Directions

Traveling East on Interstate 10 from El Paso

Take Highway 118 south at Kent for the 39-mile scenic drive to the observatory. Remember that the Observatory is on Central Time (El Paso is on Mountain Time – one hour earlier than the Observatory).

Traveling West on Interstate 10

Take Highway 17 south at Balmorhea to Fort Davis, then Highway 118 north 16 miles following the signs to the Observatory.

From Big Bend National Park

Take Highway 118 from Terlingua north through Alpine and Fort Davis to the Observatory. Approximately 112 miles.

There is no fuel available at the Observatory. The nearest standard fueling stations are in Fort Davis, 15 miles away.

The Frank N. Bash Visitors Center has two Level 2 electric vehicle charging stations. The chargers are listed as compatible with all American-made EVs (EV Car Charger Plug SAE J1772 Connector). They are not located in the main visitor parking lot but are instead available in a parking lot just off Spur 78, to the west of the intersection with Dark Sky Drive. Here’s a Google Maps link to the location.

Our thanks to The University of Texas at Austin’s Green Fund for providing the grant that made these charging stations possible.

To find charging stations in the Fort Davis-Alpine-Marfa area, we recommend consulting a service like PlugShare.

The closest commercial airports are El Paso International (190 miles) and Midland International (177 miles). Although you can count on roughly 2.5 to 3 hour drives from either, when driving from El Paso you’ll lose an hour going from Mountain time (El Paso) to Central time (McDonald).

For private aviation, there are airstrips in Marfa and Alpine (both about 40 miles from the Observatory).

Below are approximate distances to common destinations.

From McDonald Observatory to:

• Fort Davis = 15 miles
• Marfa = 38 miles
• Alpine = 43 miles
• Big Bend National Park (Panther Junction Visitor Center) = 137 miles
• Midland = 180 miles
• El Paso = 210 miles
• Austin = 438 miles
• Dallas = 516 miles