Roswell is a useful overnight stop on the long drive between Albuquerque and west Texas. Within a couple of hours:
- Carlsbad Caverns National Park — 90 minutes south. The most spectacular cave system in the United States, with a self-guided walk down through the Big Room and an evening bat flight. The single best day trip from Roswell.
- Lincoln — about an hour west, the small town where Billy the Kid's most famous shoot-out and escape took place. The whole historic district is a state monument.
- Ruidoso — 90 minutes west into the Sacramento Mountains, with cool ponderosa pine country, a horse track, and the Mescalero Apache reservation nearby.
- White Sands National Park — about 3 hours west. Worth the longer drive if Carlsbad isn't on the itinerary; the dunes are unlike anywhere else in North America.