Santa Fe - American Southwest - page 139

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1 ORIENTATION

Part of the charm of Santa Fe is that it's so easy to get around. Like most cities of His-
panic origin, it was built around a parklike central plaza. Centuries-old adobe buildings
and churches still line the narrow streets; many of them house shops, restaurants, art
galleries, and museums.
Santa Fe sits high and dry at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo range. Santa Fe Baldy, a
mere 12 miles northeast of the plaza, rises to more than 12,600 feet. The city's downtown
straddles the Santa Fe River, a tiny tributary of the Rio Grande that is little more than a
trickle for much of the year. North is the Española Valley and about 70 miles beyond that
is the village of Taos (see chapter 8). South are ancient Indian turquoise mines in the
Cerrillos Hills; southwest is metropolitan Albuquerque, 58 miles away (see chapter 9).
To the west, across the Caja del Rio Plateau, is the Rio Grande, and beyond that, the
11,000-foot Jemez Mountains and Valle Grande, an ancient and massive volcanic cal-
dera. Native American pueblos dot the entire Rio Grande valley; they're an hour's drive
in any direction.

ARRIVING
BY PLANE Many people choose to fly into the Albuquerque International Sunport.
However, if you want to save time and don't mind paying a bit more, you can fly into
the Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF; & 505/955-2900; www.santafenm.gov), just
outside the southwestern city limits on Airport Road. In conjunction with American
Airlines, commuter flights are offered by American Eagle ( & 800/433-7300; www.
aa.com). Delta Airlines ( & 800/221-1212; www.delta.com) is planning to begin service
in the near future.
If you do fly into Albuquerque, you can rent a car or take one of the bus services. See
“Getting There & Getting Around,” in chapter 3, for details.
From the Santa Fe Municipal Airport, Roadrunner Shuttle ( & 505/424-3367 )
meets every commercial flight and takes visitors anywhere in Santa Fe. From the Albu-
querque Sunport to Santa Fe, Sandia Shuttle Express ( & 888/775-5696 or 505/474-
5696; www.sandiashuttle.com) runs shuttles from 8:45am to 10:45pm.
BY TRAIN & BUS For detailed information about train and bus service to Santa Fe,
see “Getting There & Getting Around,” in chapter 3.
BY CAR I-25 skims past Santa Fe's southern city limits, connecting it along one con-
tinuous highway from Billings, Montana, to El Paso, Texas. I-40, the state's major east-
west thoroughfare, which bisects Albuquerque, affords coast-to-coast access to Santa Fe.
(From the west, motorists leave I-40 in Albuquerque and take I-25 north; from the east,
travelers exit I-40 at Clines Corners and continue 52 miles to Santa Fe on US 285. Note:
Diesel is scarce on US 285, so be sure to fill up before you leave Clines Corners.) For
those coming from the northwest, the most direct route is via Durango, Colorado, on
US 160, entering Santa Fe on US 84.
For a list of car-rental agencies, see “Fast Facts,” on p. 613; for agencies in Santa Fe,
see “Getting Around,” below.

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