A Rio Runs Through It: The Ultimate Guide to a New Mexico Road Trip

I first visited northern New Mexico 13 years ago on a road trip. I had dreamed of this landscape, climate, culture, and color palette since first being exposed to Native American history and nature photography of the Southwest as a child. I wanted to return but lived internationally, so it wasn’t until 2017 that I began to frequent the area again. At that time, I lived in the Yucatan and would come here to escape the dense, sweltering, rainy season (or the “buggy, sticky, itchy season” as I experienced it) and stay in an off-grid area in Taos County. Even without running water or electricity, or perhaps because of this, I was smitten. Why am I not living here, I thought. Soon after, I moved to the “Land of Enchantment”—or entrapment. (Or, most likely, a bit of both.)

Over the past few years, I began noticing that so much of the New Mexico-centric travel coverage I was coming across felt a little repetitive: geared towards the constant influx of tourists usually flying in and out of Albuquerque, staying in Santa Fe, then speedily heading up to Taos or Abiquiu for a quick day trip. So I set out to explore further, with a particular focus on small businesses, solopreneurs, artisans, and other special offerings, with the hope of sharing and celebrating those places and ventures that make New Mexico such a desirable and unique tapestry of high, low, old and new.

Welcome to my totally subjective and not at all exhaustive suggested itinerary of where to eat, stay, shop, and play in New Mexico. It’s focused on the north-south axis along the Rio Grande, between Truth or Consequences and Taos County. Five days is the suggested duration, though it could easily be extended to a week or more; or even broken down into smaller jaunts, focusing on each town and the clusters of sights and surrounding areas. The choice is yours.