Interesting Road Trip Out of Albuquerque and other New Mexico, NM General Tips

Favorite Thing: Take I-40 out of Albuquerque, stop at Acoma's Sky City, then take NM-53 to see the El Malpais National Monument and El Morro. Skip the ice cave; it is somewhat interesting but a little pricy. Then take NM-602 to Gallup and spend the night in the historic El Rancho Hotel and Motel. Continue on I-40. Visit the Petrified Forest and take a look at the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook. At Flagstaff turn north on US-89. Do the Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monument loop. Camping at the Bonito Campground is $16 or there is lodging at the Cameron Trading Post (not cheap). Continue north on US-89 to AZ-64 west. It will take you to the Little Colorado Canyon overlook and then the Desert View Watchtower. Continue on East Rim Drive to Grand Canyon Village. Spend the night (expensive).

After seeing Grand Canyon in the morning, head back to US-89, Tuba City, Monument Valley (US-160) or Hopi mesas (AZ-264), and Chinle. Spend the night. Tour Canyon de Chelly. Then go to Cortez, Colorado, via US-191 and US-160. Spend the night. Tour Mesa Verde. Then take US-160 to Durango and Pagosa Springs, and US-64 from Chama to Taos, which goes across the Rio Grande Gorge bridge near Taos. A narrow gauge train trip in Chama is an option. Try the diner in Tres Piedras. Spend the night in Taos. See my Questa tips for things to do around Taos, and between Taos and Santa Fe.

There are two ways back to Sante Fe from Taos. The primary route is via NM-68/US-285. When returning this way, don't miss the La Chiripada Winery in Dixon, the restaurant/brewery at Embudo Station, and Gabriel's Restaurant (Exit-176 on US-285 north of Santa Fe or the Buffalo Thunder exit if coming south). The other, less-traveled way is the "High Road" via NM-518/NM-75/NM-76 through Penasco, Truchas, Chimayo (with its magical chapel), and Nambe (shortcut to Santa Fe). I didn't work the timing out well but the basic route seems good. LOL, I should do it myself.


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Favorite Thing: Fly into Albuquerque and spend the first night there. The Frontier or the Flying Star restaurants are good dinner options if you arrive late. If you stay near the airport, you could eat at the K&I Diner early the next morning, then drive to Acoma Pueblo (~ 1-1.5 hrs). Take the tour, have lunch at the casino, and then back to I-25 south via the NM-6 shortcut. Drive to Socorro on I-25 then west on US-60 to the Very Large Array (VLA). In the evening you may want to try the Bosque del Apache, not so much for the sunset (which I think can be impressive; see the lead photo in my Albuquerque travelogue on southern NM) but for the birds. In the winter, the evening is when they all return after being out feeding in the valley during the day.

Spend the second night in Socorro after dinner at the Owl Café in San Antonio. The next day see the Valley of Fires and Three Rivers Petroglyphs on US-380 and US-54, respectively. If you have time, you may want to stop at the Space Museum in Alamogordo. You want to be at the White Sands National Monument in the late afternoon and for the evening tour. Note that it will cool off very quickly in the evening at most times of the year.

Spend the third night in Alamogordo. Drive to Carlsbad Caverns via Artesia, Carlsbad, and White City (US-82/285/62). You definitely want to make it in time for a natural entrance tour; the last one is at 2:30 PM.

Spend the fourth night in Carlsbad or Roswell, depending on when you finish your tour of the caverns. Get an early start the next day if you are in Carlsbad. You can do the UFO museum in Roswell in about an hour, then head to Santa Fe via US-285 (~3 hrs). You will for sure want to spend more time in Santa Fe than Roswell. Depending on the time of your flight out of Albuquerque the next day, spend the fifth night in Santa Fe or Albuquerque; however, don’t underestimate the traffic on I-25 between Santa Fe and Albuquerque if you decide to spend the fifth night in Santa Fe. This is a lot of driving in just a few days but you will see some amazing things.


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