5 Best Sights in Day Trips from Santa Fe, New Mexico

This angular, contemporary nature center stands out as much for its dramatic design as for the engaging exhibits within. Families appreciate the interactive Children's Discovery Area and the giant scale model of the Pajarito Plateau that kids are encouraged to play on. There's also a high-tech planetarium with astronomy shows or films most weekends, nature trails, wildlife and conservation exhibits, and gardens with local flora and plenty of visiting birdlife.

Members of the Santa Clara Pueblo lead guests on one- to two-hour tours of the dramatic cliffs and ancient volcanic-rock dwellings that were inhabited by the tribe's ancestors from the late 900s to 1580. Start by viewing historic photos and cultural displays in the Exhibit Hall, which occupies a restored 1930s guesthouse that was the only lodging ever built by the famed Fred Harvey Company on Native-owned land. Visiting the dwellings—which include a 140-room kiva—and the cliff top with its eye-popping 360-degree vistas are by guided tour only (these last one to two hours, depending on which one you book). The entrance to the dwellings is about 15 miles northeast of Los Alamos.

Los Alamos National Laboratory's public showcase, the Bradbury provides a balanced and provocative examination of such topics as atomic weapons and nuclear power. You can experiment with lasers; witness research in solar, geothermal, fission, and fusion energy; learn about DNA fingerprinting; and view fascinating exhibits about World War II's Project Y (the Manhattan Project, whose participants developed the atomic bomb).

Across the street from Ashley Pond and the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Visitor Center, this engaging museum has indoor and outdoor exhibits about the region's Ancestral Puebloan history dating back to the 14th century, the Boy Scout–influenced prep school for young men from prominent families (including Gore Vidal and William S. Burroughs) that operated here before World War II, the Manhattan Project, and more recent times. A few doors away, the mid-century modern Hans Bethe House depicts home life for the top-level scientists working on the atomic bomb, and next door you can view the exterior of J. Robert Oppenheimer's home (which remains a private residence). Be sure to visit the neighboring Fuller Lodge Art Center (free), a massive log building designed in 1928 by famed New Mexican architect John Gaw Meem as part of the prep school, before it was purchased and converted into the base of operations for the Manhattan Project. Inside there's an art gallery and shop that presents rotating exhibits throughout the year.

In the heart of this community that's a must for anyone interested in the history of the atomic age, this small visitor center can help you learn what to see and do around town. Start with an orientation film on the people and events that led to the creation of the atomic bomb, then pick up a self-guided tour of the town's notable historic sites. It's beside the Los Alamos Visitor Center, which also has free and excellent brochures on local hiking trails as well as both the town's and the surrounding area's attractions.