New Mexico 9-Day Driving Itinerary

Date: May 26 - June 2, 2023

Major places visited: Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, White Sand National Park, Carlsbad, Carlsbad National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Petroglyph National Monument

Map Overview & Itinerary Summary

Itinerary

**Day 0** , May 25, 2023: flight to **Albuquerque**
**Day 1** , May 26, 2023: Bandolier National Monument, Valles Caldera National Preserve
**Day 2,** May 27, 2023: **Taos:** Downtown Taos Historical District, Taos Pueblo Heritage Center, Rio Grande Gorge Bridge
**Day 3**, May 28, 2023: **Santa Fe:** Downtown, museum, street
**Day 4**, May 29, 2023: Pecos National Historical Park, Valley of Fires, Brantley Lake State Park, Oliver Lee Memorial State Park
**Day 5** May 30 2023: White Sand National Park, enroute to **Carlsbad**
**Day 6** May 31, 2023: Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National park
**Day 7**, June 1 2023: Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge
**Day 8**, June 2, 2023: **Albuquerque:** Petroglyph National Monument, Rio Grande Nature Center State Park, Downtown Albuquerque
**Day 9,** June 3, 2023: Sandra Peak Tramway
Total distance of driving: ~1,300 miles

Detailed Itinerary

Day 0 , May 25, 2023: flew from Atlanta to Albuquerque direct, arrived 10PM local time. Picked up the rental car and drove to Santa Fe and checked in the hotel.

Day 1 , May 26, 2023: We started the first day at Santa Fe from the excursions: Santa Fe -> Bandolier National Monument -> Valles Caldera National Preserve -> White Rock -> Santa Fe. We didn’t make it to Los Alamos but you can totally plan it. As long as we have 1.5-2 extra hours, we could visit on the return trip from Valles Caldera by taking the north arm of the loop , instead of by the lower arm (NM 4) through Bandolier for Santa Fe. Remember that most of these places closes at 4 or 5PM so you have a short window in the day to visit.

Bandelier National Monument is a very unique place to visit. It offers an up-close look at prehistorical American Indian dwellings. On the way to the visitor center, you will stop at an outlook site which offers a view to the site in the canyon. You may not know what you were seeing at that time, except some orange-toned cliff rocks with holes on your right hand side. From the visitor center, there is a 1.2-mile paved Main Loop Trail that everyone walks to see the ruins of Tyuonyi Pueblo - a round pueblo built in the 1300s with 400 rooms. It was abandoned by the time Spanish explorers arrived late in the 16th century. the trail continues to a series of cliff dwellings, a few of which offers ladders so that you can climb to have a closer look.

After descending, the elder in the family returned to the visitor center via a shandy nature trail. Me and kids went further by a side trial (1-mile round trip) to Alcove House, which is an enlarged natural cave 150-foot above the canyon floor. it is accessible by a series of ladders and steps. We did not see any petroglyphs though. The petroglyphs are designs chipped into a rock surface. We didn’t go further from here, but you can explore other trials in the area too.

It is a short drive to Valles Caldera National Preserve. We knew we were there as a wide meadow rimed by small hills emerged on your right side of the road. The caldera was created some 1.25 million years ago by a super volcano eruptions. Scientists say that eruptions released 16 times the material that spewed from Mt. St. Helens when it erupted in 1980. This nearly 89,000-acre preserve has forests, meadows, peaks, valleys, and wildlife, including more than 5,000 elks. Used to be a private ranch, the area was purchased by the federal government in 2000 and part of the National Park Service in 2015.

We entered the caldera by turning from NM 4 through the entrance onto a park road. We could only drive about 2 miles in, to the Valle Grande Entrance Station I think. Then the road closed from there. The park has 54 miles of hiking and biking trails, which we didn’t have the luxury of time to enjoy any of those this time. We did saw elks, and tons of prairie dogs on the side of the road running in and out of their holes. From there we drove a little further along the scenic road to the Battleship Rock then started our way back.

We stopped at the White Rock, which is a structure several steps away from the NM 4 that gives a good view of the White Rock Canyon. The rocks are not white by the way, not sure where does the name come from. There are several trails around in various distances, such as White Rock Canyon Rim Trail, Blue Dot Trail, Red Dot Trail, and River Trail. This must be a place not to be missed during the foliage season.

Day 2, May 27, 2023: Taos: We drove from Santa Fe to Downtown Taos Historical District via NM 68. Before arriving at downtown, we stopped by San Francisco de Asia Church. The town is small but surprisingly artsy and exciting. We can spend tons of time here to go through gallery after gallery of all styles and genre.

We then drove to Taos Pueblo Heritage Center right outside of the town. Among New Mexico’s 19 pueblos, Taos is the only living National American community, designated both a World Heirtage Site and a National Historical Landmark. Layout wise, you will pass San Geronimo Chapel shortly after you enter. A river called “Red Willow River” cuts the area in two sides, each of which has a multi-story adobe structure that has been home to Taos Pueblo’s since before Spanish explorers found this continent. The bigger structure on the same side that we came in is the the largest multistory pueblo in existence, and is also the most filed or painted one. Taos is still home to about 150 “Tiwa”, that’s how the people call themselves. They still maintain their own language and cultural, though not all of them live in the pueblo the whole time, according to our tour guide who herself is a Tiwa. The old chapel ruin at the back of the pueblos witnessed the tragic history of slavering, massacre, and Native American’s revolt back then.

The next stop is the magnificent 1,272-foot-long, and one of the America’s highest Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. We drove to the other side, then hiked half way on the bridge to enjoy the view of the Rio Grande.

From there, we tried to cross Rio Grade again through John Don Bridge, a few miles north near Black Rock Hot Springs, to return to Santa Fe. But only found out when we were on top of the canyon with the bridge insight that the road was closed. So we took 285 back to Santa Fe. But we enjoyed the scenery and glimpse of some of the Earthship homes from road.

Day 3, May 28, 2023: This is the day that doesn’t involve much driving., as all activities are in the city. We started by visiting San Miguel Chapel, that was orginally constructed around 1610, and is believed to be the oldest active church in U.S. Unfortunately we were not able to go inside.

Several small blocks away is the Loretto Chapel, which is privately run with a $5 admission. This Gothic church was built for the Sisters of Loretto between 1873 and 1878. The spiral staircase is an engineering masterpiece - two full 360-degree turns built with wooden pegs.

Next is the grandest church of the own - The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assis, located in the heart of Downtown, just a block east of the plaza. Designed in French style, the cathedral was elected to Basilica status in 2005. Sena Plaza is on the north side of the Cathedral, and Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) is on the west side with painted pillars on both sides of entrance. Further west is the Santa Fe Plaza, surrounded by the Palace of the Governors, New Mexico Museum of Arts, and shops, galleries and restaurants. A few Native American performers are showing the traditional dances in the park. We visited the New Mexico History Museum at the back of the Palace of the Governs. Part of the museum is the palace, and you can enter some of the rooms with galleries on the wall telling stories of the palace and its residents in the past. We walked to the New Mexico StateCapital - the only entirely round capital building in the U.S. Inside the building there is a 500-piece art collection by New Mexico artists on permanent display. However it was a weekend so we couldn’t go inside, so not much to see except the Roundhouse and the gardens and status surrounding the Roundhouse. Afterwards, we planned to visit Georgia O’Keeffe Museum late afternoon, but the museum reached its full capacity of that day. As an alternative, we drove about 10 minutes to the Museum of International Folk Art located southeast outskirt, and it was surprisingly interesting. Plan at least an hour here to enjoy arts from all over the world and feel connected. Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, and Santa Fe Botanic Garden are next door, in this area I think is called Museum Hill. Then we headed to Santa Fe Railyard Arts District. Like many cities, this is a project to revive some of the old warehouse and structures by converting them into shops, bars, and entertainment venue. Our last stop of the day is the Canyon Road, which is a street featuring 100+ art galleries, studios, outdoor arts, and restaurants.