Big Bend National Park
Texas
Dark sky
Excellent dark skies
Bortle 2 · SQM ~21.43 (est.)
Tonight
🌗 46% moon
7.7 h fully dark
Hikes
Easy–Strenuous
🟢 🔴
Crowds
low
Open today
Open
Entrance
$30
Boquillas Crossing Port of Entry is open Friday-Monday 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
Until further notice, the Boquillas Crossing Port of Entry will be open Friday through Monday, 9:00 am through 4:00 pm. It will not change to winter hours at this time.
Big Bend is a NO DRONE Zone
The use of drones is prohibited in Big Bend National Park. Thank you for preserving the peace and tranquility of Big Bend.
Bringing a Pet to Big Bend?
Bringing your pet to Big Bend National Park will limit some of your park explorations and opportunities. Pets are not allowed on park trails, in the backcountry, or on the river. Pets are allowed only where vehicles can go. Pets may not be left unattended
Official NPS alert →There is a place in Far West Texas where night skies are dark as coal and rivers carve temple-like canyons in ancient limestone. Here, at the end of the road, hundreds of bird species take refuge in a solitary mountain range surrounded by weather-beaten desert. Tenacious cactus bloom in sublime southwestern sun, and species diversity is the best in the country. This magical place is Big Bend...
Activities
Topics
Entrance fees
$30.00 — Entrance - Private Vehicle
$15.00 — Entrance - Per Person
$200.00 — Commercial Entrance - Motor Coach
$30.00 — Entrance - Non-commercial Groups
$100.00 — Commercial Entrance - Mini-bus
$25.00 — Commercial Entrance - Sedan
$25.00 — Entrance - Motorcycle
Hours & seasons
Big Bend National Park is always open. You can enter and exit at any time of the day or night. Park entrances are open 24 hours daily, all year.
Generally open:
winterspringsummerfallHours are reported by the park — verify before you go.
📞 432-477-2251
✉ bibe_info@nps.govConditions
Excellent dark skies · DarkSky-certified (Bortle 2)
Quietest months (fewer crowds): Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep
Typical crowds: low
Weather now: ☀️ Clear, 72°F
☁️ 89°/71°
☁️ 87°/71°
☁️ 89°/74°
Typical monthly recreation visits · NPS avg 2023–2025 — orange months are the quietest by crowds.
Quietest months
Relative crowds by month — lighter is quieter; ringed months are the calmest by crowds.
Jan
46%
Feb
51%
Mar
100%
Apr
70%
May
41%
Jun
23%
Jul
19%
Aug
17%
Sep
24%
Oct
48%
Nov
61%
Dec
63%
Log a sky reading
Measured the sky with an SQM meter or app? Add your reading (16 = city glow … 22 = pristine). Opt in under “Travelers like you” to share it on the community leaderboard.
Live conditions
Things to do
Backpacking Big Bend
Get a Big Bend Passport Stamp
Big Bend Junior Rangers
View the Night Sky
List of Hiking Trails in Big Bend
🟢 See the Rio Grande · 100 mi
Hike the Lost Mine Trail · 2.4 mi · 1100 ft gain
Hike Into Santa Elena Canyon · 60 minutes
Campgrounds
Chisos Basin Campground ↗ · 56 sites · dump station
Cottonwood Campground ↗ · 22 sites
Rio Grande Village Campground ↗ · 93 sites · dump station
Rio Grande Village RV ↗ · 25 sites · hookups · dump station
Visitor centers
Castolon Visitor Center
Chisos Basin Visitor Center
Panther Junction Visitor Center
Persimmon Gap Visitor Center
Rio Grande Village Visitor Center
Accessibility
2 accessible campground(s)
212 audio-described place(s)
Reported by the park — verify before you go.
Not an official safety source — always defer to NPS.gov and rangers for life-safety decisions.
By the numbers
A visual read on Big Bend National Park — its character, trails, sky, and weather.
Park fingerprint
How this park scores across the dimensions travelers care about.
Dark sky
How dark the night sky is — darker (lower Bortle) fills the dial.
Bortle 2
★★★★★
SQM ~21.43
Trail difficulty
Difficulty mix across this park's trails.
Trail profile
Each dot is a trail — distance vs. elevation gain, by difficulty.
3-day forecast
Daily high and low temperatures (°F).
People & stories
Figures tied to Big Bend National Park — each spans a cross-park journey.
Everett Townsend
— Texas, History, Park EstablishmentPassport stamps
Mark the stamps you've collected — they show in your memory and along your routes.
🎫 Castolon Visitor Center
🎫 Chisos Basin Visitor Center
🎫 Panther Junction Visitor Center
🎫 Persimmon Gap Visitor Center
🎫 Rio Grande Village Visitor Center
🎫 Rio Grande Village Visitor Center
Places to see
Alvino House
audio
Anatomy of a Canyon Exhibit
audio
Ancient Oceans Exhibit
audio
Animal Highways Exhibit
audio
Badlands Exhibit
audio
Blue Creek Trail
audio
Boquillas Canyon Exhibit
audio
Boquillas Canyon Trail
audio
Boquillas Overlook
audio
Boquillas Port of Entry
audio
Boquillas, Mexico
audio
Burro Spring Trail
audioAudio & media
🎧
🎬
🖼
Learn more
Recipients of the 2005 NPS Environmental Achievement Awards
Recipients of the 2008 NPS Environmental Achievement Awards
Recipients of the 2012 NPS Environmental Achievement Awards
Discover the inspirational stories and amazing dedication of volunteers honored with the 2014 Hartzog Award.
As we reflect on 2022, we offer you 22 interesting and exciting science and nature events from parks of the national park system. From a brief, yet dramatic eruption of the world's largest active volcano to celebrating the 60th anniversary of the National Natural Landmarks program, 2022 was filled with amazing moments.
Candelilla (or "wax weed") harvesting has occurred in Big Bend for over a century. Archeologists investigated wax-making camps and factories where laborers, many of whom were Latino, lived and worked each day.
When the climate changes enough, the vegetation communities growing in any given place will also change. Under an expanded bimodal climate zone, some plant communities in western national parks are more likely to change than others. National Park Service ecologists and partners investigated the future conditions that may force some of this change. Having this information can help park managers decide whether to resist, direct, or accept the change.
Both the Clean Air Act and the National Park Service Organic Act protect air resources in national parks. Park resources affected by air quality include scenery and vistas, vegetation, water, and wildlife. Over the past three decades, the National Park Service has developed several internal and cooperative programs for monitoring various measures of air quality.
How Big Bend National Park connects
This park's activities, topics, location, and on-the-ground places — one hop in the graph. Drag to explore; click an activity, topic, or related park to follow it.
Park
Activity
Topic
State
Campground
VisitorCenter
PassportStamp
Trail
ThingToDo
Alert
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