Santa Fe NM Road Trip

S

SpinDr

Recycles dryer sheets
Joined
May 8, 2016
Messages
162
Location
Orange County Ca
Hello everyone,

My wife and I are heading on a road trip from So Cal to Santa Fe NM in a couple of weeks. Planning a moderate drive out there with a couple of overnights including Sedona AZ, three nights in Santa Fe, and then driving back over a couple of nights.

Been looking at restaurants and sites to see via the inter-webs but looking for any input from others who have done that trip or have spent time in Santa Fe. We are pretty active, like to hike, and enjoy most kinds of foods. Any input welcome!
 
my last visit was 20+ years ago, so I can't help with restaurants, etc. but I used to like to cruise the many Indian Art galleries in SantaFe.
Santa Fe is a good starting point for daytrips to Los Alamos, Taos, etc. - I also recall a very enjoyable trip to Fort Union Monument near Las Vegas, NM (not the "real" LV...). Fort Union was guarding the old Santa Fe Trail and was a big player in the Western migration during the 2nd half of the 19th century.
 
Bandelier National Monument is worth seeing. Very cool Native American ruins and such. https://www.nps.gov/band/index.htm
Sedona IMHO is the better town. Santa Fe over the years has gotten crowded and the traffic has gotten worse. The food is still good. I trust TripAdvisor for their recommendations.
 
A day trip from SantaFe to Taos is good. As you pass by Albuquerque, may allow time to go up to Sandia Peak. There are trail hikes from there, but we did not have time to take any. Instead of driving, there's the tramway that will take you up.
 
euro said:
my last visit was 20+ years ago, so I can't help with restaurants, etc. but I used to like to cruise the many Indian Art galleries in SantaFe.
Santa Fe is a good starting point for daytrips to Los Alamos, Taos, etc. - I also recall a very enjoyable trip to Fort Union Monument near Las Vegas, NM (not the "real" LV...). Fort Union was guarding the old Santa Fe Trail and was a big player in the Western migration during the 2nd half of the 19th century.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip on Fort Union. I had not seen mention of that previously so will check it out. We like historical sites like that when we travel.
 
COcheesehead said:
Bandelier National Monument is worth seeing. Very cool Native American ruins and such. https://www.nps.gov/band/index.htm
Sedona IMHO is the better town. Santa Fe over the years has gotten crowded and the traffic has gotten worse. The food is still good. I trust TripAdvisor for their recommendations.
Click to expand...

So far Bandelier seems to be high on a lot of lists for sites to see in NM. Based on what we're reading it looks like we'll definitely need to make that a part of the trip. Thanks.
 
Santa Fe is an overpriced tourist trap. I lived in New Mexico for four years and my son lived there his entire life until his recent move to Seattle. Indian artwork is overpriced. The food can be good in some restaurants but check the reviews and make reservations. Not a lot to see in the town itself unless you like overpriced art work. There's one pretty cool chapel to see with "floating" spiral steps. I've been there many times and frankly there are better places to spend your time.
 
Perhaps you mean Carlsbad. It is further south.

Have not visited that one, but I have been inside a few caves. So, no hurry to see it. May pay a visit if an RV trek happens to take me by.
 
Carlsbad Caverns are pretty cool to visit, but they are in the southern part of the state. I remember watching the bats fly out at night to feed and the armies of tarantulas on the roads as we drove back to Alamogordo where we spent the night at a friend's home.
 
Fedup said:
Isn't there a cave or something in New Mexico?
Click to expand...

Would love to see Carlsbad cavern but due to distance may need to do that on another trip. Planning to hit spots in a radius around Santa Fe no further than approx 2-3 hours distant.
 
We loved Sedona and the back way up to Jerome is cool. Jerome is OK for lunch. We stayed over a historic saloon there. It was historic alright, I could still smell 100 year old cigar smoke.

We did stay here a couple of times. It's very nice. I recommend bringing your wallet. The restaurant was great too.

http://www.lauberge.com/
 
Don't forget to visit Madrid (mad rid) where Wild Hogs was filmed. Small town but kinda neat.
 
Last time I was there over 20 years ago, skiing. Ran across a little french restaurant, of all things, that was really neat. It was also a bakery with little frilly french pastries. I think the owners were Vietnamese and were fun people. Was getting a little burned-out on Mexican food so it was a surprising change of pace.

In the afternoon there were people selling silver jewelry around the square. They would have a blanket laid out on the sidewalk to display their wares. I bought one of my favorite pieces off the square in a pawn shop.

Neat town, cool architecture.
 
It's not for everyone but if you're into spas, there's Ten Thousand Waves just outside of Santa Fe.
https://tenthousandwaves.com/

It's up in the woods and one of the nicest places ever. It's grown a lot since my buddy and I, returning from skiing at Santa Fe ski area mistook it for a sushi restaurant but still one of the most relaxing places. Private rooms, hot tubs and massage. Very Japanese style environment.
 
Dash man said:
Santa Fe is an overpriced tourist trap. I lived in New Mexico for four years and my son lived there his entire life until his recent move to Seattle. Indian artwork is overpriced. The food can be good in some restaurants but check the reviews and make reservations. Not a lot to see in the town itself unless you like overpriced art work. There's one pretty cool chapel to see with "floating" spiral steps. I've been there many times and frankly there are better places to spend your time.
Click to expand...

I agree, as a somewhat local resident to Santa Fe (about 45 mins for me), it is nothing special and basically tourist trap. Here are what I would recommend instead:
1. Tramway up to Sandia Peak in Albuquerque. Spectacular views and you can do some nice day hiking at 10,000 ft.
2. Los Alamos has the Bradbury Science Museum
3. Albuquerque has the Museum of Nuclear Science
4. Visit Madrid (pronounced Mad-Rid, as pointed out previously) and walk around the town in the shops and galleries, eat lunch there.
5. Old Town Albuquerque is a bit touristy, but better than Old Town Santa Fe
6. Mostly around Albuquerque, but also all around NM are many very good microbreweries. Do the microbrew tour while seeing other things around.
7. Taos and around the enchanted circle towns like Red River, Eagle Nest, Angle Fire. Vietnam Veterans Memorial is in Angel Fire.

I am just not any type fan of Santa Fe, there is much better way to spend your time IMHO.

Sedona has some awesome scenery, but the town itself is just new tourist shops. Jerome is a neat little old mining town on the side of the mountain outside Sedona. X2 recommend going there. Prescott is also in the vicinity and has the old town square surrounded by "Whiskey Row" which are a bunch of the old saloons and bars. Prescott has many antique shops around the square area.
 
Last edited:
I've been to a few nice wineries around Sante Fe and Albuquerque. It also gets you off the beaten track to see some of the country side.
 
Since you are traveling on I-40, I recommend stopping at Sky City, Acoma Pueblo about 1 hour west of Albuquerque. Sky City is on a 400 ft high mesa where about 50 people live in a pueblo much as they lived hundreds of years ago. There is a shuttle to take you there and a guided tour to include the pueblo history and customs which is very interesting. Also an old mission church on the mesa and a small museum down below.

If you plan to go to Bandelier, I would do this at the beginning or end of your trip and take Highway 4 (aka Jemez National Trail Scenic Byway) all the way from or back to Albuquerque. Starting from Bandelier, you will go by the Valles Caldera Preserve (may see some elk but need a 4 wheel drive to actually take advantage of the preserve) and then the Jemez Falls campground and Battleship Rock. You can take a short hike to the waterfalls, take a steep hike up the rock, or take a two mile hike to the McCauley Warm Springs. There are also a couple of other warm springs in the area. The little village of Jemez Springs is a few miles down the road and has the Los Ojos Bar, an old western bar, and commercial hot springs. There is a ranger station and Jemez State Historical site (with some pueblo ruins) right before the village. This is a beautiful drive and one of my favorites.
 
Last edited:
If you are interested in trips off of the interstate on the way to/from Sante Fe, the farther west of Sky City, but south of I-40 is a El Morro National Monument. It would be a side trip from the highway, and is just a little place where old-timers inscribed stuff on the rocks. If you can walk OK, the top part of the monument is an Ancestral Puebloan ruins. Very pretty there.
 
I liked:
- Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
- Palace of Governors
- the cathedral with its spiral staircase
- the sculpture garden/foundry
- the architecture in general
- the High Road to Taos with its mission churches
- at Taos, the Millicent Rogers jewelry & pottery museum
- at Taos. the "earthship" homes on the bluffs west of town
- north of Taos a few miles, the high bridge over the Rio Grande Gorge
 
MRG said:
We loved Sedona and the back way up to Jerome is cool. Jerome is OK for lunch. We stayed over a historic saloon there. It was historic alright, I could still smell 100 year old cigar smoke.

We did stay here a couple of times. It's very nice. I recommend bringing your wallet. The restaurant was great too.

L'Auberge de Sedona | A Luxury Sedona Resort
Click to expand...

I have lived in Phoenix for more than 40 years, and only visited Jerome last year. It may be hard to believe, because we have been to Sedona numerous times. Sometimes, people from out of town visit local places in our backyard that we do not think of paying a visit. Go figure!
 
i have attached a copy of our trip story to Santa Fe and Taos. If you have any questions, PM me, i am glad to reply
 

Attachments

  • NEW MEXICO TOUR 2016.pdf
    857.6 KB · Views: 46
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Snowbird destinations
Replies
11
Views
787
MarcJoli
M
Earl E Retyre
Washington State road trip
2 3
Replies
51
Views
2K
skyking1
skyking1
C
Great River Road Trip
Replies
17
Views
597
cathy63
C
Chuckanut
British Columbia Travel
Replies
23
Views
870
1242Vintage
1
Zona
Dolomites in September
Replies
0
Views
157
Zona
Zona

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom