Reinvented Hotels, Tiny Galleries and More Reasons to Road Trip Through New Mexico

Since the 19th century, city-based artists have flocked to the Southwest, seeking inspiration and, often, solitude in the remote stillness. And they’ve found it in New Mexico, easily—in the rust-colored rock formations of Ghost Ranch, the sunsets over the Sandia Mountains, the rippled dunes of White Sands National Park and the rolling hills dotted with piñon pines for miles on end.

Today, 100 years after Route 66 first connected Illinois to California, a generation of travelers is feeling a similar gravitational pull, with new hotels and expanded properties ready to meet them. Meanwhile, energetic young artists are giving us new ways to see and understand this region. It all makes for one of the most exciting times to visit this slice of the Southwest.

Where to Stay 

The most convenient airport to fly into is in Albuquerque, which is also the most logical home base for exploring north central and central New Mexico. If a remote casita in the desert isn’t quite your thing, book a room at ARRIVE Albuquerque, a six-story hotel from the Palisociety team that opened in early 2025 in a space once occupied by a 1960s-era roadside motor inn. Here, the environment of a midcentury motel is updated for today: Each room has a Victrola Bluetooth speaker, valet replaces the motor inn custom of self parking outside your door and the jukebox inside the hotel’s DWTNR Cocktail Bar & LoungeOpens overlay plays CDs instead of 45s. (That last bit feels targeted to millennials—on a recent visit, it was playing early-2000s indie rock.)

But it’s Secret Gallery, located inside ARRIVE, that really represents the fresh, creative perspectives making Albuquerque a can’t-miss art destination today. Exhibits and events primarily focus on experimental and contemporary artists indigenous to the Southwest—the gallery’s grand opening in the hotel featured artists like Vicente Telles, whose work includes traditional retablos (devotional folk art, like saints on carved wood) as well as modern reinterpretations of religious iconography.

Over in Santa Fe, El Rey Court has taken a similar approach of reinventing historic spaces. Also occupying a former motor inn—this time from the 1930s—the reimagined hotel pairs its adobe architecture with a Swim Club that wouldn’t feel out of place in Portland or Austin, and mezcal flights at the hotel’s restaurant and bar, La Reina.

Downtown, The Inn of the Five Graces—Santa Fe’s most eclectic hotel—is expanding, adding new rooms along what the property claims is the oldest inhabited block in the country, established in the late 16th century. Recently, the hotel also introduced new celestial glamping expeditions to its roster of experiences. And over the past few years, it’s revitalized two of the city’s most historic dining and drinking destinations: The Pink Adobe, a beloved New Mexican-Cajun restaurant dating back to the 1940s, and The Dragon Room bar, which counts cowboys, artists and politicians among a decades-long list of regulars.

Where to Eat and Drink

This mishmash of storied and modern continues to intermingle in Santa Fe’s dining scene. The big three—GeronimoOpens overlay, The Compound RestaurantOpens overlay and SazónOpens overlay—offer a familiar white-tablecloth experience in elegant spaces. But for a taste of the city’s new guard, there are places like Leo’sOpens overlay, a Thai- and Malay-inspired neighborhood restaurant with a funky cocktail list and plenty of natural wine, all inside a former gas station and body shop.

Centinela Traditional Arts is a must-visit for Rio Grande–style weavings.

What to Do

In towns like Chimayó, roughly 30 minutes north of Santa Fe, traditional Rio Grande-style weavings hang alongside more modern interpretations. At Centinela Traditional Arts, an eighth-generation weaver will regale you from behind a loom with stories of contemporary artisans keeping history alive while experimenting with less-common colors and patterns.

Further west is Gallup, colloquially known as New Mexico’s “Gateway to Native America” for its proximity to the Navajo Nation and Zuni Pueblo. And while much of the art that you’ll find here is deeply rooted in ancestral culture and traditions, the town’s smallest gallery, LOOM Indigenous Art Gallery—a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it 30-square-foot storefront—shows its future: a younger generation reimagining how we see and experience Native American art while challenging commercialized narratives. A 2025 exhibition spotlighted the work of Diné artist and musician Ryan Allison, which intends to dismantle the box-office stereotypes of cowboys and Indians.

Ten Thousand Waves, a spa inspired by the mountain resorts of Japan, is the perfect place to soak off a day of hiking.

But to appreciate New Mexico in full means spending time with its past. Take Bandelier National Monument, comprising parts of the ancestral homeland of at least 23 tribal nations and thousands of Pueblo homes. Traversing the main loop brings you to a cliff dwelling 140 feet off the ground, accessible through steep ladders and stone stairs. And then there’s Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, with trails that meander through conical rock formations created millions of years ago. After a day of exploring, relax in the geothermal waters of Jemez Springs, or visit Ten Thousand Waves, a unique Santa Fe spa inspired by the mountain resorts of Japan.

And of course, no trip to this part of the country would be complete without a hike through Ghost Ranch and a visit to Abiquiú, where you’ll find Georgia O’Keeffe’s pristinely maintained home and studio. From the sweeping view outside her bedroom window, you can see a winding stretch of road that passes through a backdrop of hills and mesas—all three of which would become hallmarks of her work—before disappearing into the horizon. It’s where the decision to seek out beauty and inspiration from this landscape feels like an incredibly obvious one. The generation of artists who made their way here weren’t the first to do so, and they certainly won’t be the last.