Santa Fe passed an ordinance in 1957 requiring new building in the historic district to follow the Spanish-Pueblo or Territorial style: adobe or adobe-look walls, flat roofs, projecting vigas, earth-toned stucco. It has been enforced ever since, which is why a city of 90,000 people looks the way it does and why there is no glass tower anywhere near the Plaza.
It is also the oldest state capital in the United States, founded in 1610, and it sits at 2,130 metres, which is higher than Denver and high enough that visitors notice on the first evening.
The Plaza and Canyon Road
Two places matter and they are ten minutes apart on foot.
The Plaza is the centre: the Palace of the Governors with the Native American vendors selling under its portal, the cathedral, the museums and the restaurants.
Canyon Road is a half-mile of adobe houses converted into around a hundred galleries, walking uphill from the eastern edge of downtown. It is the second-largest art market in the country by some measures and it is best walked in the late afternoon.
Everything you want is inside the triangle those two make. Stay outside it — out on Cerrillos Road, where the chain hotels are — and you are driving into a town that is at its best on foot.
The eight below are grouped by that.
On the Plaza
Within a block or two of the centre.
Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi occupies a building constructed in the 1990s to look four centuries older, with hand-carved doors, a serious Native American art collection and the best restaurant in New Mexico. It is the finest hotel in the state and it is half a block from the Plaza.
Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi
Half a block off the Plaza · 5★ · $$$$
Hand-carved doors and the best restaurant in New Mexico
Check availabilityLa Fonda on the Plaza sits on the Plaza itself on a site that has held an inn since 1607, with a rooftop bar, a lobby full of painted glass and folk art, and a scale and noise level that comes with being the town's crossroads.
La Fonda on the Plaza
The Plaza · 4★ · $$$
An inn has stood on this corner since 1607
Check availabilityInn & Spa at Loretto occupies a building beside the Loretto Chapel with its miraculous staircase, a spa and rooms overlooking the cathedral. It is two minutes from the Plaza.
Inn & Spa at Loretto
Beside the Loretto Chapel · 4★ · $$$
Two minutes from the Plaza with a spa
Check availabilityHotel St Francis sits a block off the Plaza in a 1920s building with a restrained interior and the quietest rooms in the centre.
Hotel St Francis
A block off the Plaza · 4★ · $$
Restrained 1920s interior and the quietest central rooms
Check availabilityEldorado Hotel and Spa occupies a large site a few minutes west with a spa, a pool and the most complete facilities downtown.
Eldorado Hotel and Spa
Downtown · 4★ · $$$
Rooftop pool and the most complete facilities in the centre
Check availabilityCanyon Road and the east side
Uphill from the centre, among the galleries.
The Inn of Five Graces occupies a compound of five houses at the foot of Canyon Road, filled with Tibetan and Central Asian antiques, with a spa and a room count in the twenties. It is the most unusual hotel in the American southwest.
The Inn of Five Graces
Foot of Canyon Road · 5★ · $$$$
Five houses filled with Central Asian antiques
Check availabilityLa Posada De Santa Fe, a Tribute Portfolio Resort & Spa sits on the east side with adobe casitas, kiva fireplaces, a spa and grounds that put it a walk from the galleries and the Plaza both.
La Posada De Santa Fe, a Tribute Portfolio Resort & Spa
East side, near Canyon Road · 4★ · $$$
Adobe casitas with kiva fireplaces on walkable grounds
Check availabilityOutside the city
Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado Santa Fe occupies a hillside site fifteen minutes north with casitas, a spa and views across to the Jemez and Sangre de Cristo ranges. It is the quietest option and it requires a car.
Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado Santa Fe
Tesuque, north of the city · 5★ · $$$$
Hillside casitas facing two mountain ranges
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The chain hotels along Cerrillos Road are excluded. They are cheaper, they have parking and several are perfectly comfortable, and they sit on a commercial strip fifteen minutes from a historic centre that is the entire reason to come.
What to do
Walk Canyon Road late in the afternoon when the light is on the adobe, and go into the galleries rather than looking through the windows.
Do the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, then drive an hour northwest to Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch, where she painted, which is the better half of that experience.
The Museum of International Folk Art on Museum Hill is the one visitors skip and it holds a collection of extraordinary scale.
Eat New Mexican, which is not Tex-Mex and not Mexican. Order a dish with red or green chile, or both, which is called Christmas and is the state question.
Drive the High Road to Taos through the mountain villages, which is a full day.
Practical notes
Santa Fe has a small airport with limited connections. Albuquerque is an hour by road and has the range.
September and October are the best months, with the Santa Fe Indian Market in August and the opera season in July and August both filling the town. Winter is cold, snowy and beautiful, with skiing twenty-five minutes above the city.
At 2,130 metres the altitude is real. Drink more water than usual and go easy on the first evening.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Santa Fe Hotels
Questions people actually ask
Is Santa Fe walkable?
The Plaza, the museums and Canyon Road are, over about a mile with some uphill. Beyond that you need a car.
Is the altitude a problem?
For some people on the first day. It is higher than Denver and the air is very dry.
When is the opera?
July and August, in an open-sided theatre in the hills north of town, and it is one of the better opera experiences anywhere. Book early.
How many nights?
Three. Four with Abiquiu or the High Road to Taos.