Santa Fe should be on everyone’s bucket list. A truly unique American city, Santa Fe’s adobe architecture, thriving arts scene, intensely deep blue skies, and wonderfully flavorful food make it a perfect spot for a long weekend visit. Or stay for longer and do some day trips. There is a lot to love about this city and the region.
In no particular order, here are some great things to do when in Santa Fe:
1. Enjoy Strolling the Streets
Santa Fe is a very walkable city. Ideally, you should stay in a hotel or Airbnb within easy walking distance of the historic downtown. A car isn't necessary for most of your visit and you can readily walk through the historic district, to the Canyon Road art gallery district, and the Rail Yard district of town. Work off that New Mexican food you will be enjoying and get some steps in!
The Plaza is the heart of Santa Fe—a central park bound by the Palace of the Governors to the north. Find a thriving indigenous market under the colonnade of the Palace of the Governors, explore Burro Alley, browse the shops (don’t miss the Rainbow Man courtyard), visit the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, explore the many shops and plan your next meal.
2. Eat some Delicious New Mexican Food
Roasted green chiles are one of the secrets to the amazing food you will find in Santa Fe and the region. The New Mexican chile pepper is a formal category of chile peppers and is grown in places such as Hatch and Chimayo. When ordering food in a Santa Fe restaurant, you may get asked, “Do you want red or green?” (meaning which type of chile do you want on your dish). Reply with “Christmas”, and you will get half green and half red chile sauce and can determine which you like best. For more information on the delicious and addictive green chile see this article in Eater.
Some of my favorite places are:
The Shed or La Choza: Classic New Mexican at these very popular restaurants. The trick is actually getting a spot in one of these sister restaurants.
Market Steer Steakhouse: be ready for some serious delicious meat-eating. Start with the “The Standoff” beef bacon vs pork bacon or the roasted bone marrow. Then choose your steak or fish with a sauce flight. Don’t miss the green chile risotto and sauteed asparagus for your sides.
Tia Sophia’s: Old-school Santa Fe comfort food. Go for a filling breakfast burrito and be set until dinner.
Paloma: The patio is a wonderful spot to enjoy refined tacos and wonderful margaritas
Santarepa Café- Great for lunch, this informal eatery has amazing arepas and other Venezuelan dishes such as empanadas at a great value. Also, don’t miss the tres leches cake!
3. Santa Fe Farmer’s Market
Speaking of roasted chiles, follow your nose to the railyard farmer’s market to buy freshly roasted chiles, fresh produce, and baked goods. My photos from ten years apart show the same guy roasting chiles at the market. Stop by Matt Romera’s roasting barrel to see him expertly roasting the chiles, sharing a smile and story, and enjoy the delicious smells.
Supporting only local growers and makers, the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market is open on Saturday mornings year-round. Probably the best lunch I’ve ever had was gathered from vendors at the farmer’s market. With a bag of freshly roasted peppers, some fresh goat's milk cheese, and a baguette, we headed to Museum Hill to enjoy our delicious sandwiches.
4. Georgia O’Keefe Museum and/or Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe has plenty of options for arts fans, including the popular Georgia O’Keefe Museum and the world-class Santa Fe Opera
Explore Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings and learn about her creative process in this popular museum. The museum will soon be under-construction and reimagined as the “O’Keefe”. The new museum will be built on the education site, and the current museum will remain open throughout construction.
5. Museum Hill
Located just over 2 miles southwest of the Santa Fe Main Square is a group of 4 museums and the Santa Fe Botanical Gardens that is referred to as Museum Hill. The quirky Museum of International Folk Art is our recommendation. The collection contains 130,000 examples of fold and traditional arts from around the world, in other words, this is an amazing and bizarre collection of souvenirs, bric-a-brac, tchotchkes, and mementos.
Other museums on the “hill” are the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, and Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian.
6. Drink in the Deep Blue Skies
Santa Fe has an altitude that is higher than Denver. The dry and clean air contributes to the deep blue skies that are more intense than most other blue skies you’ve seen. With 325 sunny days per year, the odds are pretty good that you will have great weather. Admire the contrast between the light-colored adobe and the bright blue skies. There is a reason this place attracts so many artists.
7. Canyon Road Art Galleries
Stroll along Canyon Road and admire over 80 galleries, many of them have sculptures in the yards or courtyards. This half-mile stretch loaded with galleries is easy walking distance from downtown Santa Fe. We've stayed at an Airbnb along Canyon Road and it was an ideal location and really enjoyable to stroll this art-filled street every day.
8. Meow Wolf
The popular kid on the block is Meow Wolf. I wish I had done some research on this place before we went, and it would have been more enjoyable. So I’m going to share what I wish I had known beforehand. I expected there to be some sort of orientation or information and there wasn’t any context given, just directions to find restrooms. I think our expectations would have been better aligned if they had told us just a few things such as:
Despite what you may read, this is not an art museum. It’s a cross between a funhouse and an escape room with over 70 rooms to explore.
You can work to find clues and solve the mystery -- House of Eternal Return has a storyline based on the fictional Selig family, who disappeared after experimenting with interdimensional travel by tapping into a mysterious force known as "The Anomaly" in an effort to bring back deceased family members.
OR you can just relax and enjoy the funky experience and immersive environments. (I recommend this unless you have a lot of time to dedicate to this place)
Solving the mystery is likely impossible with just one visit. It’s not as simple as an escape room.
You may experience a sensory overload with sounds, lights, small and dark spaces.
Avoid busy times and try to visit when it just opens or end of the day.
It’s not a linear experience, but if you are looking for clues, start with the mailbox by the front porch.
9. Enjoy the sunset (and HH) from a rooftop patio/bar.
Coyote Cafe Cantina Enjoy a spiced horchata or a variety of margaritas at this favorite rooftop bar. Snacks and food are available as well.
Bell Tower Bar The best place to watch the sunset is on top of the historic La Fonda hotel. Closed for the season on October 30th
10. Day Trips to Bandelier National Monument and Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos or Petroglyph National Park and Albuquerque.
We enjoyed some dramatic views and hiking through the rugged canyons of Bandelier National Monument. The petroglyphs and dwellings carved in the soft rock cliffs are the stars of the show at Bandelier. We also saw several tarantulas (smallish) that cured my arachnophobia when I realized how afraid of us they were.
The Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos has interactive exhibits that follow the history of the WWII Manhattan Project and highlight the National Laboratory’s current and historic research projects. Learn about how scientists secretly worked on the technology behind the first atomic bomb and consider how it was possible to keep something like this a secret in 1943 and compare that to today.
The Petroglyph National Monument features numerous Native American and Spanish settlers petroglyphs from 400-700 years ago. The volcanic rock landscape provides a fertile ground for the carvings.
And some tips:
Getting there: You can fly into either Santa Fe (SAF) or Albuquerque (ABQ), with more options into ABQ. There are several shuttle services, Sandia Shuttle Express and ABQ Express Shuttle, as well as the New Mexico Rail Runner commuter train. See here for more info.
The best time of the year to visit Santa Fe is in the fall- between September and November or May. Santa Fe can get quite warm in the summer and cold in the winter, with snow and lows in the teens at night.
Festivals: Santa Fe has a lot of festivals---whether you seek them out or want to avoid the crowds, make sure you know what is going on and plan accordingly. https://www.santafe.org/visiting-santa-fe/must-see-events/
Alburquerque is worth a stop too: Albuquerque is just a little over an hour away from Santa Fe and is well known for its International Balloon Fiesta in early October.
Spas: We’re not spa-people, but it would be a mistake not to mention that Santa Fe is a popular destination for those seeking relation, rejuvenation, and massages. List of spas here.
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