuila, must travel over 85 river miles before the next public access at Dryden Crossing.