Top Albuquerque Day Trips

Delve into New Mexico’s rich history and archaeology on a tour that reveals the Southwest’s natural wonders, ruins, and culture. As you visit the Pueblo of Jemez, a guide shares cultural stories and historical details that you would likely miss if visiting on your own. By traveling on a private tour, you can set the pace and choose how much time you want to spend at each site.

Customize your private full-day tour of Santa Fe for a personalized experience of this popular destination. Stroll around historic Santa Fe Plaza, browse shops and art galleries, learn about New Mexico’s history and the Native American Southwest, and visit attractions such as Georgia O’Keefe Museum or Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. Your private guide shares the best of Santa Fe, including tasty foods and a scenic walk.

This private tour of Albuquerque is completely customizable and includes a guide and transportation for up to three people. A great option for first-time visitors, the tour begins in Old Town where you’ll learn more about the history and culture of the city. Visit a working lavender farm, relax for awhile at a local winery, or visit the prehistoric Pueblo Indian village of Kuaua. You may also want to take a ride on the Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway, which offers spectacular mountain views. The tour lasts eight hours, so the options are endless.

Our tour will take us north on the Camino Real, a road that connected Mexico's ancient cultures with the equally ancient cultures of the American Southwest. This Camino trail is a backdrop for countless Hollywood movies. The first stop will be at the Poeh Cultural Center in the native pueblo of Pojoaque, which translates to "water gathering place". We will visit the museum and see the hundreds of ancient pots returned to this pueblo from museums. Next we see the Nambe Pueblo and follow the trail of pilgrims to the village of Chimayo at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains Each year, more than 300,000 people of every culture visit the Santuario Shrine in hopes of miracle cures. The chapel for the Santo Niño de Atocha is on the grounds, receiving prayers for children. The famous New Mexico Red Chile served at the Rancho de Chimayó restaurant is where we will enjoy lunch. Returning to Santa Fe or Albuquerque, we see the Santa Fe Opera and it's amazing architecture.

The historic Turquoise Trail, a National Scenic Byway between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, is synonymous with Native American spirituality, Spanish explorers, adventurous mining, and brave pioneers. The blue-green turquoise, nationally recognized as a precious stone, was first mined by the early Pueblo people as early as 900 A.D. From the 1800s onward Spanish explorers, missionaries and prospectors followed the trail of the native American Indians already here. Today the National Scenic Byway is home to many modern day settlers and host to tens of thousands of visitors a year! The drive is approximately 50 miles along Highway 14. Enjoy breathtaking scenery while traveling back into history through the mining towns of Golden, Madrid, and Cerrillos. These small towns are now alive with art, crafts, museums and restaurants. Drive, gawk, walk, and eat on this trail of history!

Acoma Pueblo is considered to be one of longest inhabited places in North America. The stunning old Pueblo, Sky City, lies atop a sheer-sided mesa 367 ft. (111 m) above the valley floor. October to April tours to the top are on Friday, Saturday and Sunday only. April through September tours to the top are available daily

In addition to visits to the O'keeffe Museum, the Welcome Center and painting sites, we will be driving through the incredible Piedra Lumbre basin (or Valley of the Shining Stone) which stretches from Abiquiu to Chama along the Chama River. From there we will visit Ghost Ranch, a dramatic 21, 000-acre of New Mexican landscape, where the reclusive American artist Georgia O'Keeffe led a solitary life immersed in nature and art. O'Keeffe fell in love with the sculpted landscape of rivers, cliffs and buttes in an expanse of earthen formations which according to pueblo peoples are alive and imbued with spirits of the past. Ghost Ranch is also known for a remarkable concentration of fossils, most notably that of the theropod dinosaur Coelophysis, of which it has been estimated that nearly a thousand individuals have been preserved in a quarry at Ghost Ranch. By touring the formations, the Chama River Valley and Ghost Ranch we understand the love she felt for the ancient, sacred place.