Taos is home to more than a dozen sites on the National Register of Historic Places. These include the Ernest L. Blumenschein House, the Kit Carson House, the Mabel Dodge Luhan House, the Governor Charles Bent house, and the Taos Inn. Three miles north of Taos is the Taos Pueblo; further north is the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. Just outside of Taos in Ranchitos is the Martinez Hacienda, the home turned museum of the late Padre Antonio Jos? Mart?nez. South of Taos is the Ranchos de Taos Plaza with the San Francisco de Asis Mission Church; further south is the Picuris Pueblo.

Twenty miles northwest is the D. H. Lawrence Ranch (originally known as the Kiowa Ranch and now owned by the University of New Mexico), the home of the English novelist in the 1920s. It is believed that his ashes are buried there at the D. H. Lawrence Memorial. Another novelist who lived for a while in Taos was Alexander Trocchi.

Other tourist attractions include Taos Ski Valley.