Need some advice: My wife and I are in the planning stages for a New Mexico vacation tentatively scheduled for August 25th through September 4th. We have two children aged 8 and 10.

My initial thought was to book a vacation rental with access to a pool in Santa Fe and take day trips from there. We're interested in visiting some pueblos, some light hiking, possibly Carlsbad, and one or two museums. As we're traveling with children, we definitely need to plan days with at least one kid-friendly activity in mind.

After doing some research, I'm beginning to wonder if my initial plan makes sense. It seems as if distances are long and basing oneself in Santa Fe may be more trouble than it's worth. I've also learned that the only direct flight from New York City is Jet Blue to Albuquerque, and it's also the least expensive flight I've found. So, there's that to take into consideration, as well.

I would love to hear suggestions about things to do with the kids, as well as itinerary suggestions. I did find this trip description thread by milliebest from last year extremely helpful and thought provoking:

New Mexico with Kids

Any and all contributions will be much appreciated.

Finally, what's the weather like in late August? I've read conflicting accounts.

A day trip to Bandelier National Monument would be great for kids that age. There are ancient dwellings carved into the soft rock of the hillside that they could climb into.

Nearby in Los Alamos is a museum about the atomic development there.

The pueblos will likely bore the stuffing out of the kids.

Look: it's fairly obvious that you're not familiar with New Mexico. First, it's the fifth largest state in the country and more than 2.5x the size of New York state - it's closer in size to Montana than to any state in the Northeast. The only real city is Albuquerque, which is a legitimate city (500K+) but it's in the southwest, which means it's spread out. Albuquerque has the National Atomic Science Museum (which is very good), a good zoo and botanical garden (with a large exhibit of creepy crawlies like centipedes, millipedes, freakishly large beetles, &c), and a fine science museum geared toward kids (Explora). It is the commercial center of the state. It is NOT renowned for its pulchritude - there are lots of pretty dang ugly areas including the University of New Mexico, which is one of the more hideous campuses you could visit.

Santa Fe is a small town that has metastasized with suburban sprawl due to its popularity as an artist's enclave, its status as the capital (which means its political importance has grown as Albuquerque's commercial footprint has), and the access to the mountains. It's about 65-70 minutes from Albuquerque by car and its airport is basically a landing strip out on a plateau west of the city proper. There is stuff to do there, but not enough for a 10-night stay with hobbits: Tent Rocks, Bandalier, Los Alamos are all nearby; the town itself has the Plaza and the nearby areas. The likelihood is that anyplace you get with a pool will be in that suburban sprawl and not the core of the town, which is far more unique, walkable, and fairly small. Carlsbad is not a day trip from Santa Fe or Albuquerque.

Be ready for it to be really flipping hot.

That seems like a long time to be in New Mexico and I would definitely change where I was staying based on where we were visiting rather than limiting yourself to one base (Sante Fe or Albuquerque)
With that said, Albuquerque has the Atomic History Museum, the ABQ zoo and Aquarium (the Aquarium is small and won't take long), and we always hit an Isotopes game when we go (minor league baseball). My kids were very interested in both the Veterans Memorial in Albuquerque and the Vietnam Veteran one in Angel Fire, but their grandfather was in Vietnam. I'd hit the one in town at least and maybe not hit the one in Angel Fire, although the drive is beautiful.
Carlsbad is about a 4.5-5 hour drive from Albuquerque.

Albuquerque has more kid-friendly activities than Santa Fe, as others have mentioned.
If you want to visit a pueblo, my kids were always more impressed with Acoma than Taos. Acoma sits on top of a mesa about 45 minutes west of Albuquerque. Sky City Cultural Center & Haak'u Museum
You all might get a kick out of Meow Wolf in Santa Fe. You can easily spend several hours there. https://meowwolf.com/

Lee Ann

I agree Acoma is very interesting and is in a gorgeous setting.
Taos is one of 8 pueblos near Santa Fe. Our kids liked the Puye Cliffs ruins at the Santa Clara pueblo.

Your kids may also be interested in Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque.
https://www.nps.gov/petr/index.htm

Special thanks to @freecharlie, @ElendilPickle & @Vttraveler for the advice and recommendations. We've ruled out Carlsbad for this trip (unfortunately) — simply too far from the rest of our planned activities. We're basing ourselves for a few days each in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, with vacation rentals in each that have access to private pools as well as outdoor grills. @ElendilPickle – you're the second person who's recommended Meow Wolf (the other was from a parent in my kids' school), so we'll definitely check it out. @Vttraveler, Petroglyph National Monument is definitely on our list.

What do you think of Bandelier National Monument? This was recommended to me on another thread as a place the kids might find interesting.

Now I plan to do some research on Acoma; hadn't been on my radar until now.

DH ready to explore a dwelling in Bandelier


More pictures taken at Bandelier

I really enjoyed visiting Bandelire.
Do you think your kids would like to explore these ancient dwellings?

@emmaloy Thanks for posting those pictures. I believe my eight year old son would really love it. Not sure about my 10 year old daughter. We'll see how it goes!

Bandelier is a great suggestion.

Lee Ann