mrscpa10

We would like some recommendations for hotels and sights. We love architecture and would like to go to some homes/museums. We are seniors so we really can't do much hiking, but walking around is fine. We want to get some flavor of native culture for sights and food. We would like to see cliff dwellings and pueblos. We will arrive in Albuquerque on Wed morning and stay in NM until Mon morning. Thanks.

DebitNM

When will this trip be?
What kind of hotels do you like? What price range?
Will you rent a car?

Give us a little more to work with, ok?

emalloy

For ancient dwellings, Bandelier NM is about a half an hour or so from Santa Fe and has dwellings carved into the rock of the mountainside. for pueblos either Acoma pueblo, west of Albuquerque or Taos north of Santa Fe would be fine, both do tours with Native American guides that involve walking through the pueblo, no real hiking.

Pecos ruin is not too far east from Santa Fe and Salinas ruin is a bit south of Albuquerque.

Enjoy your trip

Echnaton

If you have just four days, I strongly suggest to stay in Santa Fe for the whole time. You can explore most of Santa Fe on foot. For Museum Hill, you can take a short taxi ride.

From Santa Fe, you can do an easy daytrip to Bandelier Natl. Monument and Taos Pueblo.

saige

The Folk Art and Georgia O'Keefe museums in Santa Fe are excellent. I also love the sculpture garden at Shidoni Foundry, but you will need transportation since it is a short drive out of town. If you go, you may be able to watch bronze pours and glass blowing demonstrations as well.

donnawho

A really interesting and utterly charming place we stayed last fall is called Los Poblanos in Albuquerque. You can check out their website. This place looks like a rustic Tuscan Inn- it started out as a Dairy Farm in about 1920 and today is a 6-room b&b inn, organic lavender farm, beautful gardens and a museum/conference center/historic site.It's about a mile from Old Town ABQ.

beachbum

My wife and I plan to visit Puye Cliffs when we're in Santa Fe later this year. I haven't been there since the mid-80's, but remember them as being less commercialized than Bandelier. But that might be just because our Bandelier visits were more recent. If you do go to Bandelier, consider stopping at Tsankawi, which is actually part of the National Monument. Not nearly as popular as the area around the Visitors Center, but worthwhile for the views and history.

LindainOhio

We enjoyed Bandelier. On the way back to Santa Fe, I would recommend stopping at the free museum in Los Alamos. It was so interesting to learn about the Manhattan Project. I loved reading the letters there. How did htey keep that a secret? it was pretty amazing.

BeachGirl247

I would also suggest spending your time in and around Santa Fe as there is so much to see and do.

Some of my favorite lodgings (all ranges):

El Farolito
www.farolito.com

Inn on the Alameda
www.innonthealameda.com

Inn of the Governors
innofthegovernors.com

Plaza Real (next to Anasazi and more than 1/2 the price)
www.hhandr.com/plazareal

Hilton Santa Fe by the plaza (not a favorite but at the plaza area)

Sage Inn
www.santafesageinn.com

mrscpa10

Thanks everyone. We are going in mid May arriving in Albuquerque by noon. We thought we would spend the afternoon in Old Town for lunch and Sandia Peak for dinner. By then we will be wiped out since we are coming from the East Coast and have to get up at 4 am to get our flight. Your suggestions for sights sound great. We will need a hotel in around Albuquerque for at least the first night, then we can switch to Santa Fe if you think that is best. We will have a car. Any restaurant suggestions?

DebitNM

Dinner at Sandia Peak? Do you mean at the top of the tram? There is only 1 restaurnat and I really would suggest not doing that as it is not anything special. There are SO many better places to eat.

What kind of food do you want for lunch and dinner? Price range?

How much do you want to spend on ABQ hotel? Do you want chain motel type or B&B or chain hotel? Are you comfortable with Priceline - can geta decent room for around $40 + .

Deb

saige

Deb's right of course. Albuquerque has lots of good food! Go to Sandia Peak for the view, but not for dinner.

maria_so

The Georgia O'Keefe house in Abiquiui us also a good tour. There's the Monastery in the Desert and Echo Ampitheater near by that do not require a "hike" - all a good day trip from Santa Fe. I think Bandelier is a good suggestion if you don't hike. The ruins area are paved so it makes it a nice easy stroll.

ElendilPickle

I agree with Deb about High Finance (the restaurant at the top of the tram). The views are stunning, but the food is just average.

If you want, you could drive up the Turquoise Trail on your way to Santa Fe. On the way, you can drive up to Sandia Crest to see the view at the top, then back down and on to Santa Fe.

Lee Ann

mrscpa10

Thanks, I think I'll skip the restaurant at the top of the tram. We would like to eat at local restaurants, not chains. We are not fancy, and would enjoy some local culture for food and lodgings. The hotel must be clean and confortable, but we do not need pools or spas. Something in the price range of a Hampton Inn or La Quinta. Thanks again for your suggestions.

We may drive from Albquerque to LA. How long do you think we need for Painted Desert and Petrified Forrest? We thought we would stop in Sedona for two days then drive straight through to LA. Anything special we shouldn't miss on the way?

DebitNM

How long do you think we need for Painted Desert and Petrified Forrest? We thought we would stop in Sedona for two days then drive straight through to LA. Anything special we shouldn't miss on the way?

I would start a new thread asking those questions.

All of the chains motels are in ABQ but they won't really get you much feel for local, save the pictures on the wall and lobby decor. Why don't you check out dates and rates and then come back here with which ones you are thinking of, and I can tell you if they are in ok area.

Do you want New Mexican Food for dinner in ABQ? That would be local, or you could do Native American.

maria_so

ABQ for me is a quick stop - I mean compared to Santa Fe and Taos, for example. So what we always do when going to NM (and it is one of our favorite places to visit), we fly in to ABQ, have lunch and stroll around old town, then head to Santa Fe via the turquoise trail (which will go past Sandia Crest, Golden, Madrid, Cerillos, etc. - http://www.turquoisetrail.org

Going that way should get you to Santa Fe in about an hour and a half (doesn't include your stops - and you should stop, especially at the little town of madrid!). You can also go to Santa Fe through the highway which should be about an hour or so. The latter is less scenic, of course.

In ABQ you will have your normal big city hotel choices. A New Mexican will have to give you advice on the non chain types as we've always found it easier to just get a chain when in ABQ because we just use it for flying out of or into.

In Santa Fe, the chain motels (except for Hilton Santa Fe) is mostly located on Cerillos road and where you want to be is near the plaza. The accomodations are not going to be that cheap but it is more the local flavor you sound like you're looking for. We've stayed (and liked) the hilton, El Dorado, and Santa Fe Inn before. We've also rented VRBO's before and they are nice, most are close to the plaza, and you can choose to rent the adobe houses. Just make sure you are walking distance to the plaza so either the railyard district or anywhere within a 3 to even 4 block radius will be good.

I know you said you don't like spas and stuff but this place is really nice and relaxing - and very affordable. www.ojocalientesprings.com

Hope that helps.

hikrchick

In Santa Fe, might I make a suggestion for the El Rey Inn. It is on Cerrillos Road and it is a renovated original inn from the 1930s. I've stayed there twice, most recently in October 2008, and it really has a lot of character. It is very well cared for. Plus, breakfast (cereals, muffins, fruit, yogurt, coffee) is included in the price.

The only downside is that you would have to drive into the center of Santa Fe each day that you wanted to tour there.

http://www.elreyinnsantafe.com/

DebitNM

If you are only going to do one dinner in ABQ, either of these would be my recommendation as they combine culture and food!

For Native American: [I had a very nice lunch there day before yesterday, good food]
http://www.indianpueblo.org/

For New Mexican:
http://www.nhccnm.org/

The El Rey is nice, kind of SW quirky. You do have to drive to Plaza and parking in SF is tough.

If you are willing to drive in --
try this for a basic motel [non-chain]:
http://www.garrettsdesertinn.com/

If you can swing it, I recommend Inn of the Governors. It is right next to the plaza, nice SW feel, free parking, free breakfast, free tea, sherry and cookies in PM. I would call direct and see if you can get a deal:
http://innofthegovernors.com/

For things to do in Santa Fe:
http://innofthegovernors.com/about-s...e/attractions/

There is a great zoo in ABQ, small but really nicely planned and a place I go to often.

For Cliff Dwellings, you could go to Bandelier. Most of the smaller pueblos are just that, small. The bigger ones would involve driving some - to Taos or west of ABQ to Acoma.

I don't think you will be able to see "homes", there are often Parade of home tours a few times a year. If you mean historic homes, Abiqui would be best.

Would you do a B&B in ABQ? There are some nice ones.

Hope this helps.

mrscpa10

We would like to go to Taos also. Our thoughts were to arrive in Albuquerque on Wed and spend the afternoon and evening there. Go to Taos on Thurs and sleep over, then go to Santa Fe for Fri and Sat. We plan on leaving NM on Sunday to drive to LA stopping in Sedona for a day or so depending on our stops along the way. Any hotel suggestions in Taos and Santa Fe would be appreciated. Also not to be missed sights. Thanks everyone for your other suggestions. We will be leaving from Phila, PA on May 19