Things to Do Near Gallup, NM from USA RV Park
USA RV Park places you in Gallup, NM at the center of the Southwest’s most iconic landscapes, cultural treasures, and National Park adventures. From ancient Puebloan cliff dwellings and volcanic craters to tribal parks, scenic drives, and world-famous buttes, Gallup is the perfect home base for exploring Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado.
Stay for a night or settle in for a longer Route 66 adventure — unforgettable destinations are just minutes or hours away. Plan your stay and explore our RV park rates to get started.
Top 10 Must-See Spots Near USA RV Park
• Acoma Pueblo – Historic mesa-top village with guided cultural tours
• Canyon de Chelly – Towering red-rock canyon walls and a living Navajo community
• Chaco Canyon – Monumental great houses and ancient ceremonial architecture
• El Malpais – Lava flows, sandstone cliffs, and high-desert landscapes
• Bandera Volcano & Ice Caves – Volcanic crater and naturally frozen lava tube
• Mesa Verde – World-famous cliff dwellings
• Monument Valley – Iconic buttes seen in films and photographs worldwide
• Shiprock – Dramatic volcanic monolith
• Painted Desert – Colorful layered badlands
• Petrified Forest National Park – Fossils and bright petrified wood formations
Staying overnight makes it easy to explore these destinations at your own pace. View our amenities to see what makes your stay comfortable.
Featured Nearby Attractions
Explore the must-see destinations around Gallup — from tribal landmarks and national monuments to volcanic wonders and colorful desert landscapes.
Acoma Pueblo
Distance: 98 miles
Historic mesa-top pueblo with guided tours and panoramic views.
Aztec Ruins National Monument
Distance: 137 miles
Ancestral Puebloan stone rooms, kivas, and 12th-century passageways.
Bandera Volcano Crater
Distance: 72 miles
Massive volcanic crater with dramatic lava formations.
Canyon de Chelly
Distance: 98 miles
Red-rock canyon walls, Navajo homes, and breathtaking overlooks.
Chaco Canyon
Distance: 100 miles
Monumental ancient architecture and scenic trails.
El Malpais
Distance: 64 miles
Sandstone cliffs and volcanic formations shaped by millennia.
Four Corners Monument
Distance: 130 miles
Stand where four states meet at a single point.
Hovenweep National Monument
Distance: 135 miles
Stone towers perched along canyon rims.
Hubbell’s Trading Post
Distance: 50 miles
Teaser: Historic Navajo trading post still in operation today.
The Ice Caves
Distance: 55 miles
Blue-green ice inside a collapsed lava tube.
Mesa Verde
Distance: 168 miles
Cliff dwellings and thousands of protected archaeological sites.
Monument Valley Tribal Park
Distance: 232 miles
Iconic buttes and mesas rising from the desert floor.
Mount Taylor
Distance: 82 miles
Snow-capped volcanic peak above open desert plains.
Painted Desert
Distance: 73 miles
Vivid layered hills and colorful badlands.
Petrified Forest National Park
Distance: 90 miles
Colorful petrified logs, fossils, and scenic trails.
Salmon Ruins
Distance: 135 miles
Ancestral Puebloan rooms, heritage park, and museum.
Shiprock
Distance: 93 miles
Dramatic volcanic rock formation sacred to the Navajo.
Window Rock Tribal Park
Distance: 25 miles
Sandstone arch and Navajo Veterans Memorial..
Zuni Pueblo
Distance: 41 miles
Traditional pueblo with renowned art and cultural traditions.
All Local Attractions & Travel Highlights
Dive deeper into the Southwest’s top cultural, scenic, and historic destinations. Each attraction below includes distance from USA RV Park, a full description, and a link for more information when available.
Acoma Pueblo comprises several villages including Acomita, McCarty's, Anzac, and the newer subdivision of Sky Line. Acoma people dry-farm in the valley below Aa'ku and use irrigation canals in the villages closer to the Rio San Jose. Like other pueblos, Acoma and the surrounding area are considered federal trust land, administered by the federal government for the pueblo. Several families still live on the mesa itself year-round, while others elect to live in nearby villages. The pueblo is open to the public only by guided tour. Photography on the pueblo and surrounding lands is restricted.
Distance from Gallup: 98 MilesThe Aztec Ruins are a spectacular maze of ancient passageways that date from around the 12th century. It is believed that the tribes who constructed the ruins were related to the Mesa Verde group in Colorado and had close ties with Chaco culture. What remains today is a walled village with almost 500 rooms on 3 levels and over a dozen kivas (ceremonial areas). Take a self-guided tour or experience the ranger programs, historical movies, Native American arts and crafts, and a museum that features a variety of ancient artifacts excavated at or related to Aztec Ruins. Entrance fee is only $5.00.
Distance from Gallup: 137 MilesBandera Crater is the largest volcanic cinder cone in the region. It erupted around 10,000 years ago. There were two stages of the eruption: first the cinder cone developed, then a massive lava flow broke out the side. The molten lava reaches temperatures above 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. Bandera's lava flow is nearly 23 miles long. This crater is nearly 1200 feet wide at the top and roughly 750 feet deep. The elevation at the rim is 8372. Over time, erosion and gravity take their toll on the crater and it is slowly filling up as cinders and rocks fall down into it. This makes for a very fragile environment.
Distance from Gallup: 72 Miles
Visit: https://www.nps.gov/places/elma-ice-cave-bandera-volcano
Reflecting one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes of North America, the cultural resources of Canyon de Chelly include distinctive architecture, artifacts, and rock imagery. Canyon de Chelly also sustains a living community of Navajo people, who are connected to a landscape of great historical and spiritual significance. Canyon de Chelly is unique among National Park Service units, as it is comprised entirely of Navajo Tribal Trust Land that remains home to the canyon community. NPS works in partnership with the Navajo Nation to manage park resources and sustain the living Navajo community.
Distance from Gallup: 98 Miles
Chaco Culture preserves a very special chapter in human history and is comprised of several sites — Chaco Culture National Historical Park, Aztec Ruins Monument, Twin Angels, Casamero, Kin Nizhoni, Pierre's Site, and Halfway House. Chaco is remarkable for its monumental public and ceremonial buildings and its distinctive architecture. The majority of the park and cultural sites are self-guided year-round.
Six major sites are located along the 9-mile-long Canyon Loop Drive, including Una Vida, Hungo Pavi, Pueblo Bonito, Chetro Ketl, Pueblo del Arroyo, and Casa Rinconada. Four backcountry hiking trails lead visitors to remote Chacoan sites, passing ancient roads, petroglyphs, stairways, and stunning overlooks of the valley. The trails are open from sunrise to sunset and require a permit to climb.
Distance from Gallup: 100 Miles
El Malpais means “the badlands,” but this volcanic area holds many surprises. Lava flows, cinder cones, pressure ridges, and complex lava tubes dominate the land. A closer look reveals a high desert area where animals and plants thrive. Prehistoric homesteads remind us of past times.
The monument's eastern boundary provides a scenic drive along the McCarty's Lava Flow. This is the youngest flow within El Malpais and is dated between 2000 and 3000 years old. The northern boundary parallels the El Calderon Lava Flow, which is estimated to be 115,000 years old and is the oldest lava flow in El Malpais.
Distance from Gallup: 64 Miles
The Four Corners is the only place in the United States where four states come together at one point: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. The area surrounding the monument is Indian land which includes part of New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona and covers 25,000 square miles. Both the Navajo (Diné) and Ute people live in the area surrounding the Four Corners Monument.
Artisans and craftspeople from both nations are represented at the monument. The area has been home to Native peoples for hundreds of years. Archaeologists have recorded numerous ancient Puebloan sites dating prior to AD 1300 throughout the Four Corners area.
Distance from Gallup: 130 Miles
Visit: https://navajonationparks.org/navajo-tribal-parks/four-corners-monument/
Hovenweep National Monument protects six prehistoric Puebloan-era villages spread over a twenty-mile expanse of mesa tops and canyons along the Utah–Colorado border. Multi-storied towers perched on canyon rims and balanced on boulders lead visitors to marvel at the skill and motivation of their builders. Hovenweep is noted for its solitude and undeveloped, natural character.
Distance from Gallup: 135 Miles
John Lorenzo Hubbell purchased the trading post in 1878, ten years after Navajos were allowed to return to their homeland from their terrible exile at Bosque Redondo, Fort Sumner, New Mexico. During the four years spent at Bosque Redondo, Navajos were introduced to many new items. Traders like Hubbell supplied those items once they returned home.
Hubbell family members operated this trading post until it was sold to the National Park Service in 1967. The trading post is still active and operated by a cooperating nonprofit organization, Western National Parks Association, that maintains the trading traditions the Hubbell family established. Tours are offered regularly throughout the day.
Distance from Gallup: 50 Miles
Mount Taylor is a stratovolcano in northwest New Mexico, northeast of the town of Grants. It is the high point of the San Mateo Mountains and the highest point in the Cibola National Forest. Mount Taylor is largely forested, rising like a blue cone above the desert below. It was active from 3.3 to 1.5 million years ago during the Pilocene, and is surrounded by a field of smaller inactive volcanoes. Repeated eruptions built lava domes and produced lava flows, ash plumes, and mudflows. The mountain is surrounded by a great volume of volcanic debris. An interesting local event is the Mount Taylor Winter Quadrathlon which is held every February. This race involves running, biking, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing 22 miles from Grants, New Mexico to the summit of Mount Taylor, and then back down to town again.
Distance from Gallup: 82 Miles
Visit: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/cibola/recreation/mt-taylor-rd-mt-taylor
Mesa Verde, Spanish for “green table,” offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from AD 600 to AD 1300. Today the park protects over 4000 known archaeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States.
Distance from Gallup: 168 Miles
Visit: https://www.nationalparks.org/explore/parks/mesa-verde-national-park
Monument Valley preserves one of the most spectacular landscapes on earth — large spires, mesas, and sandstone buttes. Shrubs, trees, and sand surround the formations, creating deep contrasts of color along with the clear blue sky.
The park lies entirely within the Navajo Indian Reservation. Its towering formations range from 400 to 1000 feet. Visitors can explore deeper into the valley on Navajo-guided jeep tours. The visitor center features exhibits about the area’s history, the Navajo Nation, and the Navajo Code Talkers, along with a souvenir shop, restrooms, and a restaurant during the summer.
Distance from Gallup: 232 Miles
Visit: https://navajonationparks.org/navajo-tribal-parks/monument-valley/
Mount Taylor is a stratovolcano in northwest New Mexico, northeast of the town of Grants. It is the high point of the San Mateo Mountains and the highest point in the Cibola National Forest. Mount Taylor is largely forested, rising like a blue cone above the desert below. It was active from 3.3 to 1.5 million years ago during the Pilocene, and is surrounded by a field of smaller inactive volcanoes. Repeated eruptions built lava domes and produced lava flows, ash plumes, and mudflows. The mountain is surrounded by a great volume of volcanic debris. An interesting local event is the Mount Taylor Winter Quadrathlon which is held every February. This race involves running, biking, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing 22 miles from Grants, New Mexico to the summit of Mount Taylor, and then back down to town again.
Distance from Gallup: 82 Miles
Visit: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/cibola/recreation/mt-taylor-rd-mt-taylor
The Painted Desert covers an area of 93,533 acres that stretch southeast from the Grand Canyon to the Petrified Forest National Park. This scenic desert is covered by a very soft layer of earth consisting mainly of mud, sandstone and volcanic ash. Variouis combinations of minerals and decayed plant and animal matter contribute to the various colors seen through the park. As the Painted Desert erodes from mineralized water flows and mineral deposits, the fossilized artifacts from the Triassic Era have become exposed, most notably the remains of an ancient conifer forest. Today the park is still continually changing as water and wind erode the area and shift the sediment, causing lower layers of fossil and petrified wood to surface.
Distance from Gallup: 73 Miles
With one of the world's largest and most colorful concentrations of petrified wood, mutli-hued badlands of the Painted Desert, historic structures, archeological sites, and displays of 225 million year old fossils, this is a surprising land of scenic wonders and fascinating science. The park covers 93,533 acres and consists of six separate "forests" that took over 200 million years to form. There are excellent loop hikes in order to explore many fascinating sights of natural log bridges, crystals and logs along with the many colors of the layered rocks and hills of the Painted Desert.
Distance from Gallup: 90 Miles
The Salmon Ruin is a large Anasazi ruin constructed during the late 11th century. In addition to the ruins, there is the Salmon homestead, heritage park, and museum. The heritage park exhibits numerous prehistoric and historic reconstructed dwellings. The museum provides an overview of Anasazi history and displays some of the materials recovered from excavations by Eastern New Mexico University between 1972 and 1978. Salmon Ruin is located just west of Bloomfield, approximately 10 miles south of Aztec.
Distance from Gallup: 135 Miles
Shiprock, located in northwestern New Mexico, is a most impressive example of a volcanic neck. The remnants of an eruption around 30 million years ago, it is the basalt core of an extinct volcano. Near the main peak, one can see small pinnacles, the remains of smaller auxilliary volcanic events. The local Navajos consider it sacred, being a main character in the folklore. They call it Tse Bitai, meaning "the winged rock." The central part of Shiprock, visible from many kilometers away, is roughly 500 meters in diameter. Stretching 600 meters into the sky above the surrounding terrain, Shiprock is part of both the Navajo and Chuska volcanic fields in Northeastern Arizona and Northwestern New Mexico, extending north into Utah and Colorado.
Distance from Gallup: 93 Miles
Visit: https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/tour/landmarks/shiprock/home.html
Window Rock Tribal Park and Veterans Memorial features the graceful red stone arch for which the capital is named. In recent years, the Navajos have built a Veterans' Memorial at the base of Window Rock to honor the many Navajos who served in the U.S. Military. Many Navajo soldiers are recognized for their role as Code Talkers, whereby they used the native language to create a code that was never broken by the enemy. Historians credit the Navajo Code Talkers for helping to win World War II.
Distance from Gallup: 25 Miles
Visit: https://www.aztecnm.com/fourcorners/arizona/windowrock/veterans.html
Zuni Pueblo offers a variety of opportunities for cultural, historic, and outdoor enrichment. It is the largest and most traditional New Mexican Pueblo, with more than 700 square miles and a population of over 10,000. The community has its own unique language, culture, and history that resulted in part from its geographic isolation. About 80% of families are involved in the production of art, including inlaid silver jewelry, stone fetishes, pottery, and other art mediums of which they are world famous. Zuni is a sovereign, self-governed nation with their own constitutional government, courts, police force, school system, and economic base. Their year is marked by a cycle of traditional ceremonial activities; the most sacred and perhaps most recognized is the annual Sha'lak'o event.
Distance from Gallup: 41 Miles
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