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Where to stay in Santa Fe, New Mexico
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For my week's visit, I chose two very different places to stay.
La Fonda on the Plaza is a large hotel that has been a rest stop since Santa Fe was founded in 1607. More than two hundred years later, in 1821, when Captain William Becknell completed the first successful trading expedition from Missouri to Santa Fe, a route that came to be known as the Santa Fe Trail, he enjoyed the hospitality at the inn (la fonda), where the Santa Fe Trail terminated at the town's central Plaza. .jpg)
The rooms have real pinon burning fireplaces, balconies, and are elaborately hand painted...every piece of furniture--even the room key. Somebody has been busy with a paintbrush! It turns out La Fonda has a resident artist—for the last 55 years. His name is Ernest Martinez and I found him repairing and painting furniture in his studio in the hotel basement.
He showed me his large panoramas of the Wild West and introduced himself by saying, "the hotel is my canvas". His hands reflect his art—nicks and cuts and grooves from carving the wood frames for his paintings that are all over the hotel. He also has hand made items for sale and welcomes visitors on weekdays and is a very good storyteller.
A few blocks away on a quiet side street is Las Palomas, an adobe inn that over a 100 years ago was a Pueblo-style compound of several casitas (small homes), chicken coops and other outbuildings. In restoring the casitas, Las Palomas retained the typical Santa Fe Pueblo-style architecture and romantic charm of the old adobe structures: small doorways, undulating adobe walls, and welcoming kiva fireplaces.
At the make-your-own-waffle bar (breakfast is included in the room rate) I met the owner, Neil Rosenshein. Over a cappuccino Neil recounted how he came here from New York City in 1969. Right after graduating from Juilliard School of Music he was hired to sing in the Santa Fe Opera Choir. When he stepped off the Greyhound bus in the Plaza, his first thought was, "'I must have got off at the wrong stop.' The buildings were made of real mud and straw. Of course now these mud huts have become more sophisticated."
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Details, details . . .
Visit the Santa Fe Visitors Bureau website for a plethora of recommendations about local dining and activities.
La Fonda On the Plaza is a member of the National Trust Historic Hotels of America.
Las Palomas Inn has many amenities and welcomes kids.
Story by Lisa Alpine
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