Attractions and Places To See around Arroyo Hondo - Top 20

Stretching from Franklin, Missouri, to Santa Fe, the Old Santa Fe Trail was once a key 19th-century trade route linking the American frontier with Mexico. Its final miles descend into modern-day Santa Fe, where ruts and landmarks still echo its storied past. Following this historic path north offers a rare sense of continuity between New Mexico’s present-day wilderness and its frontier origins.

The Basilica was built in the late 1800s by Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy, 26 years before New Mexico even became a U.S. state. However the site is much older than that, as the current structure is built on the foundations of earlier churches dating all the way back to 1626.

This is the southernmost trail head for the Dale Ball Trail system. The trail starts near St. John's College (there is parking specifically for the trail). Very easy access from downtown Santa Fe. Can't speak to public transportation, as walked to trail head (road has only occasional sidewalks, just fyi), but I did pass a couple of bus stops. Trail is well-marked, especially at the numbered junctions (at which there are also topography maps of the trails). There are also a number of trail heads and interlacing trails, so hikes or bike rides can be shorter or longer depending on what you want, even while out on the hills. On maps, this trail is called "St. John's Trail", but physical markers use the name "Atalaya Trail"; either way, you will follow markers for Trail 174. Lovely hike, with views of the Sangre de Cristo mountains and back across Santa Fe. Website: https://sfct.org/dale-ball-trails/

The Palace of the Governors was built in Adobe in 1610, stands directly on Santa Fé Plaza and is the oldest permanently inhabited public building in the USA. The Palace of the Governors should be seen when visiting Santa Fé. It is one of the most famous attractions and is part of the New Mexico History Museum. Indian goods, jewelry, handicrafts, etc. are often offered for sale in front of the Palace.

The museum's art collection includes over 20,000 paintings, photographs, sculptures, prints, drawings, and mixed media works. Notable artists in the collection include Ansel Adams, Gustave Baumann, Georgia O'Keeffe, Fritz Scholder, TC Cannon, Bruce Nauman, Luis Jimenez, Maria Martinez, Ashcan School members, Los Cinco Pintores, the Transcendental Painting Group and the Taos Society of Artists.

The building was designed by architect Isaac Rapp and completed in 1917. It is an example of the architecture of the Pueblo Revival Style and one of the best-known representations of the synthesis of design styles from the American and Spanish colonial times in Santa Fe. The facade was based on the mission churches of Acoma, San Felipe, Cochiti, Laguna, Santa Ana and Pecos.

As a Neo-Romanesque building, the cathedral has characteristic arches that are separated by Corinthian columns and blunt square towers. The large rose window above the entrance and the twelve apostles in the side windows of the nave were imported from Clermont-Ferrand in France. The towers were originally supposed to be 49 meters high, but due to a lack of funds, they were never completed.

Between 1869 and 1886, the later Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy built the new cathedral around the old church in place of the adobe church La Parroquia built in 1714-1717, which was demolished after the new building was completed. A small chapel on the north side of the cathedral has been preserved from the old church. The cathedral was designed under the influence of the French-born Archbishop Lamy and in dramatic contrast to the surrounding adobe buildings in Romanesque Revival style. The cathedral was inaugurated by Pope Benedict XVI on October 4, 2005. officially elevated to the status of a basilica and designated the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.