El Camino Royal de Tierra Adentro, The Royal Road to the Interior, threaded 1,500 miles northward from Zacatecas, Mexico to the far edges of known Spanish world. Our country’s oldest and most continually used “highway,” the Camino Real brought European colonists to New Spain 22 years before the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock. Follow the royal purple signs along the Camino, which traveled much the same route as I-25 does today, from the southern edge of New Mexico to Santa Fe. There, the Camino Real veers off toward its eventual terminus, near what is Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo today. Don’t miss a stop at the El Camino Real Historic Trail Site, south of Socorro, for a full orientation to the Camino’s history on both sides of the border.
Download a brochure on El Camino Real.
Click on the NM Department of Transportation Information on El Camino Real Scenic Byway for more information on all the sights you’ll find along the way!
The path in the center of the photo is part of the original El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.
