Historic Motels & Inns in the Southwest

The Gage Hotel

Marathon, TX

A West Texas landmark since 1927, where the right way to book is Los Portales: adobe rooms with private porches, kiva fireplaces, and antique Mexican doors around an open-air courtyard. The gateway to Big Bend has seen a lot since then, and this is what still stands.

Blue Swallow Motel

Tucumcari, NM

Pink stucco, original neon, and the 1939 bones intact on one of America's most storied roads. The neon goes on at dusk and everything that made the drive worth it is still here.

El Vado Motel

Albuquerque, NM

A 1937 Pueblo Revival rescued from demolition with original adobe bones, neon sign, and wood vigas intact. Rooms surround a private pool courtyard; food pods, a taproom, and local shops now occupy the former carports.

Hotel San Jose

Austin, TX

A 1936 Spanish colonial bungalow court reborn as a garden-wrapped retreat of polished concrete and shade, where a hush holds inside the courtyard while South Congress hums just past the walls. It is the quiet, design-forward stay that helped bring the whole strip back to life.

Jonquil Motel

Bisbee, AZ

Bisbee's oldest surviving courtyard property, built in 1937 around a lush garden with a mural, a neon sign, and a color-changing phone booth. No stairs and walking distance to everything Old Bisbee has.

Santa Fe Motel & Inn

Santa Fe, NM

A tucked-away adobe cluster a few blocks off the Plaza, where kiva fireplaces crackle in the casitas and a made-fresh breakfast starts every morning. The little touches, a yoga mat in the closet and an umbrella by the door, make it feel like someone actually thought about your day.

The Larian Motel

Tombstone, AZ

A spotless, owner-run 1950s motor court set right in the heart of historic Tombstone, where a low U of ground-floor rooms wraps a cactus courtyard and every door opens onto its own little porch. The Old-West character is real but the rooms are freshly kept, so you get the romance of Fremont Street without giving up a clean bed and a good night's sleep.

The Lodge on Route 66

Williams, AZ

A 1938 motor court restored on the original Mother Road, where travertine-floored suites and solid-wood furniture sit behind doors you can still park in front of. Evenings gather under a covered cabana with gas fireplaces glowing over the last town Route 66 left behind.

Casa de Tres Lunas

Santa Fe, NM

A cluster of private adobe suites behind quiet walls on Paseo de Peralta, each with its own front door and a wood-burning fireplace to light on a cool high-desert night. It feels less like a room and more like borrowing a little house of your own, a short walk from Canyon Road.

El Pueblo Lodge

Taos, NM

An adobe compound where every room opens to a patio or terrace, with Casita Kings featuring kiva wood-burning fireplaces. Afternoon cookies, a pool, and a hot tub included.

Parry Lodge

Kanab, UT

The 1931 lodge that made Kanab Little Hollywood, where the rooms still carry the names of the stars who slept in them and the barn out back still screens the Westerns they came to shoot. Mornings bring a full hot spread and rose gardens on the way to the pool John Wayne helped pay for.