wparmar

Hello All,

My wife and I are late planning our winter vacation this year. We are thinking of making a lst minute travel plans to New Mexico. Need your help with itinerary planning and places to visit in 7-9 days. We love hiking (not too long), scenary, wildlife and ejoying the local culture.

Based on my prelimary research I found that I can fly to Albuquerque and then spent couple days in the area and visit to Sante Fe and Taos (Gorge bridge, enchanted circle drive, Taos Pueblo). Then go south to Roswell (Bitter lake refuge, bottemless lake) and Carlsbad (caverns national park).

What do you think? Will the weatehr be too cold to do all this and are we doing a lot in too few days?

We are open to ideas and suggetions.

Thank you.

ElendilPickle

Are you planning to be here at Christmas? If so, Taos Pueblo has dances Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. www.taospueblo.com

You may run into snow around Santa Fe and Taos. Be sure to pay attention to the weather forecasts.

With nine days, you might be able to get to southern New Mexico without rushing, but there is plenty to do in the northern half of the state.

Both the Rio Grande Nature Center in Albuquerque and Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge south of Socorro are good places to see wildlife. http://www.rgnc.org/ http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/newmex/bosque/

Lee Ann

Tomsd

Also check the other posts in here under New Mexico as somebody else just asked a similiar Q:

Tomsd

As for weather - may have to wait and see. If a big storm blows in - it might make travel a bit of a challenge for a day or so, but I am guessing they keep the main roads fairly clear.

DebitNM

Lee Ann has given you some good info. May I add that hiking in December can be snowy and cold and altitude should be considered. Don't know where you are coming from but make sure you understand the effect of high altitude.

Tent Rocks on a sunny day is a lovely hike if you are in good shape. There are many places to hike, but you will need to play it by ear as far as snow and weather.

http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/rec...ent_rocks.html

ABQ Bio Park has River of Lights which is lovely:

http://www.cabq.gov/culturalservices...iver-of-lights

http://www.cabq.gov/ for other things to see and do.

I would skip southern NM and focus on ABQ, Santa Fe and Taos. It is a long way to go south for a few days.

DebitNM

As far as roads are concerned, we only have 2 interstates, the rest of the roads are locally cared for and "should" be ok as far as snow goes, but if it's a big dump, all bets are off.

wparmar

Thank you all for the feedback. Based on your suggestions and further research we have decided to visit NM next year in summer/fall months.

Thanks again.

DebitNM

You are welcome. If timing works, Balloon Fiesta in early Oct is a wonderful time to be here. Come back when you need help planning and we'll be happy to help.