Santa Fe

Santa Fe sits on a high desert plateau far from any coast, so a beach is not part of a stay here. In summer, locals swim in reservoirs such as Abiquiu Lake, about an hour north, or float stretches of the Rio Grande, but these are outings rather than beach days. For most visitors, swimming means a hotel pool.

Eating in Santa Fe centres on New Mexican cooking, a cuisine of its own built on red and green chile, blue corn, posole, carne adovada and sopaipillas with honey. The standard question at the table, red or green, is part of the experience, and the autumn smell of chile being roasted outside markets and shops is part of the season. Old adobe dining rooms around the Plaza serve these classics, and the city also has a fine-dining tier that is unusual for its size, often mixing Southwestern ingredients with modern cooking.

The Santa Fe Farmers' Market in the Railyard is one of the oldest in the country and is worth a morning. Beyond its own cuisine, the range is limited. There is little street food, international choice is thin, and the scene is small. It suits visitors curious about a regional cuisine more than those looking for variety.

Founded as a Spanish colonial capital in 1610, Santa Fe has kept the look of a low adobe town, with earth-coloured walls, wooden vigas and portals around the central Plaza. The Palace of the Governors, among the oldest public buildings in the United States, lines one side of it. Nearby are the Cathedral Basilica of St Francis, the San Miguel Chapel and the Loretto Chapel with its spiral staircase.

The museums are better than the city's size would suggest. Museum Hill groups the Museum of International Folk Art, which holds a huge collection, with museums of Native American art and culture. The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum sits downtown, and Canyon Road is lined with galleries in old adobe houses. Everything is modest in scale, and two or three days covers it well.

Santa Fe is an early-evening town. A night out usually means a long dinner, then a margarita or mezcal in a hotel bar or a bar with a rooftop view of the sunset over the Jemez Mountains. There are a few local bars and breweries around the Railyard, and summer evenings on the Plaza feel livelier, but clubbing barely exists and the streets are quiet well before midnight. Visitors who want a big night out drive an hour to Albuquerque.

Santa Fe sits at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and the high country starts almost at the city's edge. Trails leave from the edge of town into piñon and juniper foothills. The road up to the ski area climbs to aspen and spruce forest, where autumn turns whole slopes gold, and beyond it lies the Pecos Wilderness, with peaks above 3,600m. In winter the same ski area offers skiing less than an hour from the Plaza.

To the west and north the landscape turns into desert badlands and mesas. Valles Caldera, a huge volcanic crater with grassland and elk, is about an hour and a half away. The Rio Grande Gorge offers rafting in spring and summer, and the canyons around Abiquiu have the red cliffs Georgia O'Keeffe painted. The light, dry air and big skies make even short walks memorable, though the altitude and summer heat call for an early start.

The country around Santa Fe holds a long list of places to visit. The High Road to Taos passes through old Spanish villages such as Chimayo, with its pilgrimage church, and Truchas on the way to Taos, about an hour and a half away. There, Taos Pueblo, a World Heritage Site, has been lived in for about a thousand years. Bandelier National Monument has cliff dwellings cut into canyon walls, and Los Alamos tells the story of the atomic age.

There is more in other directions. Pecos National Historical Park preserves a pueblo and a mission church, Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch are O'Keeffe country, and the Turquoise Trail runs through the old mining villages of Madrid and Cerrillos. Several living pueblos welcome visitors on feast days. Albuquerque's Old Town is about an hour and a half away on the Rail Runner train, but almost everywhere else needs a car.

Santa Fe is safe, small and easy-going, but it is built around art, history and food rather than children. The Santa Fe Children's Museum, the folk art collection's toys and miniatures, a few immersive art spaces and the climbing ladders at Bandelier's cliff dwellings give younger visitors something to do. In winter there is a small ski area with lessons. On the other hand, gallery browsing and long dinners do not suit many children, the 2,100m altitude can tire small ones for the first day or two, and most outings need a car. It works best for families with older children who enjoy hiking and history.

The historic centre is compact and easy to walk. The Plaza, the cathedral, the downtown museums, Canyon Road and the Railyard all lie within about twenty minutes of each other on foot, though the altitude makes uphill stretches feel harder. Beyond that, the city spreads out in low suburbs. Local buses run but are infrequent, so Museum Hill, the ski area and trailheads are usually reached by car or taxi. The Rail Runner train links the Railyard to Albuquerque, but for pueblos, Taos and the back roads a hire car is close to essential.

Shopping in Santa Fe is about art and craft. Under the portal of the Palace of the Governors, Native American artists sell silver and turquoise jewellery and pottery directly to buyers, a long-standing tradition with rules on authenticity. Canyon Road and the Railyard hold a dense cluster of galleries, from Southwestern landscapes to contemporary work, and downtown has dealers in rugs, Pueblo pottery, cowboy boots and Western wear.

Summer brings the big markets: the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Spanish Market and the International Folk Art Market, which draw collectors from far away. Outside this specialism the range is narrow, with little in the way of fashion, department stores or luxury, and prices in the galleries match a serious art market.

Santa Fe is an expensive place to visit for a town of its size. Hotels around the Plaza charge resort prices, especially during the summer markets, the opera season and the Christmas period. Restaurants and galleries are priced for a well-off clientele. Staying further out along Cerrillos Road costs less, and hiking, the Plaza and much gallery browsing are free, but the need for a hire car adds to the cost. Budget travellers will find it hard going.

The Santa Fe Opera is the centrepiece, a summer festival held in an open-sided theatre on a hill north of town, where performances start as the sun sets over the desert. It has a strong reputation for new and rarely staged works alongside the classic repertoire. Summer also brings a well-regarded chamber music festival, and the city has a long tradition of flamenco.

The rest of the year is quieter. The historic Lensic theatre downtown hosts touring shows, concerts and talks, and choral and chamber groups perform in the old churches. A visitor in midsummer finds a rich programme, while one in winter finds a small-town calendar.

Santa Fe has long drawn people who want to slow down. In the foothills on the road to the ski area, outdoor soaking tubs among the pines follow the model of a Japanese mountain onsen. For a city of this size it also has a lot of spas, massage therapists, yoga studios and alternative healers. About an hour north, the mineral hot springs at Ojo Caliente have been a bathing resort since the nineteenth century, with pools fed by several different springs.

The pace helps too. Adobe courtyards, quiet galleries, clear high-desert light and evenings that end early make it an easy place to unwind. What it lacks is a public bathing culture. Soaking happens in a few dedicated places, mostly outside the centre, and is not part of daily life in the city.