Santa Fe’s Adobe architecture, art, food, unique culture, biking, skiing, and beautiful weather makes it a joy to visit. Founded sometime between 1607 and 1610, Santa Fe was established around the same time as Jamestown, Virginia, and about a decade before the Pilgrims set foot on Plymouth Rock. It's the second oldest continually inhabited town in the US, behind St. Augustine, and the oldest capital, beating Boston by about twenty years.
The way we often experience it is through camping in the mountains and dropping down to the city to sample the culture. The campsites are in the lush green mountains and in Spring are filled with so many wildflowers that you can wake up to a burst of color every morning. Close by the hiking offers amazing views and you may even attract the plant that inspired Velcro to your clothes. Each time we have visited, we have encountered owl researchers camping next to us and continue to expand our knowledge of the diversity of these birds of the Southwest that soothe us to sleep. To clean up while camping consider booking a spa day at the many spas nestled in the hills.
The town of Santa Fe has such a strong sense of place that walking around town, hearing the church bells ring to their beat, and absorbing the architecture, churches, murals, public sculpture, and chili shops, is enough to fill to do for an entire trip. Although there is so much more. The plaza typically has festivals to experience performances from local dance schools or you can copy the moves of break dancers. Sometimes the firefighters and vice squad will park around the square and invite children to explore the gear in their vehicles.
When planning a visit, if you're into art and culture like we are look up the exhibitions at the various museums throughout town and sample the galleries along Canyon Road. In the center of town right off the plaza you will find The New Mexico History Museum in the Palace of the Governors, a National Historic Landmark built in 1610. Here you will learn about the cultures of New Mexico’s native peoples, the Spanish colonial occupation and the Santa Fe of the modern-day. A few blocks away the New Mexico Museum of Art highlights established and emerging artists that portray the environment and culture of the Southwest. Block out several hours for Museum Hill. Here you will find two museums that share a huge plaza, The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and The Museum of International Folk Art our favorite museum in America. If you think you will be visiting several museums, consider purchasing the Culture Pass.
For more art and some play drive over to the Railyards where you can experience small galleries, the art at the teen center, and Railyard Park. At the park there is a Labyrinth for walking meditation and well-designed kids’ playground. The red surfaces are the perfect blank slate for chalk drawing.
Bring your bike and use it around town, on the El Camino, or on the many trails that surround the city. If you like riding in the desert, there are plenty of flat trails and you will channel some Georgia O’Keefe animal skull and cactus filled landscapes.
Sample many of the mom-and-pop, uniquely Santa Fe Mexican restaurants which experiment with a blend of flavors from the diversity of peoples that formed Santa Fe. Make a list of the restaurants that you want to sample, and don't forget to try the different types of chilies and honey-soaked Indian fry bread sprinkled with cinnamon.
For a special treat, visit the town during the burning of Zozobra, and rid your worries away and witness the original Burning Man.
While in Santa Fe we might plan day trips to El Santuario de Chimayo for some of their famous healing dirt or explore the wonders of Taos to the North, or the kitsch of Albuquerque to the South. However, we always gravitate back to Santa Fe as our base.
No matter how much time we spend in Santa Fe, one week or two we never want to leave.
