Santa Fe Road Trip – Arts and Culture

Last Updated on September 12, 2023 by

Everywhere you turn, it seems there is another gallery, museum, or store that looks like a gallery or museum. Art in every facet abounds from paintings and sculpture to pottery and jewelry. Even the buildings seem to have known Santa Fe would develop into an art destination with bas relief and decorative tiles everywhere. Not to be outdone by created art, a small group of local gardeners, botanists and environmentally oriented citizens successfully lobbied to establish a botanical garden in Santa Fe.
Canyon Road may be the grand-daddy of galleries in town, but the Railyard is the young upstart nipping at its heels. Both areas are worthy of a full day visit, particularly on a Saturday morning for the farmers market.

Canyon Road

At only half a mile long, the epicenter of this art experience is undeniably Canyon Road. Despite its short length, Canyon Road packs in over a hundred different art galleries, making it the most dense collection of galleries in the States. Art from every possible genre by artists throughout the world can be found here. It’s like little museums all over the place.

Serious collectors and dabblers alike can find something to suit your style, but what I particularly like about Canyon Road is the big outdoor art. Nothing says ‘I live in big sky country’ (and not just Montana) like a fifteen foot bronze or metal sculpture.

Many of the galleries along the road more closely resemble a museum or city park than a place of business and it is easy to completely forget your spouse may be plotting a significant percentage of your retirement for the art you have blissfully forgotten is for sale. It should come as no surprise my favorite gallery along Canyon Road is the Wilford Gallery. It is an outdoor sculpture garden of rock fountains and kinetic art I could happily spend a few hours just admiring the craftsmanship.

Dining along Canyon Road

There are also a handful of truly excellent places to eat. Anchored at the eastern end is Caffe Greco. Although a baby by Santa Fe terms, Caffe Greco has been run by the Linder family for the past thirty years. You may not find a more unlikely pair of restauranteurs in your lifetime. Rita spent many years studying opera at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilla. She graduated, moved to New York, and met the love of her life Michael Linder. Michael was also an opera singer and cantor who performed at Carnegie Hall. They both also shared a passion for food. They fell in love with Santa Fe in 1987, and in 1992 opened Caffe Greco. The rest is culinary history. If you sit down for lunch or dinner, you will likely get to meet Rita or Michael, or one of the family members who will happily share with you their journey from stage to kitchen. While their burgers are quite good, you are in Santa Fe, and when in Sant Fe… try any one of their bowls instead, especially the Frito Pie Bowl.
The other end of the street holds El Farol. Unlike its younger sibling down the road, El Farol has been operating for over 100 years. The menu is more extensive than Caffe Greco with an excellent Tapas menu. You can’t go wrong with the paella, but I would suggest ordering a variety of Tapas to share among the table to get the best feel for Santa Fe cuisine. What truly separates El Farol is the Flamenco Dinner Show. For about $100, you get a three course prix fixe menu and the show. The performers are from the National Institute of Flamenco and only scheduled for Fridays and Saturdays.
If you want to experience fine dining in Santa Fe, look no further than Geronimo. Multiple award winner, including AAA Four Diamond and Mobil/Forbes 4 Star Awards, as well as OpenTables ‘Top 100 restaurants in the country’. Your wallet will be quite a bit lighter on your departure, but you are definitely getting what you pay for. The wagyu beef carpaccio was out of this world and set the tone for the entire meal. Nothing on the main course will disappoint, but the Tellicherry Rubbed Elk Tenderloin is incredible.
If you left room for dessert, Kakawa Chocolate House is a can’t miss opportunity. Although it is not technically on Canyon Road, it less than a quarter mile away from Caffe Greco on Paseo de Peralta.

Canyon Road Farolito Walk

Perhaps one of the best known, and certainly most beloved, Santa Fe events is the annual Christmas Eve Farolito Walk along Canyon Road.

Thousands of farolitos line the road and adorn the businesses along driveways and rooftops. Street musicians playing traditional holiday songs, hot chocolate stands abound , warm biscochitos are not to be missed. While many businesses close, several stay open to offer last minute shopping deals or have a stand set up outside with treats. Don’t be fooled by the desert locale, Santa Fe in winter is quite cold – bundle up and enjoy the tradition.

Did you know?
Farolitos are little lights made out of paper bags, sand, and tea candles.
The tradition of Christmas luminaries has a long history as part of religious tradition first recorded in the 16th century. Spanish people lit bonfires (luminaries) along the roads to guide people to Midnight Mass on the final night of Las Posadas. This was done to reenact the story of Mary and Joseph’s quest for lodging in Bethlehem. When the tradition was brought to the Santa Fe Trail in the early 19th century, settlers lit their entranceways with beautiful Chinese paper lanterns. These lanterns were known as farolitos, the Spanish word for ‘little lantern’ and the tradition was born. The paper lanterns were lit for nine consecutive nights beginning December 16th representing lighting the way for Christ’s birth

Botanical Gardens

Just a short mile and a half drive from Canyon Road on the Camino Del Monte Sol are the Santa Fe Botanical Gardens. The gardens are made up of twenty acres in the Museum Hill district.

The focus is on cultivating and conserving the rich botanical heritage and biodiversity of the region and is broken into four distinct gardens, and educational area, a pinon-juniper woodland and, of, course, an art walk.

The Gardens also feature Kearny’s Gap Bridge, originally in service along State highway NM 283 which follows the route of the Santa Fe Trail, southwest of Las Vegas, NM. When the highway was widened and moved north, the bridge was abandoned on private property until it was relocated to the Botanical Gardens. In its current location, the bridge provides views of the 1930s Civilian Conservation Corp historic gabion dam, and the long view downstream to the Jemez Mountains.

You could also certainly find the time to visit one of the museums responsible for the districts namesake:
The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art
The Museum of International Folk Art
The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture
Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian

Railyard and Farmers Market

The Railyard represents 50 acres of underused land transformed into an urban oasis celebrating Santa Fe history, arts, recreation, landscape and environment. The nearly completed revitalization project has joined existing studios, galleries, museums and community organizations with a year-round structure for the Santa Fe Farmers Market, a brand new home for teen center Warehouse 21, retail and restaurant spaces in the new Market Station complex (including REI, which does not scream Santa Fe, but one of my favorite stores none-the-less), live-in artist studios, and the addition of a state-of-the-art 12-screen movie theatre.

There are also thirteen acres of open space commonly filled with farmers market spillover, arts and craft booths, or any number of public events. The Railyards historic depot also serves as the terminus for the New Mexico Railrunner Express and the popular Santa Fe Southern’s excursion trains.

The Farmers Market runs Saturdays from 8AM – 1PM year round and brings in up to 130 farmers from 15 different New Mexico counties. It is a truly local market with all goods either grown in New Mexico or processed from items grown locally. Crafts are interspersed in the market and there is also a small craft and gift shop at one end adjacent to Café Fresh tucked away in a corner. Start your day with some exceptional coffee and one of the best breakfast burritos you’ll ever have. After all, shopping while hungry is always a recipe for disaster. Like the market itself, all items are either grown or produced locally in the café.

We found many varieties of vegetable we had never seen and the vendors were always willing to talk up their product and provide samples. Prepare yourself for the crowds, but if you are looking for fresh fruits and vegetables there is no better option, and don’t skip on the prepared foods. Possibly the best one-two stall combination in the entire complex sits outside with the Intergalactic bread company against the building and meat on a stick directly adjacent. Forgive me, I was a meat on a stick regular and never even looked at the name. Intergalactic breads has both sweet and savory flatbreads that will definitely have you coming back for more.