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Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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For a weekend away from ABQ - Santa Fe vs Taos. Which place do you prefer? Where would you rather spend a weekend or holiday? Both offer simalaraties and differences. Do you like the history, trendy atmosphere, museums etc. of Santa Fe? Or do you prefer the small mountain resort town and laid back atmosphere of Taos?
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 05-01-2011 at 07:47 PM..
My reasons for preferring Taos are practical: Santa Fe is close to ABQ, we go there fairly often as it is, so it doesn't seem necessary to pay to stay at a hotel in order to enjoy Santa Fe. That would be kind of like pitching a tent in the back yard like we did as kids. Taos, however, we seldom drive to anymore just for the day. So it makes a nice weekend getaway from ABQ to break up the driving. But if you're really into blowing big $$ on a hotel experience (which we are not) then Santa Fe offers a lot of beautiful choices.
Other fun weekend getaways can be Los Alamos, Silver City, T or C, Raton, Durango (CO), and Las Vegas (NM). You can take Amtrak from downtown ABQ to Las Vegas, walk a couple of blocks to the El Fidel Hotel from the train station, walk all over the town and Plaza, then take Amtrak back to ABQ the next day. Also, during crane season, it's fun to stay in Socorro overnight to get to Bosque del Apache before the break of dawn the next day.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Thanks aries. That should have occurred to me that Santa Fe is more of a day trip than a weekend for Albuquerque residents. What inspired this poll for me was having known Santa Fe and Taos as the tourist destinations in NM with the most notoriety. Having read up on the state quite a bit before arriving there, I perceived both as having a reputation for art, Native American culture, new age trends, spas and healing practice, and the Sangre de Cristos. Santa Fe is known around the world for all these things but I just felt that Taos delivered a better experience for me. I actually felt like I was on holiday more in Taos and the physical setting of the town where the open horizon of the sagebrush desert meets the mountains along with the Rio Grande gorge was just stellar! It seemed very laid back, still pricey and quite touristy, but if I had a choice between the two to spend a weekend I would definitely head up to Taos. I still like Santa Fe a lot, and I was very stimulated there browsing around the art galleries. I just think I'd have more to do up in Taos.
I like your other suggestions also. I had made a stop in T or C and took in the hot springs spa experience at Sierra Grande which was just divine. I'd love to see Durango and the San Juan mountains. I've read a little about Las Vegas, NM. It sounds quaint. Does it have a similar atmosphere and architecture as one of those restored Victorian mining towns commonly found in the Rockies of Colorado? I haven't heard much about the place on these C-D chat forums.
Las Vegas is not a mining town but a hybrid of an adobe Mexican-era village (west side) with a more modern railroad town (east side). It has the largest number of buildings on the National Historic Register in the state (many in disrepair), a Carnegie Library and a number of Victorian houses. You can take a self-guided walking tour (using a booklet you can find in the train station). It is the home of Highlands University, the Rough Riders Museum, the old Castañeda Hotel (a Harvery House which has appeared in several films, now defunct except for a saloon on the main floor), and the state mental hospital. The Plaza Hotel (on the plaza, duh) has a decent restaurant and has a room or two reputed to be haunted. Not within walking distance are the Armand-Hammer World College (in an amazing building recently restored) and the Montezuma hot springs. I think it's an interesting little town in a beautiful location but it may not offer enough for a whole weekend of amusement unless you combine it with something, like Fort Union National Monument (for which you need a car).
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