Canyon is the small Panhandle city that gives Palo Duro Canyon State Park its practical base. Amarillo gets the highway traffic and Route 66 nostalgia, but Canyon is closer to the red-rock country that most travelers actually came to see.
The town is home to West Texas A&M University, which keeps it livelier than its size suggests, and to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, long one of the best regional museums in Texas. Check the museum's current status before building a day around it; recent closure and relocation discussions have made its future less straightforward than its reputation.
The real draw sits east of town, where the flat Llano Estacado suddenly breaks open into Palo Duro's red, orange, and cream-colored walls. Stay in Canyon if you want an early start on the canyon trails without driving down from Amarillo, or if you prefer a quiet college-town evening after a dusty day on the rim.