Terlingua is located southeast of El Paso above Lajitas and next to Study Butte on Farm Road 170 near Hwy 118 in the Christmas Mountains next to Big Bend National Park, in Brewster County.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s tourism brought new life to the village. Terlingua became famous for its annual chili cook-off and in 1967 was deemed the "Chili Capital of the World" by the Chili Appreciation Society. The former company store reopened as a gift and art shop, river float trips are scheduled in the former cantina, and a dinner theater occupies the former motion picture theater.
In 1994 Terlingua had thirteen businesses and a population of twenty-five.