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Santa Fe is located at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo mountains of northern New Mexico, USA. The dry, moderate climate combined with beautiful light and vistas make Santa Fe a wonderful place to live or to visit. And that's not even mentioning all the art and culture...
Water is everything !! Look into it.	Once the Spanish and Mexican capital of the region, this ancient city is like no other on Earth. We are on a small tributary of the Rio Grande, the river that later forms the Texas - Mexico border. To find out more, read on and explore the rest of SFOL.
A TIP ON USING THIS PAGE   ---   There are six sections of 'About Santa Fe' information. The links on the red bar are a better way to get around than using the scroll bar.		Wilson Hurley, "Santa Fe Peak" 1980 Offered by AFA, Ltd.

General Information

The readers of Conde Nast Traveler magazine picked Santa Fe, New Mexico as the best travel destination in the world. Santa Fe was one of only three cities in the United States to make the worldwide poll, and it was by far the smallest. Furthermore, in winning a coveted position in the travel sweepstakes, Santa Fe not only outdid Paris and Rome, it won its spot as a write-in.

At an elevation of about 7,000 feet (2,135 meters) above sea level, Santa Fe is at the point where the high desert meets the ponderosa pine and aspen forests of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, which rise to over 12,000 feet (3,660 meters) within a half-hour's drive of town. The area provides a beautiful setting for outdoor activities, such as hiking and skiing. Santa Fe is well known as a center of art and culture, with lots of galleries, museums, and live events. Although Santa Fe is the state capitol of New Mexico, it is not the largest city. With a population of approximately 70,000 people, it still has some of the "small town" feeling.

If you can come in person, we have some tips for visitors and our whole Travel and Lodging area. Visitors also should check out the Community Calendars page for upcoming area events. If you can't visit Santa Fe "in the flesh", we're delighted to have you explore Santa Fe Online!

You can even keep on getting souveniers of Santa Fe after you leave! Check out our FREE Postcard Service and we will send you a new image from our web site every week.

Culture

• Colleges
• • College of Santa Fe
  • St. John's College
  • Santa Fe Community College
  • Santa Fe Institute (a think-tank about Artifical Life and Complexity Theory)
• Fiesta de Santa Fe, including the burning of Zozobra
• Galleries in the 'real world' and cyberspace.
• Libraries
• • New Mexico State Library
  • Santa Fe Public Library
• Museums
• • Museum of International Folk Art        A Classic Clovis Point
  • Anthropology in the Raw : Clovis and Beyond Conference
    October 28-31 1999
  • Museum of New Mexico, actually a whole system of museums
• Music
• • Chamber Music Festival
  • Concert Band
  • New Mexico Pro Coro
  • Santa Fe Desert Chorale : Trained voices, timeless music.
  • Santa Fe Opera
  • Symphony and Chorus
• Theater and Dance
• • Maria Benitez - Teatro Flamenco
  • Santa Fe Stages
• Many of these activities are supported by the city's Arts Commission

Outdoor Activities

• Skiing: There are a number of ski areas in northern New Mexico,
• including Ski Santa Fe which is 15 miles from downtown and 3,000 to 5,000 feet up.
• Golf
• • Las Campanas -- Private
  • Cochiti Pueblo Golf Course -- Public
  • Santa Fe Municipal Golf Course -- Public
  • Quail Run Golf Course -- Private
• Hiking and Camping:
• • Carson National Forest
  • Pecos Wilderness Area
  • New Mexico State Parks
  • Santa Fe National Forest
• Birding: Northern New Mexico is a mecca for bird watchers.
• • Randall Davey Audubon Center We have birdwalks, natural history workshops, school programs and a summer day camp.
  • Wings West Bird watching tours expertly guided
• Rafting: White water rafting is available seasonally
• • A guide to New Mexico Rivers from the American Whitewater Affiliation
    (the Rio Grand and the Pecos are the ones in the Santa Fe area).
  • River Levels -- New Mexico Rivers
  • New Wave Rafting Co
  • Known World Guides
  • Far Flung Adventures
• Rock Climbing
• Hunting and Fishing:
• • Flyfishing Page
  • NM Department of Game and Fish
• Mountain Biking
• • New Mexico Mountain Bike Adventures
  • Pedal the Peaks Heavy-duty biking tour of New Mexico's mountains
• Public swimming pools, tennis courts, ...
• Plenty of parks where soccer, baseball, football, rugby, and Ultimate Frisbee are played.

The old AT&SF railroad yard is the home to Outside Magazine.

Tips for Visitors

• Park & Walk: The downtown "Plaza"; area of Santa Fe packs a lot into a very walkable area. Other parts of town -- like Canyon Road -- have concentrations of sites, shops and museums. It can be easier to walk than park! If you need to access outlying areas, there is a bus system and a small squadron of taxis in town
• Altitude: If all that walking in the fresh air makes you feel like you've got a strange kind of flu, then get some extra sleep and drink lots of water -- you have altitude sickness. This is not dangerous, but only time can aclimate lowlanders. So take things a bit easy when you arrive. (In fact, taking it easy the rest of your life might be a good idea... but that's another story!)
• Sunscreen and Shades: The high altitude also means that we have lots of delightful sunshine, which can be hard on the eyes and skin, especially for skiers. TAKE PRECAUTIONS.
• 
• Temperature and Weather: Don't confuse us with Texas or Arizona! Our climate is mild: fall and spring are quite cool, it snows regularly in the winter, but in town it usually melts clear in a few days. Summer temperatures rarely get over 100 and we get spectacular afternoon thunderstorms in July and August. For our current weather, click here .

Links to Area Web Sites

Here are a few links to information about Santa Fe and New Mexico in general.

• History of New Mexico - Conquest, revolution, courage and treachery - a concise history by Robert J. Torrez, State Historian.
• History of Santa Fe (Courtesy of the Santa Fe County Chamber of Commerce)
• Interactive Santa Fe Trail and Stops Along the Santa Fe Trail
• A glossary of Local Lingo (Provided by French & French Fine Properties)
• New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
• New Mexico Department of Tourism, "Enchantment USA"
• Rancho de las Golondrinas, a reconstructed Spanish Colonial ranch
• Santa Fe Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Santa Fe Southern Railroad
• WWW Servers in New Mexico, maintained by UNM
• VIVA New Mexico!

There are more connections on our Travel Links page.

If you would like to suggest a link, please send it to .