New Mexico High Desert Self-Drive: Albuquerque, Santa Fe & Taos

New Mexico rewards the curious traveller like nowhere else in the American Southwest. On this six-day loop from Albuquerque you follow a route that has drawn artists, traders and pilgrims for centuries: south of the capital the Rio Grande glints through cottonwood bosques; the Turquoise Trail threads through ghost towns and turquoise mines toward the art-world capital of Santa Fe; and the high road to Taos traces mountain villages where Spanish Colonial churches stand against steel-blue skies.

In Albuquerque's Old Town you can wander adobe plazas that pre-date the United States by more than a century. Santa Fe's Canyon Road galleries, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and the historic Palace of the Governors anchor two full days of exploration. In Taos you sleep at altitude among pinyon pines with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains as your backdrop — and Taos Pueblo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities on earth, is a short drive away.

The package puts you behind the wheel of a well-suited SUV from Albuquerque International Sunport and delivers a carefully chosen hotel at each overnight stop — each rated 8.0 or better where available — so your only job is to follow the open road and let New Mexico's three-culture heritage do the rest.