20 ULTIMATE EXPERIENCES
Santa Fe offers terrific experiences that should be on every traveler’s list. Here are Fodor’s top picks for a memorable trip.
1 Museums
Learn about local and regional art and culture at the excellent institutions on Santa Fe’s Museum Hill, including the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. (Ch. 4)
2 Dining
A rising national culinary destination, the city has superb restaurants that offer both traditional and contemporary New Mexican fare as well as more eclectic global cuisine. (Ch. 3–6)
3 Railyard District
A popular indoor–outdoor farmers’ market, a fun urban park, and hip restaurants, galleries, and indie shops keep things bustling in this redeveloped historic neighborhood. (Ch. 5)
4 Albuquerque Balloon Festival
More than 500 hot air balloons ascend over the Rio Grande Valley during this colorful October gathering, the largest ballooning festival in the world. (Ch. 8)
This nearly 900-mile, 19th-century trade route crosses the Sangre de Cristo Mountains from historic Pecos National Historical Park into the heart of downtown Santa Fe. (Ch. 7)
6 The Turquoise Trail
A scenic alternative route to Interstate 25, this 70-mile road starts in Santa Fe and plunges through offbeat villages like Madrid and the dramatic highlands of Sandia Crest. (Ch. 7)
7 Canyon Road
Winding about 3 miles from downtown Santa Fe, this narrow road is lined with colorfully preserved adobe houses, many of which now contain highly regarded art galleries. (Ch. 4)
8 Intimate Inns
Unwind in a Southwestern-style abode or one of the city’s intimate inns and bed-and-breakfasts, many featuring original artwork and handcrafted furnishings. (Ch. 3–6)
Spend a few hours wandering through this madly imaginative and completely immersive 22,000-square-foot collaborative art installation. (Ch. 6)
10 Bandelier National Monument
Climb inside cliff dwellings and ceremonial kivas of ancestral Puebloans within this 33,000-acre natural wonder. (Ch. 7)
Annual market weekends like the Santa Fe Indian Market offer some of the best opportunities for shopping and art collecting in New Mexico. (Ch. 1)
For a scenic adventure, drive between Taos and Santa Fe via this breathtaking alpine route through quaint Spanish-colonial villages and past sweeping vistas. (Ch. 7)
Soak up the energy and take in the culture of the city’s lively and historic central plaza, which is lined with stellar museums and colorful shops and restaurants. (Ch. 3)
Connect with the work of this iconic American Modernist artist, who drew inspiration from the area’s landscape, at the exceptional Georgia O’Keeffe Museum downtown and her house in Abiquiú. (Ch. 3, 7)
15 Rafting on the Rio Grande
From peaceful floats to rollicking rafting trips, the nation’s fourth-longest river is one of the region’s top destinations for outdoor recreation. (Ch. 7, 8, 9)
Simply stunning, this internationally acclaimed opera’s indoor–outdoor amphitheater is carved into a hillside and presents five works during its annual eight-week summer season. (Ch. 6)
17 Galleries
Gallery hopping is a prime activity in Santa Fe, especially during First Friday Night Art Walks. The city’s more than 300 galleries tempt with ceramics, paintings, photography, and sculptures. (Ch. 3–6)
Continuously occupied for roughly 1,000 years, this rambling, carefully preserved adobe-walled pueblo looks much as it has for centuries. Fascinating guided tours are offered. (Ch. 9)
19 Native American Culture
Santa Fe celebrates Native culture at historic monuments and museums throughout the city, including Native American dances and jewelry-making demonstrations in Milner Plaza. (Ch. 3–7)
20 Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument
Known for bizarre sandstone rock formations that look like stacked tepees, this dramatic box canyon and lofty promontory is a memorable hiking getaway about 40 miles southwest of Santa Fe. (Ch. 7)
The Plaza and Downtown Santa Fe. The heart of historic Santa Fe is the Plaza. The Old Santa Fe Trail is a historic section of the city that joins the Plaza from north of Museum Hill after passing the state capitol and some of the area’s oldest neighborhoods.
East Side with Canyon Road and Museum Hill. Taking in some of the city’s prettiest and most historic streets, the East Side is bisected by charming Canyon Road, which is lined with galleries, shops, and restaurants housed in adobe compounds. To the south, Museum Hill is home to four excellent museums and the Santa Fe Botanical Garden.
The Railyard District. A model for urban green space, this colorful district just southwest of Downtown contains a vibrant farmers’ market, hip restaurants, shops, art galleries, and the SITE Santa Fe contemporary art museum.
Greater Santa Fe. West of the city center are several historic, mostly residential neighborhoods with a few notable restaurants and shops on Guadalupe Street. North, a scenic expanse of the Sangre de Cristo foothills is home to the Santa Fe Opera House and some high-profile resorts. South, you’ll find the more modern and suburban parts of the city, along with the city’s hottest arts attraction, Meow Wolf.
POLITICS
As the capital of New Mexico (and the oldest capital city in the United States), Santa Fe plays an outsized role in the state’s political scene and when the state legislature is in session, Downtown hums with elected officials and other political workers. Ideologically, the state has moved steadily to the left over the past couple of decades—New Mexico has voted Democrat in every U.S. Presidential election since 1988 with the exception of 2004, when George W. Bush edged John Kerry by less than a percentage point. As of 2020, the state’s governor, both senators, and all three members of congress are Democrats, and Team Blue maintains 26 to 16 and 47 to 23 advantages in the New Mexico State Senate and House of Representatives, respectively. Moreover, the state’s northern Rio Grande corridor hews especially to the left, with Santa Fe and Taos (and to only a slightly lesser extent, Albuquerque) embracing progressive elected officials and agendas, including racial, gender, and LGBTQ equality, gun control, reproductive rights, conservation initiatives, and the like. Santa Fe, Taos, and Bernalillo (Albuquerque) counties are all sanctuary jurisdictions, and all three areas held extremely well-attended Black Lives Matter protests throughout the summer of 2020.
IMMIGRATION AND DEMOGRAPHICS
New Mexico is one of the most ethnically diverse states in the nation—as of the last census, nearly 50% of the population identifies as Hispanic (of any race), by far the highest percentage of any U.S. state. Just under 15% of residents identify as Native American; New Mexico trails only Alaska and Oklahoma in this regard.
At the very southern end of New Mexico, about a five-hour drive south of Santa Fe, the state has a desolate and relatively short (about 180 miles long) international border with Mexico. There are just three border crossings, none of them connected to large cities or major highways, and so they generally do not see a lot of traffic. However, many who immigrate via the busier nearby border crossings in Texas and Arizona do eventually make their way to New Mexico, which as of 2018 had claimed just under 200,000 foreign-born residents (about 9% of the state’s population). About 72% of New Mexico’s immigrants originally hail from Mexico, and roughly 40% of the state’s foreign-born population are naturalized U.S. citizens. Immigrants play a vital role in the state’s economy and cultural fabric, making up about 12% of the workforce. The state also has nearly 6,000 active DACA recipients.
New Mexico also claims the highest number of U.S. residents who identify as Hispano, meaning they’re descended from the Spanish settlers who inhabited this land when it was part of the Spanish Empire (1598–1821) and then Mexico (1821–48). Often identifying as being of both European and indigenous American heritage, Hispanos in New Mexico can often trace their roots in the state back 10 or 12 generations, and rank among many of the state’s leading political, civic, and business movers and shakers. Anglos, on the other hand, are New Mexico’s relative latecomers, having only begun to settle here in significant numbers during the second half of the 19th century.
ART ON THE EDGE
In contrast with its more traditional artistic past, increasing numbers of galleries in the area now specialize in abstract, contemporary, and often international works. One of the first major forces in the city’s artistic evolution, the acclaimed SITE Santa Fe museum, opened in 1995 and underwent a dramatic redesign and expansion in 2017. The surrounding Railyard District has seen an emergence of provocative, modern galleries in recent decades, as have Downtown and Canyon Road. But the biggest artistic development in Santa Fe has been the opening and growing popularity of a permanent multimillion-dollar art complex by Santa Fe’s edgy Meow Wolf collective, which has plans to open additional locations in both Las Vegas and Denver in the next couple of years.
It’s been a busy time for the region’s hotel industry, although the pandemic has led to delays for some properties that had planned openings or revamps in 2020. With a highly anticipated launch of spring 2021, the historic and storied Bishop’s Lodge Resort has undergone an ambitious renovation and expansion following its acquisition by the posh Auberge Resorts group. The vaunted Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs spa resort has added stylish midcentury trailers to its selection of distinctive accommodations, and in summer 2020, Sunrise Springs spa resort reopened as Ojo Santa Fe, an elegant and supremely relaxing sister to the original resort located 50 miles north.
CHILES
New Mexico’s famous hot chiles are featured in many traditional New Mexican dishes, from tamales to cheeseburgers, served either with green or red chiles (or “Christmas” for both).
CRAFT BEER
The beer scenes in Santa Fe, Taos, and especially Albuquerque—which has more beer producers per capita than even Portland, Oregon—are impressive and innovative. Breweries like Bosque Brewing earn raves, and awards, for their distinctive creations.
SOPAIPILLAS
Puffy, deep-fried bread that’s similar to Navajo fry bread (which is native to Arizona and western New Mexico), sopaipillas are served either as a dessert drizzled with honey or as a savory dish stuffed with pinto beans or meat and smothered with chile sauce.
CHOCOLATE
Archaeologists have traced the consumption of chocolate in this part of the world to AD 900 Chacoan culture. These days, you’ll find a bounty of artisan chocolatiers in Santa Fe.
POSOLE
What might look to the uninitiated like popcorn soup is actually a sublime marriage of hominy, lime, pork, garlic, and spices. It’s a regional staple of Mexico that’s become a huge hit in New Mexico.
ENCHILADAS
Between burritos, tacos, tostadas, chiles rellenos, and New Mexico’s many other comfort-food standards, enchiladas are perhaps the most celebrated here.
BLUE CORN PANCAKES
The Southwest’s Puebloan and Hopi tribes popularized the cultivation of blue-corn meal, which these days appears on New Mexico menus in just about anything flour-based, from enchiladas to corn chips. But blue corn’s slightly sweet personality makes it especially delicious in breakfast foods, namely pancakes but also waffles.
COFFEE
A distinct regional take on this beverage is New Mexico Piñon Coffee, a company begun in the late ‘90s that infuses its beans with natural piñon flavoring during the roasting process, giving the coffee a nutty, slightly sweet quality—it’s sold in most grocery stores around the state.
FRITO PIE
Said to be originally from Texas—although some New Mexicans claim it comes from Santa Fe—the Frito pie is also extremely popular in New Mexican diners and short-order restaurants. This savory, humble casserole consists of Fritos corn chips layered with chile, cheese, green onions, and pinto beans.
MARGARITAS
Originally invented just over the border in either Tijuana or Ciudad Juárez, depending on which origin story you believe, these sweet-and-sour cocktails consisting of tequila, lime juice, and either Triple Sec or Cointreau have been a mainstay of northern New Mexico bar culture for decades.
WEAVINGS AND TEXTILES
Hand-woven goods rank among the region’s most prized shopping finds, including priceless antique Navajo rugs and Spanish-colonial blankets.
ART AND CRAFTS FROM ANNUAL MARKETS
Santa Fe’s legendary summer exhibitions—including the International Folk Art Market n July—are great opportunities to find hand-woven and hand-crafted items, and to meet the talented makers.
COWBOY BOOTS AND HATS
O’Farrell Hat Company has produced custom cowboy hats for over three decades while colorful, bespoke cowboy boots fashioned from alligator, ostrich, and other precious skins are another favorite local good.
TURQUOISE JEWELRY
Dazzling, hand-crafted turquoise jewelry has been a symbol of Santa Fe and nearby pueblos for generations. Note that authentic Southwest-mined turquoise is increasingly hard to find. If you’re seeking top-quality turquoise jewelry crafted by local Native American artists, stick with a reputable gallery or the certified vendors working in front of the Palace of the Governors.
PUEBLO POTTERY
From the Navajo Nation to the state’s many pueblos, native artisans in New Mexico have a centuries-old tradition of producing intricate pottery with striking, complex designs and in a breathtaking range of colors and styles that are often specific to a particular tribe.
FETISHES
These small and often fanciful stone carvings for which New Mexico’s Zuni tribe is famous are said to bring out the characteristics of whomever possesses them.
FOLK FURNITURE
The often brightly hued, hand-carved furniture you see all around Santa Fe—from massive dining tables to smaller equipale (pigskin) chairs and punched-tin lamps and frames—make terrific additions to any home.
LOCAL ARTWORK
Santa Fe boasts one of the world’s most impressive art scenes, with more than 300 galleries, from international showcases like the 44,000-square-foot Gerald Peters Gallery to other renowned spaces like Peyton Wright, Nedra Matteucci, LewAllen, and Monroe Gallery. Although traditional artwork, such as regional landscape paintings, proliferates here, the city also supports an edgy contemporary arts scene.
LOCAL SALSAS AND ROASTED CHILES
Looking to bring New Mexico’s inimitable green- and red-chile salsas home with you? Several companies sell flavorful sauces by the jar along with bags of flash-frozen roasted chiles. Powdered chiles, strings of dried chiles (ristras), and chile-inflected candies, honey, jams, and other gourmet items are also popular.
This winding alpine hike takes in breathtaking fall foliage scenery, but also makes for an enjoyable trek in spring and summer, too. In winter, it’s a popular spot for snowshoeing.
VALLES CALDERA NATIONAL PRESERVE
A spectacular expanse anchored by one of the world’s largest volcanic calderas, this 100,000-acre preserve in the Jémez Mountains is popular for hiking, skiing, and mountain biking.
KASHA-KATUWE TENT ROCKS NATIONAL MONUMENT
This stunning geological wonder is named for its bizarre rock formations, which look like tepees rising over a narrow box canyon. The hike here is relatively short and only moderately challenging.
This 24-mile complex of hiking and mountain-biking trails winds through the eastern foothills of Santa Fe and is easily accessed from several areas, including Hyde Park and the end of Canyon Road.
One of the West’s preeminent ski areas, this dramatic valley famed for its vertiginous slopes and sunny conditions draws serious skiers and snowboarders from late November through early April.
One of the more strenuous hiking challenges in the area, the 8-mile round-trip trek to New Mexico’s highest point (elevation 13,161 feet) rewards visitors with stunning views in all directions.
RIO GRANDE NATURE CENTER STATE PARK
A 270-acre urban oasis just north of downtown Albuquerque, this peaceful park contains the country’s largest forest of cottonwood trees.
RIO GRANDE DEL NORTE NATIONAL MONUMENT
The signature feature of this 242,555-acre national monument is its stunning stretch of the Rio Grande. It’s best viewed from the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, which soars 650 feet above the river.
This 135-acre nature center offers a couple of fairly short but wonderfully scenic trails for observing wildlife, especially local and migrating birds, of which more than 200 have been spotted.
PETROGLYPH NATIONAL MONUMENT
The several trails through this expanse of extinct volcanoes on Albuquerque’s west side pass by hundreds of well-preserved petroglyphs that date from as far back as 3,000 years ago.
More than 70 miles of trails traverse this remarkable 33,000-acre wilderness near Los Alamos, the most popular of which wind past wooden ladders that lead into centuries-old cliff dwellings.
BLESS ME, ULTIMA BY RUDOLFO ANAYA
Written in 1972 and widely considered one of the most important and impressive works of Chicano literature, this coming-of-age novel set in a small, largely Hispano New Mexican community shortly after World War II is based partly on the writer’s early life in the town of Santa Rosa. Anaya, who passed away in 2020, continued to write about New Mexico throughout his life. A 2013 movie adaptation was filmed around Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
BREAKING BAD AND BETTER CALL SAUL
High school teacher–turned–meth-dealing antihero Walter White might just be New Mexico’s most infamous resident, fictional or otherwise (with apologies to Billy the Kid). Breaking Bad and its similarly acclaimed prequel Better Call Saul were both set and filmed in Albuquerque, where an entire cottage industry of tours that visit the shows’ noted locations has sprung up in recent years.
CITY SLICKERS
This classic 1991 Billy Crystal comedy about friends in New York City who confront their respective midlife crises by embarking on a two-week cattle drive through New Mexico and Colorado packs plenty of laughs and shows off the stunning landscapes of Abiquiú, the Nambé and Santa Clara pueblos, and Santa Fe.
DANCE HALL OF THE DEAD BY TONY HILLERMAN
One of the state’s most treasured fiction writers, the late Albuquerquean Tony Hillerman set 18 detective novels on and around the Native American reservations of the Four Corners region of New Mexico and Arizona. It’s hard to pick a favorite among his many gripping page turners, but Dance Hall of the Dead—which won a coveted Edgar Award in 1974—is one of the best.
DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP BY WILLA CATHER
The great American novelist Willa Cather—who spent time with D. H. Lawrence, Witter Bynner, and other notables of New Mexico’s early-20-century literary and arts scene—penned this tale of the attempts by Catholic Archbishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy to establish a diocese in Santa Fe. Although it’s a fictionalized account, it does touch on a number of real events and actual characters who played an important role in northern New Mexico history during the late 19th century.
EASY RIDER
With key scenes in Santa Fe, Taos, and Las Vegas, this ode to road-tripping, bikers, and counterculture brought international fame to Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson, and also the mesmerizing scenery of New Mexico.
GODLESS
Netflix’s 1880s-period Western consists of just seven episodes, but earned critical acclaim for its gripping portrayal of an outlaw on the run and the proprietress of a ranch who takes him in. Like another stellar TV Western, Longmire, the show was filmed entirely in and around Santa Fe, but Godless stands out for having also been set in a New Mexico mining town, the fictional community of La Belle.
MANHATTAN
Although it never scored high ratings, this TV drama about the lives of scientists and their families living in Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project earned great reviews and is still easy to find through streaming services. It was filmed around Santa Fe and Los Alamos, and it offers an interesting glimpse of the intrigue and personal complexities that surrounded Los Alamos National Lab and its community during World War II.
THE MILAGRO BEANFIELD WAR BY JOHN NICHOLS
This humorous, poignant 1970s novel about a small-town New Mexico farmer taking on soulless government bureaucracy and deep-pocketed developers in order to save his humble beanfield was adapted into an entertaining movie in 1988. Directed by Robert Redford, the film was shot primarily in the beautiful village of Truchas, located along the High Road to Taos.
THE MYTH OF SANTA FE BY CHRIS WILSON
This rich and thorough study explains how and why Santa Fe came to look as it does today. The legacy of the city’s earliest Native American and then Spanish settlers is explored, as are the conscious efforts by enterprising business owners in the early 20th century to turn the city into a bona fide international tourist destination.
PUEBLO NATIONS: EIGHT CENTURIES OF PUEBLO INDIAN HISTORY BY JOE S. SANDO
One of the most definitive and engrossing histories of New Mexico’s 19 Indian Pueblos was written by the late Joe S. Sando, who was born—and later served as an elder—on Jémez Pueblo.
TRUE GRIT
Countless Westerns have been filmed in north-central New Mexico, including All the Pretty Horses, A Million Ways to Die in the West, and the remakes of 3:10 to Yuma and The Magnificent Seven, but this Coen Brothers revisionist adaptation of the John Wayne classic stands out for the way it captures the breathtaking landscape around Santa Fe. The Coen Brothers are fans of shooting in the Land of Enchantment, having also filmed parts of No Country for Old Men and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs here.