This 400-Year-Old Adobe City Is One of the Best Travel Getaways in the American Southwest

Santa Fe, New Mexico

If you’re tired of basic beach vacations and overcrowded tourist traps, Santa Fe is the low-key cultural powerhouse you need in your life right now. The green chile will blow your mind. The art and history scene is ridiculous.

And with 300+ days of sunshine per year and prices that won’t make you cry, this high-desert paradise might 100% deserves the #1 spot on your travel bucket list this year.

The Largest Native American Art Market Takes Place in Santa Fe Plaza

Every August, over a thousand Indigenous artists from more than 100 tribes gather in Santa Fe Plaza. Eight-time Best of Show winner Lonnie Vigil displays his traditional micaceous clay pottery alongside contemporary paintings worth up to thousands of dollars.

Over 120,000 visitors explore booths filled with Zuni inlay jewelry and modern artwork that incorporates LED lights. Grammy-winning Native musicians perform throughout the two-day event, while food vendors serve traditional blue corn dishes that have been passed down through generations.

Over 120,000 visitors explore booths filled with Zuni inlay jewelry and modern artwork that incorporates LED lights. Grammy-winning Native musicians perform throughout the two-day event, while food vendors serve traditional blue corn dishes that have been passed down through generations.

The Loretto Chapel Features a Mysterious Self-Supporting Staircase

The Loretto Chapel houses a spiral staircase from 1878 that defies basic engineering principles. It turns twice in a complete circle without any central support, using only wooden pegs instead of nails.

Visitors can examine the 33 steps, which were made from a type of American spruce wood no longer found in the area. Even Smithsonian engineers have studied this architectural puzzle but cannot explain how the staircase stays standing without a central column.

Meow Wolf’s Art Installation Lets Visitors Step Into Different Dimensions

A former bowling alley now holds 70 connected rooms of interactive art. Author George R.R. Martin invested $2.7 million in this 20,000-square-foot space created by local artists.

You can walk through a working 1950s refrigerator into a Victorian house filled with hidden portals. Each room uses sensors and RFID technology to respond to your movements, while telling the story of a family that vanished into other dimensions.

The Santa Fe Opera’s Outdoor Theater Combines Music With Mountain Views

The opera’s open-air theater sits 7,000 feet high on an old guest ranch. Its clever design keeps 2,128 seats cool with mountain breezes while protecting them from sudden storms.

Many guests arrive three hours early to have champagne picnics with views of the Jemez Mountains and golden eagles overhead. The $2.5 million lighting system works with the natural sunset, adjusting its cues to match exactly when the sun goes down each night.

Ten Thousand Waves Brings Japanese Hot Springs to the Mountains

This 20-acre spa merges Japanese bathing traditions with New Mexico’s wilderness at 7,800 feet elevation. Eight private outdoor hot tubs use natural mountain spring water and are surrounded by 200-year-old juniper trees.

Japanese master builder Koji Nakamoto designed the buildings using traditional methods without nails, while meeting local building rules. The gardens blend Japanese maples with native piñon pines, creating a unique high-altitude landscape.

The Chile Line Trail Preserves an Important Railway Route

A 3.5-mile path follows the old railway line that moved millions of pounds of New Mexican chile peppers from 1880 to 1941. Seven original railway pieces, including the old water tower that served steam engines, still stand along the trail.

Students grow all 22 types of chile that were once shipped on these tracks. Water stations built to look like old railway buildings offer both still and sparkling water, while signs with QR codes play recordings of former railway workers sharing their stories.

Native American Artists Sell Authentic Crafts at the Palace of the Governors

Seventy-five Native artists sell their work under the 400-year-old porch of America’s oldest public building still in use. Each seller must prove their tribal membership and show how they make their crafts to expert judges before getting permission to sell.

This program started in 1972 and requires artists to make everything they sell by hand. They must also track where they get materials like turquoise and silver, ensuring visitors buy genuine Native American art.

Four World-Class Museums Share One Hill

Museum Hill holds four museums containing over 130,000 artifacts on its 17 acres. The Museum of International Folk Art alone shows 130,000 pieces from more than 100 countries.

The gardens between museums grow 75 types of desert plants native to the area. Native American sculptures line the walking paths, and the café serves dishes inspired by the museums’ collections, including recipes from artist Georgia O’Keeffe’s personal cookbook.

Ancient Cliff Homes at Bandelier Are Open for Exploration

Just 45 minutes from downtown, you can climb wooden ladders into homes carved into volcanic cliffs by people who lived here in the 1100s. These caves still have their original blackened ceilings and smooth stone floors polished by centuries of use.

Park rangers lead special evening tours to see rock paintings that only show up during certain astronomical events. The soft volcanic rock provided perfect conditions for carving these multilevel homes.

Santa Fe Clay Hosts an Active Ceramic Arts Community

This workshop in the old railway district houses working artists and the Southwest’s largest collection of pottery kilns. Visitors can watch professional potters work and try techniques themselves in guided workshops.

The facility has three special wood-fired kilns and brings master potters from five continents to its yearly conference. During monthly raku firings, artists pull glowing pottery from 1,800-degree kilns at night.

Art Galleries on Canyon Road Open Early for Morning Tours

More than 50 galleries along historic Canyon Road open at 8 AM every Friday for quiet morning visits. Gallery owners show new artwork while serving coffee from local roaster Ohori’s and traditional cookies made from old family recipes.

The morning light on adobe walls creates perfect conditions for photography. With fewer visitors around, you can have in-depth conversations with international artists and watch them work in their studios.

Traditional Water Channels Still Work After 400 Years

Since 1610, Santa Fe has used Spanish-style irrigation channels called acequias. Thirteen of these channels still work today, managed by local families who follow traditional laws and elect leaders called mayordomos to control water flow.

Every spring, community members clean these channels using traditional tools, just as their ancestors did. Visitors can walk along marked paths next to the channels, which feature old cottonwood trees and handmade water gates.

The Ski Resort Offers Views From Desert to Mountain Peaks

Ski Santa Fe’s trails run from desert views up to 12,075 feet elevation. The resort has 77 runs spread across 660 acres, with seven lifts taking skiers through old-growth pine forests.

Thanks to New Mexico’s 310 sunny days per year, you can often ski in a t-shirt and eat green chile cheeseburgers on the sunny deck of the base lodge at 10,350 feet. The mountain gets about 225 inches of snow each year.

A Living History Ranch Shows Life in Colonial New Mexico

El Rancho de las Golondrinas spreads across 500 acres with 34 historic buildings that show how people lived in the 1700s. People in period clothing demonstrate old skills in original colonial buildings brought here from across northern New Mexico.

The ranch has the Southwest’s only working water-powered flour mill. Visitors can learn historical crafts like cooking in outdoor adobe ovens, dyeing wool with local plants, and blacksmithing with old tools.

The Institute of American Indian Arts Presents Modern Native Performances

A 140-acre theater showcases new works by Native writers, musicians, and dancers. The building uses traditional materials like buffalo hide and cedar to create perfect acoustics for both old and new instruments.

Recent shows have included virtual reality powwows and modern dances that use computer-captured movements from historical Native dances. The Institute focuses on helping Native artists blend traditional art forms with new technology.