Survfan

I am a teacher attending a conference in Abiqui, New Mexico from July 5-16th. At the conference I will not have a car as a bus is transporting us from the airport. I have never been to New Mexico and thought about flying down on July 2nd renting a car for three days and driving to Santa Fe for July2-4 before my conference. I will be traveling alone for those few days before the conference and wanted to know where you all thought I should concentrate in. I thought about the Ghost Ranch which I am hearing about. Any other possible areas? What should I pay attention to in the city? Help! Thanks

travel_addict

Hi,

Where in Abiquiu will your conference be held? At Ghost Ranch? If so, I might stay there. There's lots of good hiking trails around there.

There's also the Abiquiu Inn, which is nice and has a decent restaurant.

Another place is http://www.vrbo.com/81865
- this is a casita owned by someone with another rental place in Santa Fe. (click on other properties) I've never stayed at the place in Abiquiu, but I visited the property and views cannot be beat.

I'd definitely recommend renting a car too - there are so many places around Abiquiu worth driving to - Ghost Ranch, Georgia O'Keeffe's house (arrange for a tour with the museum in Santa Fe), Echo Ampitheatre, the Christ in the Desert Monastery and more. I assume you'll have evenings free during the conference?

Staying in Santa Fe a couple of days beforehand would be a great idea. However, if you can't fly out there early, Santa Fe is a beautiful 45-min. drive from Abiquiu and you can always zip over there in your free time. Gabriel's on 84/285 on the way is an excellent restaurant too.

Enjoy your trip!
Heidi

Survfan

The conference is on Islam at the Dar al Islam in Abiqui and we will be staying at the site as well. Do you know of any places just outside of Santa Fe within five miles that you can recommend? I have been noticing the hotels right outside the city center about three miles out seem to be alot more affordable. Also, What are some specific signts you can recommend right in Santa Fe? Are there any Indian Reservations close by worth visiting?

laurieb_nyny

I will be staying at the Park Inn in August (part of the Radisson chain) (parkinn.com). I obviously can't recommend it yet, but you may want to have a look at the website.

travel_addict

Hi again,

Dar Al Islam is a beautiful building. I've never been inside there (it was closed) so please post back and let us know what it's like.

As for places in Santa Fe, if you're looking for something cheap, almost all of the hotel chains have a place on Cerrillos Road. Cerrillos is a very long road running from the Plaza area to the southwest side of the city. (In fact, it's also called NM14 and goes all the way to Albuquerue.) Other than the adobe buildings, it's pretty much like every other major street in any city - lots of fast food places, chain hotels, malls, etc.

There are lots of Native American pueblos in northern New Mexico - they're all unique. For more info, visit www.newmexico.org, or www.santafe.org.

Personally, I could spend a week just walking around downtown Santa Fe and Canyon Road. Outside of Santa Fe... Bandelier, Taos Pueblo, Nambe Falls, Chimayo, Madrid, Jemez Springs, Tent Rocks & of course, Abiquiu are all great places to visit. There's too many places to choose from! What do you like to do?