New Mexico is a easy trip from my home state of Colorado, but it is absolutely worth traveling farther for to see this beautiful state. On a recent spring road trip, we drove from Denver to Santa Fe, which is full of amazing restaurants, art galleries, and resorts, before heading to White Sands National Park and Las Cruces. On the way back, we stopped in Santa Fe again, but this time at a resort in the mountains outside of the city, where you can take in the high desert scenery.
Santa Fe
At the beginning of our trip, we stayed at the Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi, which is about a block from the main plaza and walking distance to many sights and restaurants. I loved this location, and the décor and the restored building that hotel is located were just beautiful. A bottle of Patron and glasses were waiting for us on the room's adorable bar cart upon check-in (thanks to booking with American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts), which we promptly sipped in front of our beautiful fireplace. Santa Fe is a high desert, and can get chilly at night even in the summer, so I loved having this amenity. The hotel also provided a small bottle of hand sanitizer and masks, which I really appreciated, and also has bikes available to be checked out.
Downtown Santa Fe
The art scene in Santa Fe is on another level, and there are very well-known exhibits to see, such as Meow Wolf and the Georgia O'Keefe Museum, but I also highly recommend walking down to Canyon Street, which is overflowing with small galleries and outdoor sculpture art. Stop for lunch on the large patio at The Teahouse before heading back.
Santa Fe Plaza is the hub of the city, and is surrounded by blocks of restaurants, bars, shopping, and amazing little alleyways and corners. If you love turquoise jewelry, Ortega's on the Plaza is an absolute must - the selection is enormous and the boutique supports local artisans - your purchase will come with a bio of the artist who created the handmade piece. The Shed is a popular stop for dinner, although reservations ahead of time are recommended. I also love to stop at the French Pastry Shop & Restaurant, which sells the most beautiful pastries and delicious crepes.
The next part of our trip was in Southern New Mexico (more detail at the end of this post), but on the way back, we decided to stay at the Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado. The Four Seasons is located in the mountains about 20 minutes outside of Santa Fe. It is a beautiful oasis in the high desert, and the views and sunsets from the hotel's restaurant patio and fire pit are stunning. This 65-room resort has a remote, small-hotel feel. The rooms, which all have private outdoor entrances, are spread out around the resort, and the small common area building has an outdoor pool, interior terrace and indoor-outdoor restaurant and bar overlooking the mountains. At sunset the large firepit even has smores (which seemed to be directed at children lol, but hey, I like smores too!). There is also a nice, well-marked trail around the resort, and there is a guided group hike every morning, but we decided to go later on our own. Given its location, there are plenty of outdoor activities to choose from, but if you'd rather lay by the pool and have a spa day, it is perfect for that as well.
We had a beautiful patio and partial mountain view from our room as well. Many of the rooms are grouped together (there were 4 rooms in our building), and some are completely separate. Our room was large, and equipped with a wood burning fireplace and heated floors in the bathrooms, which was perfect for cool nights.
White Sands National Park
White Sands may be my favorite National Park I've visited to date. It is so unique and uncrowded - and put on a show with one of the best sunsets I've seen in a long time. White Sands is the largest gypsum dune field in the world, and was only recently made a National Park in 2019! From Santa Fe, the park is about a 4 hour drive. Due to the different lighting, I really wanted to see the dunes in the daytime and at sunset - during the day, the dunes look bright white with blue mountains behind them, and at sunset, they reflect the most beautiful pastel colors.
We arrived at around 4pm so that we could hike one of the trails and have plenty of time to watch the 7:20pm (in April) sunset. There are multiple trails of varying difficulty, and we chose the Alkali Flats trail, which is the longest in the park, and is a five mile loop. This trail is difficult, so be sure to read and understand all warnings before attempting. Since there is no real trail, the "trail" is marked by wooden stakes painted red (each trail has a different color). You will need to hike to the stake, and then find the next stake in the horizon before continuing on. I had read that the stakes can sometimes get blown over in the wind and are hard to find - we thankfully didn't have this issue, but if I couldn't see the next one, I would have turned around. Once you are out on the trail, it is very easy to lose your sense of direction. This trails requires hikers to climb up and down steep dunes, and there is absolutely no shade. Definitely keep this in mind - bring plenty of water and sun protection if you decide to hike this trail. I also underestimated the wind and the fact that your shoes will constantly fill up with sand. That being said, gypsum does not heat up in the sun and stays very cool to the touch, so it felt amazing to take the occasional barefoot break! The trail's halfway point takes you out to a flat area, which is a part of the nearby missile range, and should not be entered (you will see a sign denoting this). All in, this trail took us about 2 hours, but was way more difficult than I was expecting. I thought the views were best about 30-45 minutes into the trail when hiking the loop clockwise (go left to the first red stake rather than right at the beginning of the trail), so if you do not want to hike for 2+ hours, you may choose to hike out 30 minutes and come back rather than completing the entire loop. There are also other easier trail options - we did not hike any of the other trails, so I am not sure how they compare as far as views go, but I believe the dunes are largest in the Alkali Flats trail area. Also, to give you an idea of how uncrowded this park was, we did not see one single soul on this trail for the entire 2 hours!!! It was a little unnerving at times to be completely honest!
Once we were almost back to the parking lot, we found a dune all to ourselves to watch the most beautiful sunset - the colors completely change in the park at dusk, and I highly, highly recommend that you catch a sunset (or sunrise!) when visiting. It was so incredible serene, and my favorite moment of the entire trip! After sunset, you will need to exit the park by closing time, as they do lock the gates. Hours change by season, and you can check these before you go here. It is also important to note that the park closes temporarily for missile testing for a few hours at a time, and it is important to check these closures before you go here.
Gotta hike up this dune!!
After leaving White Sands National Park, we drove about an hour to Las Cruces, New Mexico and stayed the night at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces. This is a great option that is not too far from the park. The pool looked adorable, although we didn't have a chance to use it as we were continuing on to Tucson and Saguaro National Park in the morning. Overall, we enjoyed our time in New Mexico so much, and loved how off the beaten track it felt compared to some of the other more common Southwestern U.S. road trip itineraries. Nothing like a pandemic to help you remember how fun road trips can be!
Comments