Best things to do in Santa Fe

Palace of Governors

Visitors should start their sightseeing in Santa Fe where it all began on the city's historic central Plaza. It's dominated by the adobe structure known as the Palace of the Governors, the oldest public building in the United States. The palace was built in 1610 as Spain's seat of government for what is today the American Southwest. It still bears the scars of having survived Indian revolts and occupation and Mexican Independence; it was later occupied by Confederate forces when they attempted to take New Mexico. Fittingly, in 1909 the building was converted into the Museum of New Mexico and is now the principal of Santa Fe's four museums, preserving 400 years of the state's history from the 16th century Spanish explorations through the frontier era to modern times. Exhibits range from a stagecoach and kitchen utensils to paintings on bison hide and a state seal made from spoons, quills and tacks.

Website www.palaceofthegovernors.org

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Dedicated to the work of artist Georgia O'Keeffe, the museum opened in 1997, eleven years after the death of the artist, who loved the state of New Mexico. Since then the museum has welcomed more than 1.3 million visitors, who come to view the works of one of the most important artists of the 20th century. Georgia O'Keeffe was a leading member of one of the avant-garde art movements in New York in the 1920s, creating art that expressed wideness and wonder. She featured the high deserts and dramatic cliffs of New Mexico frequently in her work. The Santa Fe museum is located in a former Baptist church and contains a permanent collection with more than 130 O'Keeffe paintings, drawings and sculptures, making it the largest concentration of her work in the world. It's also the first American museum ever devoted solely to a major female artist.

Website www.okeeffemuseum.org

Loretto Chapel

Although the Loretto Chapel on the Old Santa Fe Trail is no longer used for worship, it remains a place of congregation, mainly for tourists who come to marvel at the chapel's 'miraculous' spiral staircase. The chapel, copied from Sainte-Chapelle Church in Paris, was completed in 1878 to serve as chapel for the Sisters of Loretto's school for young women. When the building was close to completion, workers discovered the design had not left sufficient room for the proposed staircase to the choir loft. The only answer appeared to be a cumbersome ladder, which was not an attractive proposition for the Loretto sisters who decided to pray about the problem to St Joseph. Their prayers were answered in the form of a carpenter riding a donkey, who arrived and offered to build a spiral staircase. He accomplished this with only a saw, hammer and T-square, manufacturing a miraculous staircase, which is held aloft by no visible means of support.

Website www.lorettochapel.com

El Rancho de las Golondrinas

The 'Ranch of the Swallows' (El Rancho de las Golondrinas) was originally a ranch founded in the early 1700s, but today offers an entertaining and educational attraction about 15 miles (24km) south-east of Santa Fe's central Plaza. The ranch was once the last stopping place on the thousand-mile El Camino Real (Royal Road) between Mexico City and Santa Fe. It has been fully restored as a living village with costumed villagers portraying life in early New Mexico. The first weekend in June brings the Spring Festival, and the first weekend in October is devoted to a Harvest Festival, highlighted on the ranch calendar. Other special events include a Rennaissance Festival and Wine Festival. Every day visitors can explore the hacienda, village store, schoolhouse, chapels, kitchens, and other buildings on the ranch, pet farm animals, and watch operations in the working molasses mill, blacksmith shop, shearing and weaving rooms, and winery.

Website www.golondrinas.org

Taos

The laid-back mountain resort town of Taos, about 70 miles (113km) north of Santa Fe, is in the centre of New Mexico's most sparsely populated region, and serves as a popular ski resort in winter and artist's colony all year round. Aside from the slopes, the main attraction at Taos is Taos Pueblo, the largest of northern New Mexico's Indian pueblos, where life has changed little since ancient times. In the town, which sits between the majestic peaks of the Rocky Mountains and the deep Rio Grande Gorge, the old Spanish plaza is full of shops and museums and an unusual community who live in half-buried houses and reject materialism. The arts scene is particularly lively, and there are some excellent restaurants. Some of the diversions on offer include llama treks, hiking, biking and white-water rafting.

Website www.taos.org

Santa Fe

Things to do in Santa Fe

Palace of Governors

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Loretto Chapel

El Rancho de las Golondrinas

Taos

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Palace of Governors

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Loretto Chapel

El Rancho de las Golondrinas

Taos