I will be in Santa Fe in August for three nights. Found a great looking hotel - Santa Fe Inn and Motel for $139 which is at the top of our price range, but with parking and walking distance to the Plaza. However, now I find with taxes it's actually $160 so am wondering if it worth that much. Quality Inn is only $64 (including taxes), Econolodge even less. Is it worth $300 total just to be in a nicer hotel walking distance from town. How difficult is it to drive in from the hotels out on the 'strip' (Cerrillios Road) and park near downtown. We plan to drive to Taos one day so we won't be in the hotel itself all that much. Any ideas of other places to stay?

Driving from Cerrillos to Plaza is a pain and parking in/around the plaza is a bigger pain in the butt.

Is it worth $300;l that is your call.

Personally, I wouldn't stay in those particular places on Cerrillos; there are nicer motels there.

Inn of the Governors is very close to Plaza and has free parking. Try that and see what it comes up for prices.

There are a couple of public parking places that run $9 or $10 for the day located in the plaza area. Street parking only takes 2 hours at a time and the meter readers are abundant it seems as we've received a ticket when we've allowed the meter to expire.

If it isn't a festival weekend you should be able to find parking near the plaza. If you can find a hotel near the plaza where you don't have to drive that would be ideal.

Sage Inn is considered walking distance and is a lower priced hotel. It also has a shuttle if you decide not to take the 15-minute walk to the plaza.

Thanks

Deb - How is the Best Western on Cerrillos? It gets good reviews on TA and is $89, a tad more than Quality or Econo but certainly better than $160. I see Quality and Econo on Cerrillos gets reviews all over the map - from 1 to 4 stars. I also read one review that said if the legislature is not in session that you can park in their garage for free. Do you know anything about that?

Even if we had to pay $10 for parking it would still save a lot. I don't want to stay in a dump, nor have a huge hassle with parking, but saving $200 or more means I could actually add a couple of days to my whole trip and that's tempting.

I have stayed right in the plaza area at several Inns, hotels, and casitas,and I have also stayed on Cerillos at Sage Inn, and further out a few miles on Cerillos at other hotels like the Courtyard and and Hyatt Place. I generally like to pay less for hotels and have more money to spend on dining and other things, so I certainly understand the desire to keep hotel costs down.

I do not find it difficult at all to drive down Cerillos and park in the plaza area. There is a good municipal lot that I always park in, across the street from Cafe Pasqual on Water St. It runs $1.80 an hour or $9 a day plus tax. There is also municipal parking in the railyard area and Canyon Rd.

There are several good municipal lots. Here is a link that lists all of them:
http://www.santafenm.gov/index.aspx?NID=207

Yes, it is more convenient to stay where you can walk to the plaza and Canyon Rd. areas, or to stay at Sage Inn where there is a good shuttle (I like Sage Inn for many other reasons also). But to save $$ it is not that bad at all to stay out on Cerillos and driving in to park.

We stay with family in Santa Fe, but can tell you there are lots of decent hotels on Cerillos Road and we have never had a lot of trouble with parking near the plaza. Santa Fe is very walkable once you have parked your car. Given your budget, I would stay on Cerillos and park at one of the places emd3 gave you. Hope you have a wonderful trip and suggest you look at archives here for Santa Fe dining options. DebitNM has given lots of good advice and you can find it by entering your search terms at the top of this page.

I agree. I've stayed near the plaza. I've stayed on Cerillos. I've driven in from the north and the south. I prefer to stay near the plaza, but if money is a concern just drive in and park.

I plugged dates into Hotwire 8/25 to /27 and found what appears to be Inn of the Governors [3* Boutique, Comp breakfast and Internet, in the Plaza] at $110. I was able to make a pretty good ID using betterbidding. No guarantee, of course. Easy walk to plaza, free parking, free breakfast and afternoon tea and sherry.

I won't argue that there are parking lots, but I will say, I almost always have to spend time searching for spots. This is a pretty busy time, it is just after Indian Market and I'd imagine that lots of folks may still be in town.

Different experience here. I've never had to spend time searching for parking spots in the municipal lots, even the one on Water St. I've always found spots in those lots. I've been in Santa Fe with a car and used those lots at all times of the year, including August.

If you are considering an "unspecified" hotel, you may want to try Priceline, rather than Hotwire. I am visiting Santa Fe for 3 nights in mid May. Hotwire listed a 3 1/2 star hotel for $88, but I decided to bid on Priceline instead. There are only three 3 1/2 star hotels in the plaza area and I felt that any would be acceptable. My first bid of $65 was accepted.