Things to Do.
Turn your visit into a long weekend to explore all the local attractions.
Here are our suggestions.
Santa Fe Plaza
The Santa Fe Plaza has it all: history, amazing shopping, museums, galleries, famed restaurants, and beautiful walking paths. You’ll definitely want to spend a few hours hours exploring the city’s central gathering place.
Canyon Road, Santa Fe
Canyon Road is an iconic art district in Santa Fe with over 80 art galleries and studios. Most galleries are open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. We recommend taking either the free Santa Fe Pick-Up shuttle to Canyon Road or walking from the Plaza if you choose to visit, as the streets are very narrow and parking can be hard to come by.
Georgia O’Keefe House & Museum
Right off the Santa Fe Plaza, the Georgia O’Keefe Museum is a lovely museum dedicated to perpetuating the legacy of Georgia O’Keefe. The museum’s collection includes over 3,000 of Georgia O’Keefe’s pieces, including 140 oil paintings, 700 drawings and hundreds of other works. The museum also runs tours of Georgia O’Keefe’s home and studio in Abiquiú, New Mexico, which is about one hour north of Santa Fe. If you’d like to visit the home and studio museum, you should book your tour well in advance through the museum’s website.
Ghost Ranch
Ghost Ranch was the home and studio of Georgia O’Keefe and is about one hour north of Santa Fe. Today, Ghost Ranch offers a wide variety of tours and trails on the property. Please be sure to plan and book in advance if you’d like to visit.
Ten Thousand Waves
Ten Thousand Waves is inspired by Japanese mountain hot spring resorts and transports you almost directly to Japan (seriously, you won’t believe you are still in New Mexico!). Ten Thousand Waves offers an amazing spa and delicious restaurant, just a few miles from the Santa Fe Plaza. We recommend visiting for a relaxing massage or soak in a private hot tub - and for a more budget-friendly option, please check out the reserved community soaking pool, which must be booked in advance. As with other attractions, we recommend booking any services well in advance of your trip to Santa Fe as Ten Thousand Waves does tend to fill up early.
Meow Wolf
Part interactive art exhibit, part wild and wonderous amusement park, Meow Wolf is hard to describe but a place you will never forget visiting. Meow Wolf has become so popular, they now have locations in Las Vegas, Denver, and Texas! We highly recommend visiting the place where it all started (did you know George R. R. Martin is an original investor in Meow Wolf?!). We also recommend booking your tickets ahead of time to avoid a lengthy wait in line on the day of your visit.
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument
Famous for its towering cone-shaped tent rock formations formed after volcanic eruptions took place six to seven million years ago, Tent Rocks is about 30 minutes south of Santa Fe. As of August 2023, Tent Rocks remains closed to the public due to COVID-19, but we recommend checking the website as our wedding date approaches to see if the monument has re-opened. When opened, Tent Rocks has amazing hiking and views.
Bandelier National Monument
Bandelier National Monument, which is about 50 minutes away from Santa Fe, protects over 33,000 acres of rugged and beautiful canyon and mesa land and is an ideal place to visit if you’re looking to hike or spend time outside. Here, you’ll find petroglyphs, dwellings carved into the soft rock cliffs, and standing masonry walls built by the Ancestral Pueblo people who lived in the area.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
If you have time, don’t miss a visit to Albuquerque (where Natalie used to live!). We recommend checking out Petroglyph National Monument, Old Town Albuquerque, Rio Grande Nature Center State Park, and Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm. There is also amazing hiking on Sandia Peak. Our wedding is taking place a few weeks before Balloon Fiesta, so you’ll likely get to see balloons ascending if you visit in the morning.
Sandia Peak Tramway
If you’d like to explore the Sandia Mountains but want to skip the hike, we recommend taking the Sandia Peak Tramway to Sandia Peak. Reaching 10,378, Sandia Peak offers beautiful views of New Mexico, several easy hiking trails, and a restaurant with panoramic views of Albuquerque. Please be aware that it can be quite a bit colder on Sandia Peak than it is in Albuquerque, so we recommend bringing a sweatshirt or jacket with you!
Taos, New Mexico
Taos is about one a half hours away from Santa Fe in the Sangre de Christo Mountains. Taos is famed for its skiing and natural beauty. If you visit we recommend checking out the Taos Pueblo, the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, and the Taos Plaza.
Turquoise Trail
The Turquoise Trail is a 50-mile-long National Scenic Byway connecting Santa Fe and Albuquerque, and is the historic route between the two cities. The route takes a bit longer to drive than the interstate highway between Albuquerque and New Mexico, but brings you through several historic mining towns and winds through beautiful piñon and juniper-dotted hills. In particular, you won’t want to miss visiting Madrid, a quirky and artistic town on the Trail about 45 minutes south of Santa Fe. You may lose cell service during parts of the route, so please plan ahead!
White Sands National Park
If you have a few extra days, we recommend you head south and check out White Sands National Park. White Sands is the world's largest gypsum dunefield and a natural wonder. If you are adventurous, there are several campsites at the park for overnight camping,. Permits are issued at the park, day of camping only.
