Welcome to Marfa, Texas! Known as America’s coolest art town this remote little gem tucked away in the Texas Big Bend country is both a cultural hotspot, a hub for minimalist and site-specific art, and a place that holds true to its cowboy and ranching roots. Those willing to make the trip won’t be disappointed!

Due to its out of way nature a car is necessary to get to Marfa, but once here the small town is quite walkable. Marfa encompasses an area of just 1.6 square miles anchored by one intersection of highways & an active railroad track, so walking around Marfa is simple.

Getting to Marfa is a journey, no matter where you’re coming from. The closest city, El Paso (and airport) is a three-hour drive away through the Texas high plains and desert. Driving through the desert, however, is truly magical. El Paso boasts some of the craziest signage, and the swooping hills and mountains of the desert are gorgeous at any hour of the day. Rest stops are few and far between, so make sure to grab snacks and water before you depart. Prada Marfa is an essential stop about 30 minutes outside Marfa and looks best at sunrise or sunset.

Marfa's origins as a mini art Mecca began in the '70s when Donald Judd, an influential minimalist artist and critic, moved there. He began buying up buildings and acreage to permanently display his and others' large-scale artworks. Judd died in 1994, but his legacy endures at the Chinati Foundation, a 340-acre museum exhibiting his outdoor concrete installations and aluminum pieces, as well as works by Dan Flavin, Claes Oldenburg and others. The opening of Prada Marfa in 2005 was the first you may have heard of the place. The site-specific installation by artists Elmgreen & Dragset looks like a genuine Prada store erected on a desert highway, but the door is permanently locked, and if you look closely, the shoes and purses in the windows are coated in dust. The installation generated national press, attracting widespread attention to the tiny town and its contemporary art scene. And since then interest has only grown!

Marfa is so far deep in southwest Texas, it’s practically in Mexico. The nearest city is El Paso, 200 miles away, and the closest interstate is an hour drive. To get to Marfa, you have to want to go there. It might be the austere beauty of the Chihuahuan Desert, where the sky looks extraordinarily big and blue above the flat, dry landscape. Or perhaps it’s the high altitude, just 600 feet below Denver. Maybe it’s the way the wide-open space makes you feel small, or the collective energy emanating from the cowboys and artists who live there. Most likely it’s a combination of all those things, plus who knows what exactly. There’s just something mysteriously appealing about Marfa that casts a spell on you.

In Marfa, the summers are long & hot and the winters are short, very cold, snowy, & windy. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 27°F to 89°F and is rarely below 17°F or above 97°F.

For a town its size, Marfa has a surprising number of interesting hotels and restaurants that speak to its evolution as a tourist destination. Dining options range from upscale, chef-driven restaurants to funky food trucks. Most restaurants and bars in town have a rather European-sensibility regarding opening hours & menus — it changes by the day, so have patience!

Nearly every store in Marfa is highly curated and eclectically sparse. Meander the stores along the Main Street & you’ll be sure to find something delightfully Marfa-esque to take home!

Think cowboy meets bohemian … and that’s pretty much Marfa! Artsy kids wearing pearl-buttoned shirts & cowboy boots can make the place feel like a Western-themed outpost of Brooklyn.

The streets, especially in the early hours, can be completely empty—which to anyone used to passersby at all hours of the day and night can stir an uneasy feeling like you’re in a ghost town. Not many people walk through the town, so expect to be the only person on the sidewalk, when there is one, at least. The main drag of town definitely is more livelier in the evenings. Cell phone service is unreliable, though most carriers offer at least one bar, so it’s best to plan and map out your daily stops in advance.