Day in Santa Fe
Fiesta visitors enjoy day trip to Santa Fe
If heading north to historic Santa Fe sounds fun after a morning of balloons, you are in good company. Whatever your pleasure and interests, something’s bound to be happening in New Mexico’s capital city — special events, museums, historic architecture, art, shopping, eating and even a few ghost tours.
Travel industry experts say the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is the busiest season for visitors in the more than 400-year-old City Different.
“People who come for the Balloon Fiesta are done by midmorning and they tend to come up by car or Rail Runner,” says Joe Farkas, an information specialist with Tourism Santa Fe, santafe.org.
Tourism Santa Fe spokeswoman Joanne Hudson says visitor centers saw a spike of about 1,000 additional contacts in the month of October the past two years.
Clarice Coffey, owner of Custom Tours by Clarice, an open-air tram tour of historic Santa Fe sites, says, “The 10 days of Balloon Fiesta are the busiest 10 days of the entire tourist season.” Getting there can be part of the fun. Three routes to Santa Fe offer a different perspectives, Farkas says.
Driving from Albuquerque to Santa Fe on I-25 is likely the most direct route, but traffic is likely to be heavier during Balloon Fiesta, Hudson says.
The Turquoise Trail is a scenic route that heads east on I-40 to NM 14 and then north through the mountains and villages to Santa Fe. Farkas says along with tried-and-true restaurants like the Mine Shaft Tavern in Madrid, a new Wild West-inspired eatery, the Black Bird Saloon, has opened in the village of Cerrillos, known since pre-Columbian times for its turquoise.
Many visitors take the New Mexico Rail Runner from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. Stations, most with ample free parking, are located from Albuquerque’s Downtown through the North Valley. A roundtrip day pass is $3-$11, depending on where you go and a dollar discount is available for buying online. Visit riometro.org.
Near the Depot
Arriving at the Santa Fe Depot, there’s plenty to do.
Authentic award-winning New Mexico cuisine at Tomasita’s, just steps from the train, or La Choza on the southern end of Santa Fe Railyard Park are nearby, Hudson says. And restaurants, like barbecue at Cowgirl’s, just north
and across the street, offer a variety of cuisines, all within walking distance of the railyard.
The Santa Fe Farmers’ Market has fresh fruits and vegetables as well as prepared food. It’s just south of the depot and has regular hours 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays and Tuesdays and 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays. It features an artisans’ showcase on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The market has special events on other days. Check santafefarmersmarket.com for details.
Art galleries like Site Santa Fe, TAI Modern, Blue Rain and Gallery Fritz offer a taste of the city’s venerable fine art and are also near the depot, most on Guadalupe or near it, she adds.
But if time allows for a larger exploration, a free city shuttle, the Santa Fe Pickup, is at the north end of the tracks about every 15 or 20 minutes, beginning at 6:30 a.m. weekdays, 8:30 a.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. Sundays. Service ends on all days at 5:30 p.m. Schedules for the shuttle, the city bus and other Santa Fe attractions are available at the Santa Fe Visitor’s Center kiosk inside the depot, Hudson says.
The shuttle travels to the Plaza, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, the Capitol and Canyon Road. It makes stops out to Museum Hill from the Capitol stop about every 30 minutes. The schedule is also on the city’s website, santafenm.gov.
Santa Fe Plaza
Museum Hill has more than a day’s discoveries in its museum collections and gardens. The campus features the Museum of International Folk Art, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Museum of Spanish Colonial Art and the Wheelwright Museum, along with the Santa Fe Botanical Garden.
A CulturePass, $30, allows one visit to each of the state’s museums. Although the pass is good for a year, a few days in New Mexico can make it worth the price. Admission to state museums is $7-$12. Special events and movies are additional. Most state museums are open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Check newmexicoculture.org.
However you arrive at the Plaza, the heart of Santa Fe, it’s worthy of its own day trip.
History and culture from the city’s beginnings in 1609-1610 mingle with the 21st century along every road that winds from the Plaza.
Coffey recommends a ride on one of her tram tours to get an overview of the city’s history and culture. “We take them around to the historic sites. It’s a 10-mile drive and we give them solid information.” She suggests buying a ticket in advance to insure a seat for the $18-$20 tour online, santafe custom tours. com. The tours departs from the northwest corner of the Plaza, Lincoln and Palace Avenue.
The New Mexico History Museum and the Native Americans who sell their authenticated art and jewelry along Palace Avenue represent centuries of tradition.
The pueblo-style building was the first seat of government in what was then New Spain in the early 17th century. The museum tells the story of New Mexico through the Spanish Colonial, Mexican, Territorial and modern periods.
The New Mexico Museum of Art, west on Palace Avenue, features exhibits from its extensive collections and new work.
“Horizons: People and Place in New Mexican Art” is an exhibition that runs through November, and “shows the wide and dynamic range of styles, personalities, cultures and forms that (make up) visual creative expression,” according to the museum’s website.
Hours for both museums are 10 a.m.5 p.m., with a late opening until 7 p.m. most Fridays.
Hudson says Indigenous Peoples Day, celebrated in Santa Fe on the second Monday of October, will feature Native American dancers on the Plaza all weekend, 12:30-4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6-8.
“Santa Fe is deeply proud to embrace its rich cultural diversity and the prolific and profound contributions that its first peoples brought and continue to bring to the city,” she says.
Culture, history
Although not part of the state’s museum system, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum is a few blocks off the Plaza, 217 Johnson, and features a collection of the artist’s work across her lifetime in nine galleries. Admission is $13. Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m., except Friday until 7 p.m.
Other destination-worthy sites around or near the Plaza include the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, built from 1714-1717; the Oldest Church, San Miguel Chapel, built about 1628; and the Loretto Chapel, with its mysterious floating staircase, built in 1878.
For people watchers, across the Plaza, just beyond on the southeast corner, the historic La Fonda has a great rooftop perch for a bird’s-eye view, The Bell Tower Restaurant. La Fonda features other restaurants and galleries. An inn has been on the location since the city’s beginnings.
For a little drama with history, Santa Fe historian and author Allan Pacheco offers historic and ghost tours, by appointment through Santa Fe Ghost and History Tours, santafeghostandhistorytours.com.
With 400 years of history, he has a wide variety of haunts and sightings, including Julia Staab, one of the original owners of La Posada, when it was her home. Other history that mingles with the paranormal include stories of Billy the Kid, witches or brujas in the Oldest House on East De Vargas Street and the remaining energies of Russian spies from the 1940s, who operated out of Santa Fe to gain information about the wartime Manhattan Project in Los Alamos.
“You name it, we’ve got it in Santa Fe,” he says.
Farkas says other ghost and history tours are offered as well as other specialized tours around most any interest, from chocolate and cooking to art and hiking.
Old and new
A relatively recent addition to the city’s museum and cultural offerings, Meow Wolf, 1352 Rufina Circle, in south Santa Fe, offers immersive and interactive experiences, created by artists, to transport visitors to fantasy realms, according to the website, meowwolf.com. Admission is $17-$25. Hours are 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Just south of Santa Fe, off I-25 exit 276, El Rancho de las Golondrinas (The Ranch of the Swallows), is a living history museum that interprets the Spanish Colonial, Mexican and Territorial periods of the Southwest with volunteer docents in historic dress engaged in typical ranch activities of those times.
A Harvest Festival celebrates the bounties of the farm, Oct. 6-7, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., says Amy Muñoz-Sotelo of Las Golondrinas. Harvest festivities include a burro-drawn wheel that creates syrup out of sorghum grain, a traditional cider apple press, a pumpkin field and more. All activities are included in admission, $6-$8, free to children 12 and younger.
“We are an outdoor living history museum, so people should prepare to be outside.” That means sunscreen, hats and plenty of water. Food is available at the museum, but visitors are welcome to bring a picnic, she adds.
Farkas says Santa Fe and the surrounding area has so much to offer, it’s hard to fit it all into one day or even several: “One thing people always say is they wish they had more time here.”