Nightlife

If you’re in search of a nonstop, highly varied nightlife, you’d best catch the next flight to Los Angeles, Miami, or New York. It’s not that commercial nighttime entertainment doesn’t exist in Santa Fe. In fact The City Different boasts a thriving nightlife. You just have to look a little harder for it than you would in other, larger cities. It’s also somewhat limited in scope, especially as evening turns into night and night turns into morning. Except for bars, dance concerts at the two microbreweries, and a handful of cafes, Santa Fe rolls up the sidewalks after 10 p.m. Many bars close at 11:30 or midnight during the week, some even on weekends.

Locals are resourceful, however. They create their own nightlife, much of which consists of meeting friends at favorite restaurants or bars which, like their denizens, have distinct personalities. For those who live to dance, the choices have narrowed in recent years, but you’ll find special salsa evenings sometimes advertised, deejayed by local aficionados. Many hotels also offer live entertainment, much of it homegrown—though that by no means rules out the occasional big-name act. Thanks to Santa Fe’s magnetic attraction for artists, musicians, and celebrities of all ilk and fame, local talent is excellent and plentiful here.

For detailed information about how to fill your evenings in Santa Fe, check the Pasatiempo, the arts and entertainment supplement of the local daily newspaper, the Santa Fe New Mexican, published every Friday. The Albuquerque Journal offers nightlife suggestions in “Revue,” which comes out on Fridays, and daily in Journal North. The free, weekly Santa Fe Reporter also contains day-by-day listings of nighttime entertainment in the “Arts and Culture” section.