Planning Your Time

This region covers an immense territory—give yourself five to seven days for a thorough exploration. Begin by heading west out of Albuquerque on Interstate 40, planning a night or two in western pueblo country, and then heading north toward Farmington for another night in the Four Corners Region. Allow most of a day for touring Chaco Canyon. On your way back to Albuquerque, take an hour or so to visit the Jémez area. If you're daunted by squeezing so much into a short period, remember that it's easy to visit Acoma, Laguna, and Grants at other times as day trips from Albuquerque or Santa Fe. Some tackle Chaco as a day trip from the Rio Grande Valley, but it's far more practical to spend the night closer by, if not in Cuba then in Bloomfield or Farmington, or even Grants or Gallup (the last two towns being relatively near Chaco's southern entrance).