Santa Fe

An adobe art town at 2,000 meters, with the galleries of Canyon Road, Native American markets and the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, plus nearby cliff dwellings and Taos Pueblo.

Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, was founded in 1610 and is the oldest state capital in the US. At about 2,130 m, it sits at the western foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The city is known for its uniform Pueblo Revival adobe architecture and its blend of Native American, Spanish colonial and American Western cultures, and it is the third-largest art market in the country. The main areas to explore are the old town around the Santa Fe Plaza (the Palace of the Governors, the Cathedral Basilica, Loretto Chapel, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and many other museums); the galleries of Canyon Road and the historic Acequia Madre neighborhood; Museum Hill on the southeast edge of town; and the Railyard District and Meow Wolf's immersive art experience to the west. Classic day trips include Bandelier National Monument's cliff dwellings and Los Alamos; the High Road to Taos Pueblo via Chimayó; O'Keeffe's home in Abiquiú and Ghost Ranch; Pecos National Historical Park; and the Valles Caldera. Spring and autumn are the most pleasant; in Sep–Oct the aspens turn gold and the air smells of roasting green chile. Summer brings Indian Market, Spanish Market and the Santa Fe Opera season, with frequent afternoon thunderstorms; winter offers skiing, and the farolitos on Christmas Eve are especially atmospheric. Getting there: fly into Albuquerque International Sunport and transfer about 1 hour by road, or take the Rail Runner commuter train. The old town is walkable, but you'll need a car for outlying sights. Allow 3–4 days. At this altitude, drink plenty of water and wear sun protection; some museums close on Mondays in winter, and check reservation requirements for O'Keeffe's home and closure notices for Taos Pueblo.

Top sights

• Santa Fe Plaza – The city centre since the town was founded in 1610, surrounded by adobe buildings, with Indigenous artisans selling their wares under the p…
• Canyon Road – A historic street of less than one mile lined with more than a hundred galleries, sculpture courtyards and studios, and an important Americ…
• Georgia O'Keeffe Museum – The museum with the largest collection of works by American modernist painter Georgia O'Keeffe, featuring her flower paintings and New Mexi…
• Meow Wolf House of Eternal Return – An immersive art maze where you step through a fridge or wardrobe in an old Victorian house and into a fantastical multiverse.
• Palace of the Governors – The oldest continuously used public building in the United States (1610), with a Native American artisan market under its portal.
• Loretto Chapel – A small Gothic Revival chapel famous for its “Miraculous Staircase,” a double-spiral wooden staircase with no central support.
• Bandelier National Monument – Ancient Pueblo cliff dwellings carved into volcanic tuff cliffs in a canyon, where you can climb wooden ladders into thousand-year-old room…
• Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi – A Romanesque sandstone cathedral led by Archbishop Lamy, the model for the character in Death Comes for the Archbishop, and a landmark at t…
• San Miguel Chapel – Completed around 1610 and considered the oldest church in the United States, with adobe walls and an old altar screen.
• New Mexico Museum of Art – The 1917 building that set the model for Pueblo Revival architecture, housing art from New Mexico and the Southwest.
• Museum of International Folk Art – The world’s largest folk art collection, with more than 10,000 dolls and handicrafts from over a hundred countries in the Girard Wing.
• Museum of Indian Arts and Culture – A museum on Museum Hill that presents the history of Southwestern Native peoples, with fine pottery, jewelry and textiles.
• Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian – A museum designed to look like a Navajo hogan, showing contemporary and traditional Native art.
• Santa Fe Railyard – A cultural district converted from an old rail yard, with a farmers’ market, the contemporary art space SITE and the train station.
• New Mexico State Capitol – The only round state capitol building in the United States, modeled on the Zia sun symbol of Native peoples and housing a large art collect…
• Cross of the Martyrs – A white cross on a small hill north of the old town, commemorating those killed in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, with views over the city.
• Santa Fe Opera – A world-class semi-open opera house on a desert hill, where summer evening performances unfold alongside the sunset and distant thunderstor…
• Ski Santa Fe – A high-altitude ski resort only about 25 kilometers from the city, where the autumn hillsides turn into vast stands of golden aspen.
• El Santuario de Chimayó – An adobe pilgrimage church known as the “Lourdes of America,” where believers take healing “holy dirt” from a small hole.
• Ghost Ranch – The red cliffs and Pedernal Mountain that Georgia O’Keeffe painted in her later years, with trails leading to Chimney Rock.
• Bradbury Science Museum – The official museum of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, telling the story of the Manhattan Project and the birth of the atomic bomb.
• Valles Caldera National Preserve – A 20-kilometer-wide caldera formed by a volcanic eruption about 1.25 million years ago, where elk herds are often seen on the large meadows.
• Pecos National Historical Park – The ruins of a Pueblo village and a 17th-century Spanish mission church, and also a Civil War battlefield.
• El Rancho de las Golondrinas – A living history museum on the El Camino Real, a farm and stagecoach stop from the 18th century that shows rural life during the Spanish co…
• Georgia O'Keeffe Home and Studio – The adobe home and studio where Georgia O’Keeffe lived from 1945, with the Chama River Valley she painted visible from its windows.
• Ten Thousand Waves – A Japanese-style outdoor hot spring bathhouse in the pine forest, a favorite place for Santa Feans to relax, with a izakaya for dinner afte…
• Barrio de Analco & Oldest House – One of the oldest residential districts in Santa Fe, with St. Michael’s Chapel and what is said to be the oldest house in the United States…

Where to eat

• The Shed – A historic Santa Fe institution run by the same family since 1953, famous for its house-ground chili sauces and blue co…
• Tia Sophia's – An affordable, classic breakfast and lunch spot near the Plaza, awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand, which claims to have c…
• Cafe Pasqual's – A famous corner cafe opened in 1979, renowned for its organic ingredients and creative Southwestern breakfasts, and a r…
• Jambo Cafe – A Michelin Bib Gourmand bistro opened by a chef from Lamu Island, Kenya, specializing in Afro-Caribbean fusion flavors.
• Paper Dosa – A Michelin Bib Gourmand South Indian restaurant, serving crispy, thin dosas infused with local New Mexican flavors like…
• Geronimo – Housed in a 1756 adobe home on Canyon Road, this elegant restaurant is a top choice in Santa Fe for celebrating special…

Itineraries

• Northern New Mexico Adobe & Art – An Albuquerque loop via the Turquoise Trail, Santa Fe, Bandelier, and Taos, returning along the High Road.
• Route 66 Southwest Road Trip – Drive west from Tulsa along historic Route 66, passing through Amarillo, Santa Fe, and Flagstaff, ending in Las Vegas.