We rented a place in Taos for a week a couple of years ago, and thought we might abandon Taos on our last day and spend a night in Santa Fe. We found so much to do in and around Taos (we are big hikers), we never made it back to Santa Fe. I think there’s a fair amount of hiking to be done in Santa Fe also, and I could spend a week there.
@doschios - You need to spend more time in Charleston. I’ve lived in a few major cities, and can assure you that there is surprisingly much to do in Charleston, both as a tourist and as a resident, despite its modest size.
Sorry to get off topic. Carry on.
I have @Overtheedge. Plenty of family there. If you golf and do beach stuff, yes there is. Enough restaurants to eat at for months. Tourist attractions aren’t super plentiful for a week IMO absent shopping, golf, beaches, eating. But I still like going and love Charleston. I agree it is a great place to live (except for the humidity and heat during the summer).
My point was that if you aren’t doing nature/sporty stuff, most tourist destinations aren’t going to keep you busy for days on end with “tourist” activities.
The miracle staircase. The furniture shops. Rancho de Chimayo. Bandelier. I love Santa Fe.
There is no doubt that Santa Fe isn’t a party town! As someone who goes there at least once a year, I agree that the city is limited in what it can offer over an extended period. Go there during the height of the tourist season, and the crowds alone can be a turn off.
For me, besides the food, the big attraction of Santa Fe is getting OUT of town. There’s a wealth of hikes and stunning vistas; cave dwellings and archeological sites as well as the fascinating pueblos. For opera fans, the Santa Fe Opera is a thrilling and unique experience. I was there last fall, at a popular breakfast place, with a European friend who’s been fascinated by Native Americans since she was a little girl. (All those westerns she watched, lol.) She actually asked a Native American family if she could take their picture – they lauged and said, of course, and chuckled “We’re even real Indians, not Mexicans!” Later, they invited us to visit their pueblo, which is usually closed to visitors. We had an amazing visit, and my friend said the Santa Fe trip is one of the best she’s ever taken.
So yes – Santa Fe itself can disappoint. You do have to make a bit of an effort to get to know the place beyond what you see around the plaza.
When I was last in Santa Fe, it was the first time we let the kids “off leash”. Gave them some money and a room key and told them to have fun and meet us later. This was before we had cell phones. It was so small and easily navigable and safe - really a perfect spot for this.
I also loved going to the IAIA (Indian Art Institute of America). There was a gallery opening and it was packed, mostly with Native Americans. Val Kilmer was there although I didn’t recognize him at first. He definitely draws the eye!
NM can be provincial in terms of things closing early. I guess if you live there you get used to it. Northern New Mexico is such a lovely place with such a wonderful climate. The piñon fires, pueblos, archaeology, etc., all make it unique and sought after. And then there go the property rates! Albuquerque is more gritty and less pretty and I find it just as appealing, maybe more. I want to live there for a year and eat every green chile the city has to offer.
P.S. Love Rancho de Chimayo and their green chile stew! And Abiquiu. I had something there called a tamale Napoleon. The restaurant closed at 8 PM so I was hungry until they opened for lunch the next day! You need to plan ahead in the hinterlands.
Was the breakfast place Cafe Pasqual’s? It’s our favorite.
And we also like Gabriellas which is outside of town…excellent Mexican…great service!
We love Pasqual’s!!! H especially loves their Huevos Molteblanos which are like Huevos Rancheros but with bananas or plantain.
All this food talk is making me want to go to Sante Fe again!
I go during festivals to make it more interesting. There is also the opera and nearby casinos.
@thumper1, I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the breakfast place… it really bugs me. Truth be told when we went there I was a tad… ahem… hung over. The night before I took my friend to Maria’s for their margaritas… I’m a cheap drunk… on the way back to our motel I ended up going the wrong way and I swear we were halfway to Albuquerque before my friend said timidly “this doesn’t look like the way we came…” But it definitely wasn’t Pasqual’s which I also love!
@greenwitch, Rancho de Chimayo rocks.
@katliamom - we should let people know that Rancho de Chimayo is actually out of town a bit, on the “enchanted circle”, which is definitely worth a trip.
For anyone going in the coming year, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture has a fascinating exhibit featuring photos of archeological sites taken by Charles Lindbergh and his wife side by side with photos of the same sites taken last year http://miaclab.org/current?&eventID=2613.
The attraction of the areas srrounding Santa Fe is indesputable, but you can enjoy access to these areas equally well from Albuquerque or any of the quaint affordable towns in the region.
Agree that some of the more interesting places are outside of Santa Fe. Rancho de Chimayo has some of the best food I’ve ever eaten (and I’m married to a foodie who takes us to Michelin starred places when we travel). We stayed one night at the Hacienda at Rancho de Chimayo that’s run by the same folks who own the restaurant. The rooms were really lovely. Shidoni (sculpture gardens and foundry) in Tesque (just north of Santa Fe) is really fun to visit. You can tour the foundry and also walk through the sculpture gardens. Another place that we enjoyed seeing was the Taos Pueblo. It’s about 70-some miles from Santa Fe, but worth the trip.
I think Santa Fe is like many other small cities/towns located in beautiful resort places attracts residents because of the scenic environment, opportunities for great outdoor activities, and a somewhat slower pace of life.
When we went to Santa Fe, we took a trip to Los Alamos. After driving up that cliff, I told the kids if you decide in life you never want to see me again, move to Los Alamos. Because I will never go there again. I fully expected the Roadrunner and an anvil to drop down next to me at any moment. It was during this trip, I discovered how much I have developed a fear of (certain) heights. Bridges - good. Cliffs - not good. Hiking to high places - much more doable. We did hot air balloons in Albuquerque. Would love to come back for the festival someday.
LOVED the trip to Taos alongside the Rio Grande.
Mmmm kakawa chocolate shop - for super strong elixirs and drinking chocolates with chiles…
If you cannot find Rancho de Chimayo, you do not deserve to eat there. :)>-
@momsquad Yes, but, Friday night, 4 hours free time, LA traffic, and the Huntington was closed.
Forgot to mention before: my daughter spent two weeks in Santa Fe at the St. John’s College summer academy. Aside from the academic activities, they had all sorts of planned excursions in and around Santa Fe that kept a bunch of teenagers entertained. I guess the operative words are “in and around.”
My most vivid memory of our trip to Santa Fe wasn’t even in Santa Fe. On our way to Taos, we crossed the Rio Grande Gorge and stopped to look over the side of the bridge. Because we were on a tiny sidewalk squished between the highway and the Gorge, we developed a pretty strong fear of heights. We made ourselves look over the side, but we couldn’t wait to get away from the edge.
^^I tried to walk across the pedestrian part of that bridge and couldn’t do it. Just couldn’t!
The cliff road is exactly why the Manhattan project was located there. There’s only one way in and out of the town. Los Alamos was completely cut off from the outside world. Imagine arriving there from Chicago or NYC or Los Angeles and driving that route on a single lane unpaved dirt road.
La Bajada Hill (the big cliff just south of Santa Fe on I-25) was a literal goat trail that required a jeep and about 3 hours to traverse in the 40s. There are some great archival photos of jeeps switchbaking along the route in Richard Feymann’s autobiography. (Feymann’s wife a was TB patient at a sanitarium in ABQ. He used to drive down to visit her monthly.)
And Taos Gorge! D1 used to go climbing inside the gorge under the bridge with her white water rafting buds. D1 had a bunch of climbing friends who supported themselves by guiding in Taos in the summer and working ski resorts in winter. D1 used to do a bit white water raft guiding herself before she started med school.
Other places to check out in and around Santa Fe–
Ten Thousand Waves Spa & Tea House
Ojo Caliente Resort (hot spring w/ bathhouse and spa)
Tent Rocks (Kasha-Katue National Monument)
Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu (Georgia O’Keefe’s former home) Spectacular scenery and a major dinosaur dig.
Eaves Movie Ranch
Madrid (pronounced MAAH-drid)–formerly an abandoned silver mining town on Hwy 14/Turquoise Trail, now a hipster town full of artists, galleries and outdoor music.
El Rancho de las Golondrinas
Jemez Springs–small town SW of Santa Fe known for its hot springs. Has 3 spas/mineral spring bathhouses. (And if you don’t want the spa treatment, the Jemez District of the Santa Fe National Forest is chock full of hot springs. Hiking in during summer or x-country skiing in during winter and skinny dipping/soaking is very popular.)
Gruet Winery–produces among the best sparkling wines made in the US. Vineyard is in TorC, but their tasting room is along the I-25 frontage road just north of Albuquerque
Many of the Pueblos open Feast Days to outsiders. You can go watch the ceremonial dances. Check the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center website for an up-to-date list and any restrictions. (No photography is allowed. The dances are often sacred religious events.) [IPCC List of Feast Days](http://www.indianpueblo.org/19-pueblos/feast-days/)