Day Trips

During your Santa Fe stay, take some time to discover the magnificent landscape and diverse cultures surrounding the city. The following Day Trips in 5 Directions from Santa Fe reveal sights and scenery in northern New Mexico that will take your breath away.

Visit ancient Indian ruins and traditional pueblos, high mountain towns and sleepy valley villages, 19th-century mining areas and the majestic red rock country captured on canvas by Georgia O'Keeffe, one of America's greatest painters. See the collapsed crater of a volcano that erupted a million years ago and the living legacy of Los Alamos, where scientists from around the world secretly created the first atomic bomb during World II's Manhattan Project. Marvel at Taos Pueblo's multi-storied architecture built more than a thousand years ago and the Victorian architectural gems of the "other" Las Vegas.

You'll be following in the footsteps of Pueblo ancestors, Spanish settlers, fur trappers, mountain men and American pioneers as you explore these fascinating scenic roads and byways near Santa Fe, in the heart of northern New Mexico.

1. WEST ON THE JEMEZ MOUNTAIN TRAIL: A round trip of about 160 miles
Head north on US 84/285 to Pojoaque, then west on NM 502. Visit San Ildefenso Pueblo, where potter Maria Martinez lived and worked, and Santa Clara Pueblo, across the Rio Grande on NM 30. Both pueblos continue to produce excellent pottery. Continue on NM 502 to NM 4 and drive to Tsankawi Mesa and Frijoles Canyon, two separate locations of Bandelier National Monument, for self-guided tours of remarkable ruins once occupied by ancestors of the Pueblo Indians.

Take NM 4 to Los Alamos and visit the Bradbury Science Museum to learn about the making of the atomic bomb and current research at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Continue on NM 4 to the Valle Grande, one of the world's largest calderas formed when a volcano crater collapsed one million years ago. Next you'll arrive at the town of Jemez Springs, where you can soak in public tubs at a bathhouse built during the Victorian era. NM 4 continues past the Jemez State Monument, which displays ancient Indian ruins, and the Jemez Pueblo's Walatowa Visitor Center. Follow NM 4 to NM 44 and drive south to Bernalillo, stopping at the Coronado State Monument to see where Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and his soldiers set up winter camp in 1540 during their search for the fabled Cities of Gold. Return to Santa Fe via I-25 north.

2. NORTHWEST TO GEORGIA O'KEEFFE COUNTRY: A round trip of about 250 miles
Explore the red rock country that artist Georgia O'Keeffe loved by driving north on US 84/285. Follow US 84 when it splits off near Española. Keep your eye out for Pedernal, the towering, flat-topped mesa that appears in many of O'Keeffe's paintings. The artist's adobe home in the tiny town of Abiquiú is open for tours, but reservations are required and should be booked well in advance. Farther north on US 84, you'll find Ghost Ranch, where O'Keeffe used to stay during summer months. Now a conference and retreat center, Ghost Ranch offers great hiking trails open to the public by permission obtained at the retreat center.

For more recreational fun visit nearby Abiquiú Lake, where you can swim, boat and fish, and Echo Amphitheater, a natural echo chamber made of sandstone. Head north on US 84 to Heron Lake and the Brazos River, both popular trout fishing spots. Then drive to Chama, where you can climb aboard a steam train and ride narrow-gauge tracks into southern Colorado on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.

For a picturesque return trip, follow U.S. 64 east from Tierra Amarilla to Taos. This remote road, periodically closed in winter, takes you through the San Juan Mountain Range and across the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, dramatically suspended 650 feet above the Rio Grande. You can explore Taos before driving south on US 68 to Española, where you'll head back to Santa Fe on US 84/285 south.

3. NORTH TO TAOS: A round trip of about 165 miles
Head north on US 84/285 and turn right on NM 503, which you'll take to NM 76. Follow NM 76 to Chimayó, a traditional weaving village with galleries featuring work by award-winning weavers. Here you'll find the 19th-century Santuario de Chimayó, known as the "Lourdes of the Southwest" because it attracts thousands of pilgrims seeking the "miraculous dirt" on church property rumored to have healing powers.

Continue on NM 76 through Cordova, Truchas and Ojo Sarco, all towns with great galleries selling woodcarvings, pottery, rugs and other local arts and crafts. In Las Trampas, an 18th-century mission church is one of New Mexico's best-preserved examples of Spanish Colonial architecture. Pick up NM 518 at Peñasco and wind your way through the Carson National Forest to US 68 at Ranchos de Taos, where you'll see the famous San Francisco de Asis Church, photographed and painted by many artists. Drive into Taos and explore museums, galleries, shops, restaurants and the historic Taos Pueblo.

Head back to Santa Fe on NM 68 following the Rio Grande as it drops dramatically from a broad mesa into a narrow canyon. River rafters and kayakers are often on this part of the river, where several miles of churning waters offer thrilling rides. Visit Embudo, a historic railroad stop, then drive through farmland dotted with roadside stands offering seasonal chile, fruit and other locally-grown foods before you turn south on US 84/285 at Española and return to Santa Fe.

4. EAST TO LAS VEGAS: A round trip of about 186 miles.
Head northeast on I-25 and exit at Pecos National Historical Park to explore the ruins of Pecos Pueblo and a Spanish mission church. This is also the gateway to the Pecos Wilderness, a hiking and fly-fishing paradise. Back on I-25, drive to Las Vegas, once a major trading center on the Santa Fe Trail and then a bustling railroad town. Today, more than 900 buildings are in the National Register of Historic Places and antique stores, shops and restaurants surround the historic plaza. Visit the City of Las Vegas Museum to learn more about the area's history, including the role local residents played in the Spanish-American War as part of Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders.

Take NM 518 north to Storrie Lake. You can fish, swim and boat at this reservoir before driving on to La Cueva, where the raspberries are ripe for picking in August and September at the Salman Ranch. Continue on 518 to Mora and visit the Cleveland Roller Mill Museum, housed in a restored flour mill powered by water. About a hundred years ago, the mill helped build this region's reputation as New Mexico's breadbasket. Today, alpaca and llamas graze the fields and clothing made from their wool is produced here. Head into the mountains along 518 then take NM 75 to Peñasco where you'll pick up NM 76 (part of the High Road to Taos). Follow NM 76 to US 84/285 and turn south to return to Santa Fe.

5. SOUTH ON THE TURQUOISE TRAIL: A round trip of about 150 miles
From Santa Fe, drive south on NM 14, known as the Turquoise Trail. A National Scenic Byway, this trail takes its name from the gemstone that Indians, then Spaniards, Mexicans and Americans mined in this region for centuries.

Stop first at Cerrillos, once a central part of the Old Spanish Mineral Developments in the Southwest. Turquoise plucked from mines here ended up in Spain's crown jewels. By the 1880s, Cerrillos was a major mining town, producing gold, silver, lead and zinc and enough money to keep 21 saloons and four hotels in business. Today, the small town's dirt streets are lined with historic adobe and western buildings that have served as settings for numerous Western movies. Down the road lies Madrid, once a booming coal-mining town famous for its Christmas light displays and minor league baseball games held in the first lighted stadium in the West. After coal use declined, Madrid became a ghost town until the 1970s, when artists revived it with galleries, studios, restaurants, music concerts and even the annual holiday light display.

Continue south on NM 14 to the tiny town of Golden, established in 1925 during the first gold rush west of the Mississippi. Start your ascent into the Sandia Mountains at San Antonito, where NM 536 takes you up Sandia Crest. At an elevation of 10,678 feet, you'll get some jaw-dropping views of Albuquerque and the Rio Grande Valley. Drive back down and visit Tinkertown Museum, filled with hand-carved miniature figures and wacky Western memorabilia. Then follow NM 14 south to I-40 and drive east to NM 41. Head north on NM 41 to Galisteo, an historic adobe town populated largely by artists. Follow NM 41 to 285 near Lamy. Take 285 north to I-25 south to return to Santa Fe.

This is only a small slice of what there is to see and do in Northern New Mexico. For more information and a way to order a state Vacation Planner check the New Mexico Department of Tourism site.

• Turquoise Trail
• Indian Pueblos
• El Rancho de las Golondrinas
• State Parks, Museums and Monuments
• More northern New Mexico information