Santa Fe Things to Do, Santa Fe Vacation - 2

Museums

Even with a population of just 144,000 in the entire county, Santa Fe is home to many world-class museums. The New Mexico History Museum, which opened in May 2009, is a perfect starting point for visitors who seek an enjoyable, interactive introduction to this unique part of the Southwest. Located directly behind the Palace of the Governors, its permanent exhibit, “Telling New Mexico: Stories from Then and Now” covers six broad time periods. It presents a panorama starting with the ancient Native American tribes that flourished before the arrival of Europeans and ends with the social movements and changes of recent years.

Also downtown Santa Fe museums are: the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, which houses a collection of exquisite works by one of the greatest painters of the 20th century, who made New Mexico her home; the Museum of Fine Arts, devoted to works by New Mexico artists, which also houses St. Francis Auditorium, where many concerts of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival are given during the summer; and the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, opposite St. Francis Cathedral, which presents great contemporary Native American works. 

On a bluff along Camino Lejo a short drive from the Plaza are four more great museums. The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture holds a wide-ranging, lovely collection of works from ancestral Puebloans who lived at Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde all the way to present-day artists in clay, painting, handicrafts and sculpture. The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art features works of folk art, retablos, santeros and other elements from the period of Spanish contact.

 

• Built in 1917, the New Mexico Museum of Art is the oldest art museum in the state.

Chris Corrie

The Museum of International Folk Art is a large collection of international pieces. The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian has a fine collection of artworks by Navajo and other tribes as well as a wonderful gift shop designed as a trading post.

Performing Arts

Every summer, the Santa Fe Opera, a handsome protected but open-air venue located on a hillside with a spectacular view just north of town, features internationally known vocalists and a top-notch orchestra performing five operas (usually at least one of them a premiere) in repertory.

 

• The partially outdoor Crosby Theatre is the home of the Santa Fe Opera.

Robert Reck

The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, from mid-July through late August, features world-renowned soloists who perform at the auditorium in the Fine Arts Museum and the lovely restored Lensic Performing Arts Center, originally built in 1931, also near the plaza.

Hiking and the Outdoors

The city’s Dale Ball Trail system is a network of excellent hiking and mountain biking trails that begin within the city limits just a short drive from the plaza. High above town in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains a half-hour drive from downtown is Ski Santa Fe!, a complete downhill skiing area during the winter months, with 660 acres of runs served by six lifts. In the summer, numerous trails in Hyde Memorial State Park beckon hikers and mountain bikers.

 

• The Santa Fe Railrunner is a fast and affordable way to travel between Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

Mona_Q

Transportation

December, 2008, saw the Santa Fe Depot in the Railyard become the terminus for the New Mexico Rail Runner, which transports commuters and tourists from Albuquerque and towns to the south of it in handsome, double-decked railcars with a bright red and yellow stylized bird beak logo emblazoned on the side (the roadrunner for which it is named is the official state bird).

The Railrunner offers visitors a scenic, cheap way to travel to and from Santa Fe from the Albuquerque Sunport (connected to the downtown Albuquerque rail station by a free shuttle bus) without renting a car. It costs adults $6 (seniors and students $4, children under 10 free) for a one-way trip and makes several roundtrips every day except Sundays.

The Santa Fe Depot is the starting point as well for the Santa Fe Southern Railway, a set of vintage locomotives and cars that runs between the Lamy depot and Santa Fe. The old railcars make the 18-mile journey in four hours roundtrip on selected days, and also do special events, including a Friday evening “High-Desert Highball” run with a complimentary bar and a Sunday Barbeque run.