Only in Your State
After online voting, readers of USA Today’s “10 Best” selected their favorite New Mexico attractions.
Here are the top 10.
10. Chimayó
In 10th place is Chimayó. Beyond famous red chile and a weaving community, this quaint town is home to El Sancturio de Chimayó, one of New Mexico’s most spiritual places. People believe that it is a place of miracles and healing.
People visit year-round, but each Easter season thousands of pilgrims trek to the church.
9. Chaco Canyon (Nageezi)
If you only visit one ruin in New Mexico, choose this one. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is vast in scale. In its heyday, Chaco consisted of 600 rooms, standing four stories high, and the site boasted 40 kivas.
Right up until the 19th century, the structures at Chaco were the biggest in North America.
8. White Sands National Monument (Alamogordo)
White Sands certainly belong on the list of New Mexico’s top attractions. Drive through White Sands National Monument then get out and walk, hike, or even sled down the sand dunes that roll out before you. Because the sand is gypsum, it is cool on the feet, even in the summer.
7. Old Town (Albuquerque)
Dating to the founding of the city in 1706, Albuquerque’s Old Town is a complex of narrow streets and century-old adobe houses all surrounding a central plaza. As well as historic sites like 18th-century San Felipe de Neri Church and modern museums, Old Town offers up tasty New Mexican restaurants and artisan shops and galleries.
6. Bandelier National Monument (Los Alamos)
This incredible National Monument is huge, at 33,000 plus acres. The most fascinating sights are related to the Ancestral Pueblo people: cliff dwellings, the Long House, the petroglyphs, and numerous hiking trails.
5. Sandia Peak Tramway (Albuquerque)
A Swiss company built this 2.7-mile-long tramway, which conveys riders from Albuquerque up to 10.378 feet; the top of Sandia Peak. Views from the top are stupendous and expansive. The Sandia Peak Tramway is also the longest aerial tramway in the world.
4. Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness (Farmington)
The curious landforms at the Bisti Wilderness seem like they could be from Mars. However, these undulating and eroded rocks are tucked away on 60 square miles of earth in the Four Corners area of New Mexico. Often called the Bisti Badlands, the area is part of the larger De-Na-Zin Wilderness.
3. Carlsbad Caverns National Park (Carlsbad)
This fascinating natural attraction in the Guadalupe Mountains of southeast New Mexico is a must-do experience.
The Big Room is the grandest cave of the 119-cave system. It is big enough to hold more than six football fields.
2. Ojo Calienté Mineral Springs (Ojo Calienté)
Sooth your body, mind, and spirit at the mineral springs at Ojo Caliente, the runner-up in on the list. This epic hot spring is one of the oldest health resorts in the nation. Each day, 100,000 gallons of hot water bubble out of the ground and are captured in the spa’s public and private soaking pools.
1. Combres & Toltec Scenic Railroad (Chama)
The top attraction honor goes to The Cumbres & Toltec Railroad, running one of the last steam trains in America. The train’s 64-mile journey from Chama to Antonito, in Southern Colorado, not only gives passengers a sense of nostalgia but a front-row seat to some of the most scenery in the country. Previously, the same group of readers voted New Mexico’s Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad as the best train ride in the nation.
