The 13 best things to do in Santa Fe

A blend of Native American, Spanish, Mexican and American influences makes Santa Fe one of the most culturally and historically significant destinations in the United States, with roots stretching back thousands of years. Its adobe-style buildings now hold cutting-edge galleries, inviting shops and innovative restaurants, while its museums, markets and festivals celebrate tradition alongside contemporary experiences.

Come to explore the art scene, browse handcrafted jewelry or wake up your tastebuds with some chile-inflected cuisine, and be sure to make time for these top things to do in Santa Fe.

1. Visit the railyard

At the revitalized Santa Fe Railyard district, farmers, makers and artists from all over gather year-round to sell everything from goat cheese to hand-blown glass. There is also a movie theater and a park with an outdoor stage that hosts live music throughout the summer.

2. Walk the plaza

The Plaza is the literal and figurative heart of Santa Fe. Door-to-door galleries, shops, restaurants, museums and historic locations line every street adjacent to this site on the National Registry of Historic Places. The richness of cultural identity in Santa Fe is on full display in its preserved adobe architecture, fabulous public art and local dishes.

3. Meet artists near the Palace of the Governors

Under the covered walkway known as the portal along the south side of the Palace of the Governors, Native American artists representing 41 tribes, Pueblos, chapters and villages in New Mexico, the Navajo Nation and parts of Arizona sell handmade jewelry and art almost every day of the year.

Before the creation of formal markets in the 20th century, the Palace of the Governors portal was a marketplace for produce, game, pottery and basketry. Today, there are different artists daily, regulated by the Portal Committee, which outlines rules to emphasize authenticity and traditional materials.

4. Gallery hop along Canyon Road

Santa Fe’s reputation as a community of artists extends back generations. Gallery hopping along Canyon Road is a fun, free way to see all the types of art Santa Fe has to offer, from classic Western scenes to cutting-edge current work. With over 100 galleries along this single stretch, you can easily spend a day wandering down this length of the city.

5. Try some chiles

Vegan, fusion, tapas, tamales – no matter what you order, the Santa Fe food and beverage scene is the best in the Southwest. Arrive early to chow down at colorful La Choza, which is worth the wait. Or dig into Cafe Pasqual’s huevos motuleños, made with feta cheese and sautéed bananas. Almost anywhere you go, red or green chiles get involved in some fashion.

6. Watch the sunset from a rooftop bar

La Fonda’s rooftop bar is arguably the best place in the city to watch a legendary Santa Fe sunset. On almost any evening, the sky comes alive with electric orange and ribbons of gold that fade into neon pink, blush and purple before filling with twinkling stars.

7. Go tequila tasting

A Santa Fe institution since 1950, Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen has more than 100 margaritas, tequilas and other drinks to accompany its excellent menu of traditional New Mexican food. If you can’t decide which cocktail to try, the house special margarita, made with authentic agave tequila and triple sec, is a bestseller.

8. Explore Museum Hill

Art history is as important to the creative scene in Santa Fe as the avant-garde work that the city proudly displays. A quick drive from the Plaza is Museum Hill, where it is easy to spend an entire day taking in the priceless collections within the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Museum of International Folk Art, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian and Museum of Spanish Colonial Art. Special exhibits are always on display and worth planning for.

9. Visit MoCNA

For a singular Santa Fe experience, check out the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) on the Plaza – the only museum dedicated to collecting and exhibiting contemporary Native art in the US. Owned by the Institute of American Indian Arts, the collection holds 9000 works by Indigenous artists from 1962 until the present.

10. Attend an art festival

Santa Fe hosts art markets year-round, drawing thousands of visitors. The annual Santa Fe Indian Market attracts over 150,000 people to the Plaza and surrounding neighborhood for an extended weekend including a juried art show, gala, auction, fashion show and more. It is the largest Indigenous art show in the world and features work from at least 1200 artists.

December sees the more scaled-down Winter Indian Market. Other annual events include the International Folk Art Market and the arts and crafts market during the Fiesta de Santa Fé.

11. Picnic at the open-air opera

Founded in 1956 by a formerly New York–based conductor by the name of John Cosby, the Santa Fe Opera is an open-air venue 7 miles north of Santa Fe, surrounded by high desert piñon and sweeping vistas. Local lore has it that Cosby and his acoustician friends fired rifles around the nearly 199 acres of their newly acquired ranch until they found the ideal location.

Planning tip: In Santa Fe’s full Paris meets Wild West meets Haight-Ashbury style, operagoers arrive at the dirt parking lot early with champagne, wine and elaborate picnics for an evening of good old-fashioned white table cloth tailgating.

12. Dance like nobody’s watching

If there’s one thing Santa Feans love to do it’s dance like they’re alone in their bedroom, and as a visitor, it can be one of the most liberating experiences you’ll have. Catch a free summer performance at the Santa Fe Bandstand at the Plaza, Latin music at El Farol or live rock ‘n’ roll at Evangelo’s. Or grab dinner and a dance at Cowgirl BBQ.

13. Go down the rabbit hole at Meow Wolf

Back in the day, if you’d told the dreamy kids of Meow Wolf who trying to make rent and cling to their ideals that their art collective in a run-down building would eventually become an immersive experience that fills an abandoned bowling alley, with additional locations in Denver and on the Vegas Strip, they’d have said you were tripping. Now it is visitors who book early for one the wildest rides in town.

With 120,000 sq ft open for exploring, touching and climbing, the scope of the journey is really up to you. The centerpiece of the complex is The House of Eternal Return, a permanent installation where you can easily imagine what Alice felt like when she chased the rabbit – totally lost but in the most magical way.