About this city
Also known as: Uranium Capital of the World, Carrot Capital of the World
Grants is an historic, rugged high-desert city in Cibola County, situated along historic Route 66 and Interstate 40 in west-central New Mexico, right beneath the looming shadow of Mount Taylor. The city's history is characterized by massive economic booms, first as the 'Carrot Capital of the World' due to its highly successful agricultural irrigation fields in the 1940s, and later as the epic center of America's uranium mining rush from the 1950s through the 1980s. Today, with the mines long closed, Grants has redefined itself as the primary adventure hub for exploring ancient volcanic lava fields, deep underground ice caves, and high-altitude mountain trails, offering a gritty, authentic look at New Mexico's industrial and geological past.
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Practical Tourism Metadata
Suggested stay: 1–2 days
Walk inside a simulated uranium shaft at the New Mexico Mining Museum, hike across rugged volcanic lava flows at El Malpais National Monument, witness eternal ice deep inside the Bandera Volcano and Ice Caves, and drive the scenic Mount Taylor roads.
