Do You Know the Way to Santa Fe? Best Blog Ever

August 15, 2011 | Everywhere
Mountain High
DailyCandy Goes to Santa Fe, New Mexico

Channel your inner Georgia O’Keeffe: Journey through sun-drenched, high desert Santa Fe, New Mexico.

With galleries, restaurants, new agey spas, and enough turquoise to pave the streets, this 400-year-old city perched 7,000 feet above sea level at the base of the Rocky Mountains’s Sangre de Cristo range lives up to its nickname, The City Different.

LAZE
Luxury digs like La Fonda on the Plaza abound. Toast sunset from its bell tower overlooking downtown. For cozy casual, Casa Cuma Bed & Breakfast serves gourmet eats on the flower-filled patio and has innkeepers so kind you won’t want to leave. Cuddle in a casita (and sip wine on your private patio) slightly off the beaten path at El Farolito Bed & Breakfast Inn.

GRAZE
Pair a lime margarita with spicy green chili stew alfresco at The Shed, housed in an adobe hacienda dating back to 1692. Mosey over to Cafe Pasqual’s, named after the patron saint of cooks, for huevos rancheros with green or red chili sauce and to-die-for corned beef hash. For an authentic Spanish experience, check out El Farol, the oldest cantina in town, where locals and tourists yell “olé” during the nightly selection of live jazz, salsa, or flamenco dancing.

PRAISE
Pray for rain at the opulent St. Francis Cathedral, where you can practically feel the history dripping from its stained glass windows. Forty minutes away, collect a baggie of sacred red dirt from El Santuario de Chimayó for healing physical or spiritual ailments. Considered the Lourdes of America, the village is filled with pilgrims from around the world.

WAVES
Ten Thousand Waves is a mountain spa with clothing-optional private and public hot baths and the most mind-altering massages (four hands; ashi anma for the feet) this side of the Pacific. The Yasuragi head and neck treatment is legal ecstasy.

CRAZE
Satisfy your craving for art, pottery, jewelry, and design inspiration at one of the many boutiques and galleries. Jackalope has a huge selection of gifts and home accessories with artisans on-site. Or buy a cup of joe and best seller from Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse. And, yes, you do need a new piece of turquoise from a Native American artist on the sidewalk of the Palace of the Governors.

And that’s how you do the wild, wild Southwest.

Photos: Courtesy of La Fonda on the Plaza; Courtesy of The Shed; Courtesy of Ten Thousand Waves


	Check out more photos of Santa Fe, and then get inspiration for your next warm-weather getaway.



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