Alpine, Texas map

Alpine is on US-90 in the Trans-Pecos, 26 miles east of Marfa, 30 miles west of Marathon and about 220 road miles from El Paso. The nearest interstate is I-10, roughly 90 miles north. The town began in 1882 as a water stop when the railroad came through — it was called Osborne, then Murphyville, and took the name Alpine in 1888 — and the Union Pacific main line still runs beside US-90 through the middle of town. Amtrak's Sunset Limited stops here, which makes Alpine one of the very few rail-served towns in this quarter of the state.

Brewster County is the largest county in Texas at 6,193 square miles — bigger than Connecticut — yet it held only 9,546 people in 2020, and Alpine is its only incorporated city. The county was cut from Presidio County in 1887 and named for Henry Percy Brewster, secretary of war for the Republic. Pecos County is north, Terrell east, Jeff Davis northwest, and the Rio Grande and Mexico form the long southern boundary.

Sul Ross State University sits on a rise on the east side of Alpine, established in 1917 and named for Lawrence Sullivan Ross. It is the only university in the Big Bend country, and its enrolment of a couple of thousand is a large share of the town's population. The Museum of the Big Bend is on the campus and covers the region's geology, ranching and border history. Behind the university, a trail climbs Hancock Hill to the desk that students hauled up there years ago.

Downtown runs along Holland Avenue on the north side of the tracks, with the 1880s brick blocks, the Holland Hotel and the Brewster County courthouse. The town's economy is the university, the county, ranching, and the traffic moving to and from the national park.

Two of the three road approaches to Big Bend National Park start within thirty miles of Alpine. SH-118 runs south from town for about 80 miles to Study Butte and the park's west entrance, passing the observatory road turnoff and crossing high desert most of the way. The alternative is US-90 east to Marathon, then US-385 south for about 70 miles to Persimmon Gap, the north entrance. From Alpine, park headquarters at Panther Junction is roughly 105 miles by either route. Big Bend Ranch State Park, a separate and larger tract, lies farther west along the river between Presidio and Lajitas.

SH-118 north out of Alpine climbs past Mitre Peak toward Fort Davis and the McDonald Observatory, on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains — the darkest skies in the continental United States, protected by lighting rules that Alpine and the surrounding counties observe.