8 Best Sights in Taos, New Mexico

For nearly 1,000 years, the mud-and-straw adobe walls of Taos Pueblo have sheltered Tiwa-speaking Native Americans. A United Nations World Heritage Site, the multistory Pueblo is the largest of its kind. The pueblo's main buildings, a north house and a south house, are separated by the Rio Pueblo de Taos, a river that originates high in the mountains at the sacred Blue Lake, the primary source of Taos Pueblo’s drinking and irrigation water. These two structures are believed to have been built between 1000 and 1450. The mica-flecked adobe walls are maintained by continuously refinishing them with new plaster and clay washes. Some walls are several feet thick in places. The roofs of each of the five-story structures are supported by large timbers, or vigas, hauled down from the mountain forests, with smaller pieces of pine or aspen latillas placed between the vigas. To finish the roof, it is packed full of dirt.

Taos Pueblo has retained 95,000 acres of its original homeland. Forty-eight thousand acres of this was won back from the U.S. government through Taos Pueblo’s historic legal fight for the return of Blue Lake. Tribal custom allows no electricity or running water in the two houses of the ancient Pueblo, where varying members (roughly 150) of Taos Pueblo live full-time. An additional 1,900 or so live in homes outside of the ancient pueblo. The pueblo also has schools, cemeteries, a health center, farms and fields, buffalo pastures, powwow grounds, and many religious dwellings including traditional kivas and the Catholic Church of San Geronimo.

Although the population is predominantly Catholic, the people of Taos Pueblo also maintain their original religious traditions. The public is invited to certain ceremonial and social dances held throughout the year: highlights include the Feast of Santa Cruz (May 3); Taos Pueblo Pow Wow (mid-July); Santiago and Santa Ana Feast Days (July 25 and 26); San Geronimo Days (September 29 and 30); Procession of the Virgin Mary (December 24); and Deer Dance or Matachines Dance (December 25). While you're at the pueblo, respect all rules and customs, which are posted prominently. There are some restrictions on personal photography. Guided tours are available daily and are the best way to start your visit. Tours are led Taos Pueblo community members and provide insight into both the history and present-day life of the Pueblo.

Just two blocks from Taos Plaza, the Harwood Museum of Art is an essential destination for all art lovers. The beautifully renovated Pueblo Revival-style adobe compound has served as a center for the arts and culture in New Mexico for more than 100 years and once housed the town’s library. With nine galleries and a collection of more than 6,500 objects, the Harwood exhibits works that range from colonial Hispanic artists and the Taos Society of Artists to post-World War II modernists and cutting-edge contemporary artists. The Harwood is also home to the world-famous Agnes Martin Gallery and an impressive collection by renowned santero (religious icon artist) Patrociño Barela, not to mention robust educational programming with outstanding films, lectures, and concerts in its state-of-the-art auditorium.

The bustling center of downtown Taos, the Plaza is also filled with some of the town's most important history. The first European explorers of the Taos Valley came here with Captain Hernando de Alvarado, a member of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado’s expedition of 1540. Basque explorer Don Juan de Oñate later arrived in Taos in July 1598 and Spanish settlements began to be established in the 1600s. In 1796, the King of Spain gave the Don Fernando de Taos land grant to 63 Hispanic families—the most significant settlement in the area second only to Taos Pueblo. It was then developed into two plazas: one was a thriving business district for the early colony, while the second, a walled residential plaza, was constructed a few hundred yards behind it. The plaza was guarded by sentries and the only way in or out was through a large gate. At night, livestock were brought into the enclosed space for security. Some ditches from the original hand-dug acequia system that brought water from nearby rivers through town for agricultural irrigation can still be seen in the downtown area. A gruesome, but important, historic chapter took place at Taos Plaza in 1847, during the Mexican-American War. The Taos Rebellion, or Taos Revolt, was an effort by the Indo-Hispano and Taos Pueblo communities to resist the American invasion of Northern New Mexico. This resulted in the murder of newly-appointed Governor Charles Bent and other Americans and a massacre at Taos Pueblo by the U.S. Army who killed women and children as well as men. Following a jury trial at the Taos County Courthouse weighted to favor the American view, a number of local men were declared guilty and publicly executed by hanging on Taos Plaza. The scars of that event still mark the people who live here, many of them descendants of those killed. Be sure to visit the recently renovated historic old Taos County Courthouse on the north side of the Plaza, the site of these convictions. A series of dramatic murals depicting the use and misuse of the law were painted on its walls in the 1930s by Taos artists. The initiative, a project of the Works Progress Administration, was led by Emil Bisttram who studied fresco techniques under Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Luckily for modern-day visitors, today’s plaza is the home to summer fiestas, family-friendly concerts, and other community events, and houses gift shops, galleries, and restaurants.

One of the most impressive surviving Spanish Colonial houses in the Southwest, the Hacienda was built between 1804 and 1820 on the west bank of the Rio Pueblo and served as a community refuge during Comanche and Apache raids. Its thick walls, which have few windows, surround two central courtyards. Don Antonio Severino Martínez was a farmer and trader; his hacienda was the final stop along El Camino Real (the Royal Road), the trade route the Spanish established between Mexico City and New Mexico. The restored period rooms here contain textiles, spiritual art, and fine handcrafted pieces from the early 19th century. Be sure to stop in the gift shop, which features many renowned Taos artists, books on the region, and more. Visit in June for the hacienda's American mountain man event, or in September for their well-loved trading fair.

More than 7,000 pieces of spectacular Native American and Hispanic art, many of them from the private collection of the late Standard Oil heiress Millicent Rogers, are on display here. Among the pieces are baskets, blankets, rugs, kachina dolls, carvings, tinwork, paintings, rare religious artifacts, and, most significantly, jewelry (Rogers, a fashion icon in her day, had a deep appreciation for the turquoise-and-silver artistry of Native American jewelers). Other important works include the pottery and ceramics of Maria Martinez and other potters from San Ildefonso Pueblo (north of Santa Fe). Docents conduct guided tours by appointment, and the museum hosts lectures, films, workshops, and demonstrations. The two-room gift shop has exceptional jewelry, rugs, books, and pottery.

It's a dizzying experience to see the Rio Grande 650 feet underfoot, where it flows at the bottom of an immense, steep rock canyon. In summer the reddish rocks dotted with green scrub contrast brilliantly with the blue sky, where you might see a hawk lazily floating in circles. The bridge is one of the highest suspension bridges in the country. Hold on to your camera and eyeglasses when looking down. Many days just after daybreak, hot-air balloons fly above and even inside the gorge. There's a campground with picnic shelters and basic restrooms on the west side of the bridge.

A National Historic Landmark, this is a beloved destination among the faithful, as well as for artists, photographers, and architectural buffs. The active Catholic church regularly celebrates Mass, contains numerous Hispanic religious artifacts, and is open to the public for visiting. Be sure to show respect for house of worship norms. The building's shape is a surprise with rounded, sculpted buttresses. Construction began in 1772 and today its mud-and-straw adobe walls are replastered by hand every year in an annual event. The "Ranchos Church" with its massive earthen walls and undulating lines is an awe-inspiring sight that Georgia O’Keeffe painted and Ansel Adams photographed many times. Group tours provided by the church historian can be scheduled in advance. The famous Shadow of the Cross painting is preserved in a nearby building and is also worth seeing.

The interiors of this extraordinary adobe house and studio, built between 1927 and 1933 by Russian émigré and artist Nicolai Fechin, are a marvel of carved Russian-style woodwork and furniture as well as Southwest architecture. Fechin constructed them to showcase his daringly colorful paintings, intricate wood carvings and cabinetry, and coppersmith work on fixtures. The house now contains the Taos Art Museum, which exhibits a rotating collection of some 600 paintings by more than 50 Taos artists, including founders of the original Taos Society of Artists, among them Joseph Sharp, Ernest Blumenschein, Bert Phillips, E. I. Couse, and Oscar Berninghaus. Be sure to take a stroll through the lovely gardens, and a peek in the gift shop which houses exquisite pieces by contemporary jewelers among many attractive items.