Small Towns Near Santa Fe, NM
The best small towns near Santa Fe are Chimayó, for its 1816 pilgrimage church and eight generations of weavers; Los Alamos, for Manhattan Project history and Bandelier’s cliff dwellings; and Abiquiú, where Georgia O’Keeffe lived and painted. All three are within about 40 miles, so each works as a day trip.
The 11 towns below run nearest first, from Cerrillos at about 20 miles to Tucumcari at about 130. Distances are straight-line miles from downtown Santa Fe, so the drive runs longer. You’ll find old mining camps, a mountain ski town, Route 66 stops and the state’s most famous pueblo.
| Town | Distance | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Cerrillos, New Mexico | About 20 miles | turquoise history, easy hiking |
| Madrid, New Mexico | About 20 miles | art galleries, lunch, live music |
| Los Alamos, New Mexico | About 25 miles | science history, cliff dwellings |
| Chimayó, New Mexico | About 25 miles | a pilgrimage church, weaving |
| Las Vegas, New Mexico | About 40 miles | Victorian architecture, old hotels |
| Abiquiú, New Mexico | About 40 miles | Georgia O’Keeffe, red cliffs |
| Taos, New Mexico | About 55 miles | a UNESCO pueblo, art, a weekend |
| Red River, New Mexico | About 80 miles | skiing, trout fishing, cool summers |
| Santa Rosa, New Mexico | About 90 miles | a desert swim, Route 66 |
| Raton, New Mexico | About 120 miles | Santa Fe Trail, volcano, lakes |
| Tucumcari, New Mexico | About 130 miles | Route 66 neon, murals, dinosaurs |
Distances are straight-line miles from downtown Santa Fe, as the crow flies.
Cerrillos, New Mexico
About 20 miles as the crow flies · Best for: turquoise history, easy hiking
Ancestral Puebloans mined turquoise in these hills around 700 to 900 AD, and by 1880 five mining camps held up to 1,500 people. Today Los Cerrillos has 258 residents. Young Guns was filmed on Main Street.
Don’t miss: Cerrillos Hills State Park, with 5 miles of trails past old mines, and Casa Grande Trading Post, home of the Cerrillos Turquoise Mining Museum
★ Good to know The state park is open daily, but its visitor center opens only on weekends.
Madrid, New Mexico
About 20 miles as the crow flies · Best for: art galleries, lunch, live music
The Santa Fe railway bought the Madrid coal property in 1891 and built a company town with cabins shipped from Topeka. The mines shut by 1954. Now 247 people live here, and it’s an artists’ community on the Turquoise Trail.
Don’t miss: the galleries along State Road 14 and the Mine Shaft Tavern, whose outdoor Cantina adds weekend live music
★ Good to know Cerrillos is just up the road, so do both in one afternoon.
Los Alamos, New Mexico
About 25 miles as the crow flies · Best for: science history, cliff dwellings
In 1943 the Army took over a ranch school on this mesa for the secret Manhattan Project, known as Site Y. The town of 13,179 sits at 7,300 feet. Fuller Lodge, from that era, appeared in the 2023 film Oppenheimer.
Don’t miss: the free Bradbury Science Museum, part of Manhattan Project National Historical Park, and Bandelier National Monument, with cliff dwellings and the Tyuonyi village in Frijoles Canyon
★ Good to know The Bradbury is closed Mondays and when the lab closes for weather.
Chimayó, New Mexico
About 25 miles as the crow flies · Best for: a pilgrimage church, weaving
El Santuario de Chimayó, built by 1816, is often called the Lourdes of America. Pilgrims come for the holy dirt in its back room. The village of about 3,100 grows its own Chimayó chile, a 300-year-old variety.
Don’t miss: El Santuario; Centinela Traditional Arts, the Trujillo family’s weaving gallery since 1982; and lunch at Rancho de Chimayó
★ Good to know Rancho de Chimayó is closed Mondays.
Las Vegas, New Mexico
About 40 miles as the crow flies · Best for: Victorian architecture, old hotels
In the 1880s Las Vegas was the largest city in New Mexico Territory, bigger than Santa Fe or Albuquerque. The railroad boom left more than 900 buildings now on the National Register. About 13,200 people live here.
Don’t miss: the 1881 Plaza Hotel, where Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders held their first reunion in 1899, and the town plaza it faces
★ Good to know Look for the ghost lettering reading Hotel Romaine, left from when a silent-film actor rented the whole hotel in 1913.
Abiquiú, New Mexico
About 40 miles as the crow flies · Best for: Georgia O’Keeffe, red cliffs
Georgia O’Keeffe lived in Abiquiú from 1929 until 1984, and many of her paintings show this landscape. The village began in 1754 as a land grant to 34 genízaro families on the Spanish frontier.
Don’t miss: the Georgia O’Keeffe Home & Studio tour, which starts at the museum’s Welcome Center, and Ghost Ranch, a 21,000-acre retreat center with a paleontology museum
★ Good to know Home & Studio tours require advance reservations; the standard tour runs 75 minutes.
Taos, New Mexico
About 55 miles as the crow flies · Best for: a UNESCO pueblo, art, a weekend
Taos Pueblo has been lived in for more than 1,000 years and was named a World Heritage Site in 1992. Painters Ernest Blumenschein and Bert Phillips started the town’s art colony in 1898.
Don’t miss: Taos Pueblo, the Harwood Museum of Art on Ledoux Street, and the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge on US 64
★ Good to know The Harwood is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, and it closes March 1 to 23, 2027, for installation work.
Red River, New Mexico
About 80 miles as the crow flies · Best for: skiing, trout fishing, cool summers
Red River was a mining camp of about 3,000 in 1895, and tourism took over after the mines faded. The village of 542 sits at 8,688 feet, and people come for trout fishing and to escape summer heat.
Don’t miss: Red River Ski Area, with skiing in winter and a zip line, disc golf and chairlift rides in summer
★ Good to know Drive the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway through Taos and Red River to make a full loop.
Santa Rosa, New Mexico
About 90 miles as the crow flies · Best for: a desert swim, Route 66
Santa Rosa, population 2,850, keeps the Route 66 name on its main street. The desert around it is dotted with natural lakes, sinkholes in limestone linked by underground water tunnels.
Don’t miss: the Blue Hole, 81 feet deep, 60 feet across and 61 degrees all year
★ Good to know Parking at the Blue Hole has a daily fee, and swimming is at your own risk with no lifeguard.
Raton, New Mexico
About 120 miles as the crow flies · Best for: Santa Fe Trail, volcano, lakes
Raton was founded in 1880 at Willow Springs, a stop on the mountain branch of the Santa Fe Trail, just south of Raton Pass. In Climax Canyon Park you can see the boundary layer tied to the dinosaur extinction.
Don’t miss: Sugarite Canyon State Park, with lakes, 20 miles of trails and a restored coal camp, and Capulin Volcano National Monument east of town
★ Good to know Check state park alerts first; Sugarite was under a boil-water advisory in fall 2026, so bring drinking water.
Tucumcari, New Mexico
About 130 miles as the crow flies · Best for: Route 66 neon, murals, dinosaurs
Tucumcari started in 1901 as a railroad camp called Ragtown. On Route 66 it was known for billboards reading Tucumcari Tonite, advertising about 2,000 motel rooms. More than 50 murals now cover the town’s walls.
Don’t miss: the Blue Swallow Motel, open since 1939, with its neon at night, and the Mesalands Community College Dinosaur Museum, with a 40-foot Torvosaurus skeleton
★ Good to know The dinosaur museum is closed Sundays and Mondays.
What’s the closest small town to Santa Fe?
Cerrillos, about 20 miles as the crow flies on the Turquoise Trail. Madrid is just beyond it at about the same distance.
What’s the best day trip from Santa Fe?
Chimayó or Los Alamos. Chimayó pairs the Santuario with a weaving gallery and lunch, while Los Alamos pairs the free Bradbury Science Museum with Bandelier.
What’s the best small-town weekend trip from Santa Fe?
Taos, for the Pueblo, the Harwood Museum and the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. Add Red River on the Enchanted Circle for a second day.
Where can you see Georgia O’Keeffe’s home near Santa Fe?
In Abiquiú, about 40 miles north-northwest as the crow flies. Tours of her Home & Studio start at the O’Keeffe Museum’s Welcome Center and need advance reservations.