Must-see attractions in New Mexico

  • The Milky Way galaxy over Fajada Mesa at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.

    Chaco Culture National Historical Park

    New Mexico

    A 9-mile drive loops through ‘downtown Chaco,’ passing six major sites, with further opportunities to hike to more remote ruins and petroglyphs.

  • Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.

    Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument

    New Mexico

    A relatively small site, these remarkable 13th-century cliff dwellings were only occupied by a small Mogollon group (30 to 80 people) for 20 years…

  • Santa Fe, New Mexico– April 30th, 2017: Meow Wolf art collective in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States. Open to the public the main exhibit is the The House of Eternal Return..; Shutterstock ID 632888321; Your name (First / Last): Alexander Howard; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Southwest POIs

    Meow Wolf

    Santa Fe

    If you've been hankering for a trip to another dimension but have yet to find a portal, the House of Eternal Return by Meow Wolf could be the place for…

  • Just after sunset in Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, New Mexico.

    Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area

    New Mexico

    This undeveloped realm of multicolored hoodoos, sculpted cliffs and balancing rocks is a surreal dream for photographers. Off the beaten track, it's well…

  • Santa Fe, NM: People outside the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in downtown Santa Fe, NM on a winter day.

    Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

    Santa Fe

    With 10 beautifully lit galleries in a rambling 20th-century adobe, this museum boasts the world's largest collection of O'Keeffe’s work. She’s best known…

  • The facade of the Albuquerque Museum.

    Albuquerque Museum

    Albuquerque

    Formerly known as the Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, this showpiece museum shouldn't be missed. With an engaging Albuquerque history gallery that's…

  • New Mexico, Albuquerque, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center

    Indian Pueblo Cultural Center

    Albuquerque

    Collectively run by New Mexico's 19 Pueblos, this cultural center is an essential stop-off during even the shortest Albuquerque visit. Revamped in 2016,…

  • New Mexico, Aztec Ruins National Monument. Anasazi. Kiva Ruins.

    Aztec Ruins National Monument

    New Mexico

    This prehistoric pueblo was built around AD 1100, and connected with the larger settlement at Chaco via a road that ran due south. Its central feature, a…

  • New Mexico, Santa Fe, Museum Hill, Museum of International Folk Art

    Museum of International Folk Art

    Santa Fe

    Santa Fe’s most unusual and exhilarating museum centers on the world's largest collection of folk art. Its huge main gallery displays whimsical and mind…

  • SANTA FE, NM - OCTOBER 20, 2013: An adobe structure on Santa Fe, New Mexico's historic Plaza is home to the New Mexico Museum of Art. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

    The Plaza

    Santa Fe

    For more than 400 years, the Plaza has stood at the heart of Santa Fe. Originally it marked the far northern end of the Camino Real from Mexico; later, it…

  • Interior of the Western New Mexico University Museum, featuring displays of Mimbres Mogollon Prehistoric pottery.

    Western New Mexico University Museum

    New Mexico

    Fresh from a $3.2 million renovation, this excellent museum in the schools's former gymnasium boasts the world's largest collection of 1000-year-old…

  • Millicent Rogers Museum

    Taos

    Rooted in the private collection of model and oil heiress Millicent Rogers, who moved to Taos in 1947, this superb museum, 4 miles northwest of the Plaza,…

  • New Mexico, La Mesilla, . (Photo by Education Images/UIG via Getty Images)

    Mesilla

    New Mexico

    Dating back 150 years and little changed since, Mesilla is a charming old adobe town. Despite the souvenir shops and tourist-oriented restaurants, its…

  • Museum of Indian Arts & Culture

    Santa Fe

    This top-quality museum sets out to trace the origins and history of the various Native American peoples of the entire Southwest, and explain and…

  • Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA - August 2, 2016: Exterior of American International Rattlesnake Museum, Old Town Albuquerque.

    American International Rattlesnake Museum

    Albuquerque

    Anyone charmed by snakes and all things slithery will find this museum fascinating; for ophidiophobes, it’s a complete nightmare, filled with the world’s…

  • El Morro National Monument

    New Mexico

    The 200ft sandstone outcropping at this monument, also known as Inscription Rock, has been a travelers' oasis for millennia. The only reliable water…

  • Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner

    New Mexico

    The convoluted name sums up the tragic history of this bleak, windswept spot, beside the Pecos River 6 miles southeast of town. Fort Sumner was built in…

  • New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum

    New Mexico

    This terrific museum doesn’t just display engaging exhibits on the state’s agricultural history – it's got livestock too. Enclosures on the working farm…

  • Museum of Spanish Colonial Art

    Santa Fe

    Celebrating the long history of Hispanic culture in New Mexico, this museum places the religious and domestic art of the region in the context of the…

  • Tucumcari Historical Museum

    New Mexico

    Downtown museum of local history that’s eclectic to say the least, with everything from a stuffed hawk and a Japanese flag to an entire firehouse and a…

  • Folsom Museum

    New Mexico

    This whimsical general store holds an eclectic collection of items related to local history (though no actual artifacts from Folsom Man). Not a…

  • The ranch and memorial containing the ashes of the late novelist D.H. Lawrence, known for writing Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928) and The Rainbow (1915), is located 20 miles north of Taos on a mountain slope. Fans all over the world visit the remote location to pay respects to one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. (Photo by Kim Kulish/Corbis via Getty Images)
DH Lawrence Ranch & Memorial

    DH Lawrence Ranch & Memorial

    Taos

    In 1924, Mabel Dodge Luhan gave DH Lawrence's wife, Frieda, this 160-acre ranch, now administered by the University of New Mexico, where the Lawrence…

  • Spaceport America

    New Mexico

    New Mexico has been hurling objects out beyond the stratosphere since 1947, when the first missile was launched from the rolling dunes of White Sands,…

  • Sky City

    New Mexico

    Journeying to the mesa-top village at Acoma Pueblo, famous as Sky City, is like venturing into another world. There can be few more dramatic locations –…

  • Very Large Array Radio Telescope

    New Mexico

    A sense of awe, or maybe galactic sadness, inevitably strikes as you approach the 27 enormous antenna dishes sprouting from the high plains 40 miles west…

  • DGY2CB Petroglyph on Mesa Point trail in Boca Negra Canyon section of the Petrogrlyph National Monument, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

    Petroglyph National Monument

    Albuquerque

    The lava fields preserved in this large desert park, west of the Rio Grande, are adorned with more than 23,000 ancient petroglyphs (1000 BC–AD 1700)…

  • A cable car at the Sandia Peak Tramway approaching the top of Sandia Mountain, with the city of Albuquerque in the background.

    Sandia Peak Tramway

    Albuquerque

    The United States' longest aerial tram climbs 2.7 miles from the desert floor in the northeast corner of the city to the summit of 10,378ft Sandia Crest…

  • TAOS, NEW MEXICO-AUGUST 13: Building materials sit outside an earthship being built in Taos on August 13, 2014. Earthships are environmentally friendly homes made of recycled materials.
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    Earthships

    Taos

    Numbering 70 Earthships, with capacity for 60 more, Taos’ pioneering community was the brainchild of architect Michael Reynolds. Built with recycled…

  • Garden Canopy at the Albuquerque Botanical Garden; Shutterstock ID 1404076877; your: Bridget Brown; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI Image Update

    Botanic Garden

    Albuquerque

    The twin highlights in this peaceful park are the two large conservatories of Mediterranean and desert plants. You'll also find formal Japanese gardens, a…

  • St francis cathedral santa fe

    St Francis Cathedral

    Santa Fe

    Santa Fe’s French-born bishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy – hero of Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop – set about building this cathedral in 1869. Its…

  • This historic rancho, now a living history museum, dates from the early 1700s and was an important paraje or stopping point along the famous Camino Real, the Royal Road from Mexico City to Santa Fe, New Mexico. | Location: near Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.

    Rancho de las Golondrinas

    Santa Fe

    Built as a fortified residence along the Camino Real, the 'Ranch of the Swallows' is nearly as old as Santa Fe itself. Now it’s a 200-acre living museum,…

  • SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO, USA, April, 4, 2014: Exterior view of the New Mexico Museum of Art, downtown, Santa Fe, New Mexico

    New Mexico Museum of Art

    Santa Fe

    Built in 1917 and a prime early example of Santa Fe’s Pueblo Revival architecture, the New Mexico Museum of Art has spent a century collecting and…

  • Polar Bear at the Albuquerque Zoo; Shutterstock ID 927801; your: Bridget Brown; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI Image Update

    ABQ BioPark Zoo

    Albuquerque

    Set on 60 shady acres beside the Rio Grande and home to chimpanzees, giraffes, elephants, crocodiles and more, this zoo puts on a busy schedule of events…

  • Statue of Our Lady and Sanctuary of Guadalupe near downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA; Shutterstock ID 1475202815; your: Bridget Brown; gl: 65050; netsuite: Online Editorial; full: POI Image Update

    Santuario de Guadalupe

    Santa Fe

    The oldest shrine in the US to Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of Mexico, this adobe church was constructed between 1776 and 1796, though there have…

  • San Miguel Mission

"Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA - March 18, 2013: People walking past the beautiful Mission San Miguel in the historic old town section of Santa Fe."
Mission San Miguel , Santa Fe - stock photo

    San Miguel Mission

    Santa Fe

    Erected from 1610 onwards, by and for the Tlaxcalan Indians who arrived from Mexico with Santa Fe’s first Spanish colonists, this is considered to be the…

  • New Mexico State Capitol Building The Roundhouse in Santa Fe NM USA

    State Capitol

    Santa Fe

    New Mexico’s State Capitol, informally known as the Roundhouse, was laid out in the shape of the state symbol – also the emblem of Zia Pueblo – in 1966…

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