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We've compiled the best of the best in Day Trips from Santa Fe - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
You'll find an incredible collection of fine Spanish Colonial, Mexican, and Indigenous paintings, textiles, carvings, ceramics, sculptures, and furnishings in this rambling gallery, but part of the fun of visiting is just walking through this grand, rambling historic compound in Abiquiú's unpaved village center. It consists of a large old home, a 5,000-square-foot former mercantile, and lush gardens enclosed within massive adobe walls.
The Trujillo family weaving tradition, which started in northern New Mexico more than seven generations ago, is carried out in this colorful, inviting gallery. Irvin Trujillo and his wife, Lisa, are both gifted, renowned master weavers, creating Rio Grande–style tapestry blankets and rugs, many of them with natural dyes that authentically replicate early weavings. Most designs are historically based, but the Trujillos are never shy about innovating and their original works are as breathtaking as the traditional ones.
Owned by renowned Santa Fe chocolatier Hayward Simoneaux, this bright and colorful shop specializes in folk art and carries wonderfully offbeat and eye-catching items from all over the world and at a wide range of price points. Think Spanish-colonial-style leather messenger bags, hand-painted wild boar ceramic piggy banks, Mexican paper-mâché eggs painted to look like lucha libre masks, and hand-embroidered reversible jackets from India. And yes, you'll also find some carefully curated chocolates for sale.
This eclectic shop set in a stunningly restored adobe 1870s Victorian with bright blue trim is packed with vintage furniture, Indigenous pottery and jewelry, Navajo rugs, and fine art.
You could spend hours browsing the fine rugs and furnishings at this well-established shop. They stock custom Zapotec textiles from Oaxaca, Navajo weavings, Congolese kuba cloths, and carpets from Tibet, Morocco, and Afghanistan as well as fine arts and crafts tables, sofas, and chairs from around the world.
This funky general store and gas station, pronounced boh-dees, has been serving the region since 1919. It offers a thoughtfully curated array of quirky gifts, locally made arts and crafts, local beer and wine, household supplies, and fishing gear (including licenses), along with delicious breakfast burritos, green-chile stew, deli sandwiches, and other light fare.
This eclectic gallery carries a great mix of paintings and other pieces by local artists—notably Nick Beason's edgy monotypes and copper etchings and Lise Poulsen's felted kimonos and striking fiberworks. You'll find both contemporary and traditional works here.
Among the most prestigious galleries in a town with quite a few good ones, Johnsons carries paintings, photography, sculpture, and textiles created by some of the region's leading artists.
Set inside a handsome and historic stone building in the center of town, this superb cooperative gallery is best known for the vibrant contemporary handweaving of its several fiber artists, but you'll also find beautifully crafted ceramics, jewelry, paintings, and more.
This shop in the center of town sells Rio Grande- and Chimayó-style textiles made by the family whose Spanish ancestors brought the craft to New Mexico in the 1600s. The Galeria Ortega, next door, sells traditional and contemporary arts and crafts in New Mexican and Native American styles.
Long-acclaimed artist Marco Oviedo has earned a reputation for his sometimes whimsical, sometimes inspirational bronze carvings, which depict everything from Native figures to regional wildlife. Most of these are no more than a foot tall, and prices are quite reasonable.
This hulking old showroom across the street from the historic train station and Hotel Castaneda overflows with the kinds of goods you might expect to have been transported here by wagon and then railroad during the Santa Fe Trail's heyday. Light fixtures, old books, Depression-era kitchenware, turquoise jewelry, and vintage signs are among the specialties, along with tables, hutches, and larger items.
In a region known for artisanal sweets, this cozy candy shop set amid Madrid's string of galleries has earned a cult following for its imaginative edible works of art. Some of the more unusual creations include dark chocolate studded with hibiscus flowers, lemon, and ginger, and creamy white chocolate with lavender sugar and flecks of actual lavender.
