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Santa Fe, New Mexico
The City Different
A world-renowned travel destination unparalleled in richness of history, heritage, arts and culture. You'll be nestled in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the foothills of the Rockies, immersed in natural beauty, with an average of 300 days of sunshine and blue sky. The average temperatures in May are 72/42° F (25/5° C). Come and prepare for your perfect stay in Santa Fe.
You'll see for yourself why Santa Fe has been named one of the country's healthiest cities, best places to live and top travel destinations.
History
Thirteen years before Plymouth Colony was settled by the Mayflower Pilgrims, Santa Fe, New Mexico, was established with a small cluster of European-type dwellings. It would soon become the seat of power for the Spanish Empire north of the Rio Grande. Santa Fe is the oldest capital city in North America and the oldest European community west of the Mississippi.
While Santa Fe was inhabited on a very small scale in 1607, it was truly settled by the conquistador Don Pedro de Peralta in 1609-1610. Santa Fe is the site of both the oldest public building in America, the Palace of the Governors and the nation's oldest community celebration, the Santa Fe Fiesta, established in 1712 to commemorate the Spanish reconquest of New Mexico in the summer of 1692. Peralta and his men laid out the plan for Santa Fe at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the site of the ancient Pueblo Indian ruin of Kaupoge, or "place of shell beads near the water."
The city has been the capital for the Spanish "Kingdom of New Mexico," the Mexican province of Nuevo Mejico, the American territory of New Mexico (which contained what is today Arizona and New Mexico) and since 1912 the state of New Mexico. Santa Fe, in fact, was the first foreign capital overtaken by the United States, when in 1846 General Stephen Watts Kearny captured it during the Mexican-American War.
In 2008, Santa Fe began a three-year commemoration of the 400th anniversary of its founding. Various special events are planned during the celebration.
Things to Do
You'll be amazed by the array of things to do and see in Santa Fe.
Santa Fe has dozens of historic sites where you'll encounter thousands of years of rich history, from ancient Native American ruins to Spanish Colonial churches, mining towns and remnants of America's Wild West frontier days.
Take a walking tour of Santa Fe's diverse architecture, ride a vintage train car into high-desert country, or peer into deep space on an astronomy adventure. Learn about the spirits that haunt Santa Fe on a ghost walk and meet the many birds of our region on a birding tour. Trek through mountain wilderness with a friendly llama or ride a horse or a Harley into the sunset.
You can meander through fragrant lavender fields, explore nature trails at a National Audubon Society center, or take a road trip through some of the most dramatic scenery on the planet.
Because Santa Fe is one of the country's hottest art markets, the city is fertile ground for all kinds of work as well as sophisticated shopping. Hundreds of galleries host openings and exhibits year-round and studio tours take place throughout the year. Museums regularly exhibit new shows of work done in the Southwest as well as traveling shows from around the world.
Santa Fe has a museum for just about everybody, toddlers and teens included. With more than a dozen state and private museums to choose from, you can experience the rich blend of history, arts and cultural heritages that make our city so distinctly different.
Begin by exploring New Mexico's compelling history at the Palace of the Governors, the country's oldest continuously occupied building. Just a few steps from the Palace you'll find the New Mexico Museum of Art (formerly the Museum of Fine Arts), with impressive collections of work by early Santa Fe and Taos artists as well as changing exhibits of work by contemporary artists. Take some time to go to the only museum in the country devoted solely to a woman artist (Georgia O’Keefe).
Another interesting place to see is the Loretto Chapel with its miraculous spiral staircase which has 33 steps, makes two complete 360° turns, has no center support and is put together with wooden pegs rather than nails.
If cuisine is your thing, there are more than 200 restaurants with a variety of international foods being offered. Where else in the country can you find an official state question that relates to food? "Red or green?" refers to the kind of chile you'd like served over enchiladas, chile rellenos or other staples of New Mexican fare. If you decide to taste New Mexican food, remember that not all chile is hot, ask your server.
Shopping in Santa Fe takes you on an odyssey, into charming historic buildings filled with treasures handmade and hard to find anywhere else. Whether you're looking for fashion or furniture, cowboy boots or concho belts, salsa or silver and turquoise jewelry, you'll find that and so much more in this shopper's paradise of Southwest specialties as well as wonders from around the world.
Whether your interests are history or hiking, art or shopping, there is something for everyone in Santa Fe.
More information on what to do and see in Santa Fe can be found at the Santa Fe Convention & Visitors Bureau webpage at www.santafe.org
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