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New Mexico: Travel Guide for Santa Fe, the City Different

Pauline Kenny

Steve and I have lived in Santa Fe since 1990. We LOVE Santa Fe. It is a small enough town (50,000 population, 70,000 for the county), but has lots going on because it is a popular tourist town. Summers can get a bit overrun with tourists and people with summer homes, but it is still a nice time here.

Weather

This is a high altitude mountain town. Think more like Colorado than southern Arizona. Snow in winter, late springs, lovely summers, lovely autumns. It is usually cold at night, even in the summer. 300 days of sunshine a year!! The best time to visit is May, June, August, September, October.

Spring: The irises and lilacs come out in May. Trees bloom then too. Our first planting date is May 15; you can get frost at night up until then. Apricot trees bloom in April, but the buds are frequently killed by a late frost or even snow. May and June are perfect months. Cool at night, 70s - 80s during the day. (But, June 2006 was very hot!)

Summer: July can be hot. In 2005 it was in the upper 90s for a month. In 2006 the 90 degree weather came early, in June. This is unusual; usually it is only that hot for a week or two. The eastside of Santa Fe has lots of Apricot trees and the fruit ripens mid to late July. The monsoon season starts late July, into August (starting early July in 2006). It will be beautiful all day long, but then cloud over late afternoon with big lightening storms, rain and even hail. End of August and September are perfect weather.

View from the Dorothy Stewart trail looking south towards St. John's College and the Galisteo and Sandia mountains beyond

Fall: October is lovely too, but by the end of the month it is turning colder. One year we had over a foot of snow on October 21. It took a week to melt, then we had lovely sunny days until December. The Aspens turn gold at higher altitudes in early October, the cottonwoods turn gold in town in late October. By November the leaves have fallen and it is getting cold. Still it is sunny and is warm mid day.

Winter: In December we get snow and have fires going in the evening. There is usually snow for Christmas. In January through April, it can be sunny and wonderful or it can be overcast and snowing. If it snows, it frequently melts by noon. At this time of year we do our walks mid-day, when it is warmest. By June we have to finish our walk by 10am or it is getting too hot.

"Train wheels runnin' down an open track, In my mem'ry time to take me back
Are you goin, are you goin', To Santa Fe"
- - Santa Fe, Van Morrison, Wavelength - -

A Few Notes about Santa Fe

Santa Fe is on a mesa at 7000 feet altitude. Expect to notice the altitude change when you come to Santa Fe if you live closer to sea level. One drink hits you like three. You may be out of breath when you walk. Your nose may bleed slightly from the dryness. The effects usually don't hit right away but, if you move here, they can last for a couple of months.

We have beautiful sunsets and frequently a huge moon rising up over the Sangre de Cristos. At sunset the mountain turn purple. This is a high altitude dessert, in the Pinon and Juniper belt. It is not lush, but we do have lots of native trees and flowers. Most people do not have "regular" lawns, but more scruffy yards of native grass and wildflowers.

We don't have many bugs; not many mosquitoes, not many fleas. We do have rattlesnakes and hanta virus and you can get bubonic plague here still. Don't touch mouse droppings (hanta virus) or squirrels (plague).

This is a dog town, everyone seems to have dogs. It is also an outdoors town, with people out walking and running in the neighborhoods, hiking on the trails.

Orienting Yourself

Santa Fe is located up against the mountains - the Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) - part of the Rocky Mountains. The mountains are to the east. The wide open mesa with the Rio Grande running down the middle is to the west. North is towards Espanola and Taos, south to Albuquerque. You can see Los Alamos and the Jemez Mountains to the west.

The street Paseo de Peralta circles the center of Santa Fe. It is on the north, east and south sides; Guadalupe completes the circle on the west. The interstate (I-25) is at the southern edge of town. Take Old Santa Fe Trail or St. Francis from the interstate to downtown. Cerrillos is a busy road and not fun to drive. It is full of hotels, fast food restaurants, strip malls.

Hotels

The hotels in the downtown or eastside area are the best, and the more expensive.

Inn of the Anasazi: A Small Luxury Hotel, one of the best hotels in town.

La Fonda: Right on the plaza, an older hotel.

Inn on the Alameda: Nice looking smaller hotel a few blocks from the plaza, on the eastside near Canyon Road.

La Posada: Great location, recently renovated. A few blocks from the plaza on the eastside.

Alexander Inn: Good looking B&B on the eastside.

www.santafeinns.com: Santa Fe Inns of Distinction - several small hotels.

www.santafehotels.com

www.all-santafe.com/hotels.html

Vacation Rentals

See the  Slow Travel Vacation Rentals Listings for lists of agencies and places.

Restaurants

Many of the good restaurants in Santa Fe are either in the downtown area, near the Plaza, on Guadalupe between Alameda and Montezuma or on Canyon Road.

Restaurant Guides

Eat, Drink Santa Fe; The City's 50 Best Restaurants, by Michelle Pentz Glave (Santa Fe New Mexican's food critic). A great new restaurant guide published in 2003. You can get it at local bookstores. I highly recommend this restaurant guide.

www.santaferestaurants.net: The official Santa Fe Restaurant Association dining guide.

My Suggestions

Here are a few places that we like to go to.

Pasquals: Downtown on Don Gaspar at Water. Best breakfast in town, served until 3pm (vegetarian options). Good for lunch. Dinners are good, but more expensive.

Plaza Restaurant: 54 Lincoln Avenue, on the plaza in the center of town. This restaurant has been on the plaza for a long time, but it changes with the times. It still has an old diner feel, but the food is very good. Mexican food, American diner food, and vegetarian selections.

Mu Du Noodles: 1494 Cerrillos, coming from downtown it is on your left several blocks before St. Michaels and across from the Indian School. Great Asian food (vegetarian options). Fresh fish.

Kasa Soba: On Agua Fria, but park behind in the Sanbusco parking area at the back of Borders. Good Asian food (some vegetarian options) served like Japanese tapas. They have many types of small dishes, plus sushi. The food is good, but expensive. They have a wonderful select of top quality Sake by the bottle.

Il Vicino: 321 W. San Francisco Street, park off Guadalupe, north of San Francisco Street. Pizza (vegetarian options). Outdoor seating. www.ilvicino.com

Pizza Etc: In the DeVargas mall. Good pizza to eat there or take out. Delivery available. www.pizzaetc.com

Gabriels: On the highway leaving town north towards Espanola. Pass the opera, pass Camel Rock (the rock and the casino), then look for it on your right. Good Mexican food, guacamole made at your table, good margs (vegetarian options).

Bumble Bee's Baja Grill: 301 Jefferson at Guadalupe, between Alameda and Paseo de Peralta. Great, inexpensive Mexican food (vegetarian options). Eat in or drive thru!! www.bumblebeesbajagrill.com

El Farol: 808 Canyon Road, near Monte Sol. This restaurant and bar have been in Santa Fe forever - or as long as week have been here. The food is very good - Spanish tapas with good vegetarian selections. Great bar with live music some nights. Excellent Margs. www.elfarolsf.com

A recent column by Pancho Epstein in the New Mexican (August 2003) recommends Felipe's Tacos on St. Michaels at Llano for the best burritos in town. 1711-A Llano St. in St. Michael's Village.

We have several upscale restaurants in town that are expensive, but very good: Santa Cafe, Coyote Cafe (Mark Miller restaurant), Geronimo are the ones we like.

Our Favorite Coffee Shops

Santa Fe has some great cafes. In the summer we walk out most mornings for coffee and bagels at one of these two.

Downtown Subscription: In the eastside at Garcia and Acequia Madre. Parking lot in front. Be careful of on-street parking; don't park where there are "no parking" signs because they will ticket you. This is a very popular, neighborhood, coffee shop, the place we love to hate, but we all still go there. Why? Because everyone goes there. There was new management as of Spring 2006 and it was better for awhile, but now it is sliding back to the same as before. There can be a long line on weekends, the outdoor seating consists of cheap plastic chairs and tables, sometimes in August there are flies, you are not allowed to smoke in the outside area but people do (including the staff). The coffee is very good (dark roast is my favorite) if it is fresh (mornings are your best bet) and you get one free refill. A great place to people watch; it seems like all of Santa Fe passes through Downtown each day. Newspapers and magazines from the US and Europe.

Downtown Subscription, coffee and magazines, east side

Sage Bakehouse: Northeast corner of Cerrillos and Paseo de Peralta. The best bakery in town has an area with seats (indoor and outdoor) where you can have coffee and muffins or sandwiches. Locally owned.

The Tea House: 821 Canyon, across from El Farol. A nice tea house with a great selection of teas, and light meals. Indoor seating in an old adobe house (some weird chairs), nice outdoor seating.

The Santa Fe Baking Company: On Cordova across from the Wells Fargo bank. Nice indoor seating. Outdoor seating is okay, but on the parking lot. Good food.

The Aztec: On Aztec, off Guadalupe. Great small cafe that serves a younger and more hip crowd.

Starbucks: In DeVargas Mall beside the Office Depot. There is also one downtown and one out towards Villa Linda.

Spas

There used to be just Ten Thousand Waves, but more places have been cropping up. Here are a few of them.

Ten Thousand Waves: 3451 Hyde Park Road, on the way to the ski hill just outside of town. Outdoor private hot tubs, communal hot tub, and spa. The setting is beautiful and so is the Japanese style main building. You change in the main building, then follow paths outside up the hillside to the hot tubs. They are surrounded by trees and pretty fencing and decking and are very private. This is a lovely place. www.tenthousandwaves.com

La Posada: 330 East Palace Avenue. Hotel with spa. One of "The Leading Hotels of the World" group. laposada.rockresorts.com

Absolute Nirvana: 106 Faithway Street, downtown near the La Posada. Tea room and spa. www.absolutenirvana.com

Grocery Stores

Whole Foods: This opened in Santa Fe a few years ago and was very popular from day 1. It is on Cerrillos, south of Guadalupe and Paseo de Peralta. The parking could be better. The best whole foods selection in town. Great deli.

The Marketplace: 913 West Alameda, west of St. Francis, in the Solana Center (outdoor strip mall). Formerly the original, locally owned, natural foods store in Santa Fe, but now part of  La Montanita Coop. You can find locally grown produce here. www.lamontanitacoop.com

Kaune Food Towne: 513 Old Santa Fe Trail at Paseo de Peralta. A small, locally owned grocery store. Pronounced "Connie".

Farmer's Market: In the railyard area off Guadalupe, near Paseo de Peralta. Saturday and Tuesday mornings in spring-summer-fall. Buy direct from the farmers.

Albertsons: We have a new, deluxe, Albertson's in the DeVargas Mall (Paseo de Peralta and St. Francis - north side of downtown).

Sage Bakehouse: Northeast corner of Cerrillos and Paseo de Peralta. The best bakery in town with freshed baked bread, muffins, the best croissants in town, sandwiches. Locally owned.

Shops

Santa Fe has several independent bookstores and two large Borders (one in Sanbusco, on near Villa Linda mall).

Garcia Street Books: On Garcia at Acequia Madre. This is our favorite bookstore. Great selection of fiction and nonfiction. Locally owned. It is beside Downtown Subscription (coffee shop, newspapers, magazines).

The Travel Bug: On Paseo de Peralta between Alameda and Palace. A great travel bookstore. Locally owned.

On Your Feet: In Sanbusco. Great selection of more "sensible" but still nice looking shoes. Very poor customer service, more like what you would expect from a discount shoe store, but there are no discounts here.

The Runners Shop: On Montezuma, just east of Guadalupe. Everything for runners. Locally owned.

Optical Shop of Aspen: 201 Galisteo, downtown. Expensive, very expensive, but the best selection of eyewear I have ever seen.

Hiking

The best book is "Day Hikes in the Santa Fe Area" by the Santa Fe Group of the Sierra Club. You can buy this book locally. Trails are sometimes closed during fire season, June and July. When the monsoons start in end of July to August, do your hikes in the morning, before the afternoon rains.

Short Trails on the Edge of Town

Dorothy Stewart Trail: Park on Camino de Cruz Blanca, up past St. John's College. Before you get to the Wilderness Gates you will see 4 parking spots on the right. If these are taken, go another 1/4 mile to the Wilderness Gates and there is more parking there (I usually turn around there for the Dorothy Stewart spots). This is parking for both Dorothy Stewart and the Atalya Trails. If all is full, go back to St. John's and you will see a large parking lot beside the road for hikers. This is a 45 minute easy hike with some good uphill and views over the city. This trail is exposed - hike in the morning in the summer.

Dale Ball Trails: This is a new set of trails close to town. They start just off the Ski Hill road (Hyde Park Road) and go across to Canyon Road and to the Dorothy Stewart Trail. We like to park in the lot off Hyde Park at Sierra Del Norte and hike the trails there. You can do an easy one hour hike, or make it longer to two hours. This trail is exposed - hike in the morning in the summer.

Old Reservoir Trail: Take Upper Canyon Road until the pavement ends, turn left on the main road, then right into a parking area. From here you can do an easy (very easy - not much climbing) one hour walk around the old reservoir.

Audubon Center Trail: Take Upper Canyon Road until it ends, but continue on the dirt road. It ends at the Audubon Center. Park and do this very easy, flat 30 minute walk in a beautiful open meadow. (They ask for payment for the trail - a box where you can donate money.)

Scenic Drives in Town

Santa Fe is a beautiful town to explore. The eastside is very historic and worth walking or driving through as much as you can. Explore all of downtown. Walk or drive the length of Canyon - this is the oldest street in town and is now filled with art galleries.

Here is a nice Eastside drive:

- From Downtown, take Paseo de Peralta to the start of Acequia Madre (east of Old Santa Fe Trail).

- Follow Acequia Madre east. You pass Garcia Street with Downtown Subscription and Garcia Street Books.

- Keep going on Acequia Madre until you get to a stop sign where you have to turn right. Turn right, then take the next left.

- Go straight at the stop sign at Monte Sol. You are on Acequia Madre again.

- Right on Don Miguel. This whole area is full of old adobe houses mixed with newer houses built in the old style.

- Left on San Acacio. Follow this to the end at Cabra. Left on Cabra.

- In one block at the 4 way stop, right on Upper Canyon. This is a beautiful road full of many very old adobe houses.

- Take this until the end, turn left on Cerro Gordo. If you go straight, it is a dirt road for less than a mile to the Audobon Center. There is a very easy and flat trail there. (At the left on Cerro Gordo, you see the parking for the Reservoir Trail.)

- Cerro Gordo goes over the Santa Fe River (which is usually dry) and turns left to go back along the other side of the river. You are higher up here and have good views. Look for the house made from stone on the left as you get closer to town.

- At the stop sign for Gonzales, go straight.

- Cerro Gordo ends at Palace. Turn right and follow this back to town.

Scenic Drives out of Town

- We like the drive to Chimayo, to the church with the healing dirt.

- The high road to Taos, through Chimayo, Cordova and Truchas is a good drive. Come back on the main road.

- Highway 14 south of town to Cerrillos and Madrid is fun.

- The drive south of town to Lamy and Galisteo is beautiful.

- The drive north towards Espanola, then west to Bandalier is beautiful. Bandalier is worth a day trip.

- South of town to Tent Rocks (National Monument). Beautiful drive and a lovely one hour hike.

There are many more wonderful drives and areas to explore near Santa Fe. The guidebooks will have more information.

Birding

If you want to do a birding tour, contact Bill West at Wings West Birding Tours. We have not done one of his tours, but we know Bill and he is a great guy. His birding tours were recently written about in the local paper. home.earthlink.net/~wingswestnm

Other Important Things

Santa Fe is on Mountain Time and goes on Daylight Savings.

NPR: 89.1 and 89.9 both out of Albuquerque. All Things Considered is on 89.9 at 5:30 - 7:00.

The Santa Fe New Mexican is the city newspaper (morning). Many people also read the Albuquerque Journal.

The Reporter is the local weekly paper available for free around town (comes out on Wednesday).

TV shows are an hour earlier than east and west coast.

Music About Santa Fe

"One and one-half wandering Jews, Free to wander wherever they choose, Are traveling together, In the Sangre de Cristo, The blood of christ mountains, Of New Mexico, On the last leg of the journey, They started a long time ago, The arc of a love affair, Rainbows in the high desert air, Mountain passes slipping into stones, Hearts and bones"
- - Hearts and Bones, Paul Simon - -

"The last time I saw Alice, She was leaving Santa Fe, With a bunch of round-eyed Buddhists, In a killer Chevrolet."
- - Enough to be on Your Way, James Taylor, Hour Glass - -

"Train wheels runnin' down an open track, In my mem'ry time to take me back
Are you goin, are you goin', To Santa Fe"
- - Santa Fe, Van Morrison, Wavelength - -

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