Free & Cheap Things to Do in Roswell

Quirky & Unique

The mothership of Roswell tourism walks you through the 1947 crash story with witness affidavits, declassified documents, and a healthy dose of animatronic saucer theater. Seven dollars buys the full incident experience plus the research library serious ufologists actually use.

Address: 114 N Main St, Roswell, NM 88203

Tip: Go early in July — UFO Festival week packs the place. The surrounding Main Street blocks of alien gift shops, saucer streetlights, and the flying-saucer McDonald's are the free half of the experience.

Arts & Culture

Twelve galleries and 22,000 square feet of work by alumni of the Roswell Artist-in-Residence program — the famous 'gift of time' fellowship that has drawn serious contemporary artists to the desert since 1967. Completely free, and routinely called New Mexico's best-kept art secret.

Address: 409 E College Blvd, Roswell, NM 88201

Tip: Closed major holidays, otherwise open daily with self-guided wandering encouraged. Pair it with the Roswell Museum across town for a legitimately strong small-city art day no one expects from the UFO town.

Museums

Southwestern art heavyweights — Peter Hurd, Henriette Wyeth, Georgia O'Keeffe — share the building with Robert Goddard's actual reconstructed rocket workshop, moved here from the launch site where he invented modern rocketry outside Roswell. The Goddard Planetarium runs shows at $5 a head.

Address: 1011 N Richardson Ave, Roswell, NM 88201

Tip: Kids 15 and under enter the museum free — confirm current adult pricing at the desk since the city posts it inconsistently. The Goddard workshop is the sleeper exhibit: rocketry's birthplace was a Roswell pasture, not Cape Canaveral.

Family & Kids

A 34-acre city park zoo with mountain lions, bears, bison, and a barnyard contact area — and admission is free for everyone, every day. Rebuilt and rebounding after 2024 flooding, it pairs with the surrounding park's playgrounds and shaded picnic gounds for a zero-dollar family afternoon.

Address: 1306 E College Blvd, Roswell, NM 88201

Tip: No outside food except water and formula — picnic in the park outside the gates instead. Mornings beat the desert heat and catch the animals active; the small carousel and train run seasonally for pocket change.

Parks & Nature

A 24,500-acre oasis where the Chihuahuan Desert meets the Pecos River — free to drive its 6.5-mile wildlife loop past sinkhole lakes, wetlands, and one of North America's richest dragonfly populations. Tens of thousands of sandhill cranes and snow geese winter here.

Address: 4067 Bitter Lake Rd, Roswell, NM 88201

Tip: The September Dragonfly Festival is the signature free event — over 100 species recorded. Winter dawn brings the crane lift-offs; summer visits are best early before the basin bakes.

Parks & Nature

New Mexico's first state park strings nine startling blue-green sinkhole lakes along the Pecos bluffs — cenote-style pools up to 90 feet deep, with a swimming beach, paddleboard-friendly water, and trails at Lea Lake. A carload day fee covers the lot.

Address: 545A Bottomless Lakes Rd, Roswell, NM 88201

Tip: Lea Lake is the swimmable one — summer weekends bring lifeguards and rental paddleboards. The 15-minute drive from town passes through classic Pecos Valley ranchland; arrive before noon for beach shade.

Quirky & Unique

The free half of UFO tourism: alien-eyed streetlights, a flying-saucer McDonald's, invader-themed murals, and gift shops happy to let you browse the galaxy's densest concentration of little green men. The city's See Roswell guide maps the whole strip.

Address: Main St, Roswell, NM 88203

Tip: Night is when the streetlight alien eyes glow — the photo everyone wants. July's UFO Festival adds free parades, costume contests, and street entertainment if you can brave the crowds.

Parks & Nature

The greenbelt around the free zoo carries Roswell's nicest stroll — a paved recreation trail tracing the spring-fed river through 34 acres of cottonwood shade, playgrounds, and picnic grounds, with a vintage carousel and miniature train running for under a dollar in season.

Address: 1101 W 4th St, Roswell, NM 88201

Tip: The carousel and kiddie train are among the cheapest rides in New Mexico when running — check seasonal hours. Combine with the zoo for the best free family half-day in southeastern New Mexico.