ajcolorado

My daughter & her friends want to do a fun girls' weekend in Santa Fe this summer. We're going to Bandalier. We'd appreciate your tips on other great things for this age group. Fun dining options would be appreciated too. Are there any late night dining options other than Denny's that are family friendly?

Thanks.

sylvia3

I'd take them to Taos and Taos Pueblo for a day trip.

travel_addict

Closer to Santa Fe is the Kasha Katuwe tent rocks near Cochiti. It's along drive in, but the rocks are worth the trip. The hiking is not easy, but not that difficult either.

Bandelier & Taos are also great places to visit. All three places are at least 45 minutes away from Santa Fe so keep that in mind. And having once been a 14-year old girl, if you're only there for a weekend, I would pick one of these three places and spend the rest of the time exploring the city itself. Between the Plaza area, the Guadalupe area & Canyon Road, you could spend a week checking out these areas alone! (lots of shops, galleries, museums, etc.)

As for family friendly restaurants, try:
- Tomasita's
- Blue Corn Cafe
- Bumblebee's Baja Grill
- Diego's Cafe & Bar

The Cowgirl Hall of Fame is open late for dinner, but I'm not sure I would take 14 year old girls in there past 10pm - it can get a little rowdy. I can't think of anything else - usually if I'm eating out late, it's not always in a kid-friendly place!

Your daughter's lucky, AJ! My parents never took us anywhere like Santa Fe when we were young!

sfamylou

We just returned; working on a trip report now. We loved Bandelier. Our kids are much younger (3 and 7 1/2) so our exploring was limited, but it was fun. Nearby and very educational is Los Alamos. There are two museums there that explain a lot about the Manhattan project. In Santa Fe, I agree with poster that says you can wander around the galleries and the Plaza and Canyon Road and time just melts away. We also found the Folk Art museum to be incredible. For dining, we ate two of our three dinners at Maria's New Mexican Kitchen. I love that restaurant so much, but it's good to have a reservation.

CAPH52

I'd second the suggestion for Blue Corn Cafe. We tend to be fairly late eaters when we're traveling. We ate at the one out on Cerrillos Rd with our kids who were, I think, 13 and 9 at the time. We'd also had a very nice lunch at the one "downtown" (can't think off-hand of the proper term) a day or two earlier.