State guide

New Mexico road trips

5 routes that start or end in New Mexico, and 11 stops worth pulling over for.

Popular starting points: road trips from Albuquerque

Routes

Albuquerque to Santa Fe

63 mi · 1 hr

One hour on I-25, or take the Turquoise Trail through Madrid's art galleries.

Albuquerque to White Sands

224 mi · 3 hr 45 min

South past the Valley of Fires lava flow to sled the white gypsum dunes near Alamogordo.

Tucson to White Sands

327 mi · 5 hrs

Across the Chihuahuan Desert on I-10 to Las Cruces and Old Mesilla, then over San Augustin Pass.

Denver to Santa Fe

390 mi · 5 hr 45 min

I-25 down the Front Range, over Raton Pass into New Mexico, with Capulin Volcano or Taos as detours.

Phoenix to Albuquerque

419 mi · 6 hr 45 min

Up to Flagstaff, then east on I-40 past Meteor Crater and through the Petrified Forest.

Stops worth the detour in New Mexico

Capulin Volcano National Monument

1–2 hrs

Drive a spiral road to the rim of an extinct cinder cone and walk around the crater.

Taos

2+ hrs

Taos Pueblo, inhabited for over 1,000 years, plus the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge and an artsy adobe plaza.

Bandelier National Monument

2–3 hrs

Climb wooden ladders into ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings carved from volcanic tuff, 45 minutes from Santa Fe.

Madrid (Turquoise Trail)

1 hr

A former coal town turned artist colony on the scenic Turquoise Trail (NM-14), the back road between Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

Sandia Peak Tramway

2 hrs

A 2.7-mile aerial tram to the 10,378-foot crest above Albuquerque, with views of 11,000 square miles.

Petroglyph National Monument

1–2 hrs

More than 20,000 images pecked into volcanic boulders on Albuquerque's West Mesa. Boca Negra Canyon has the easiest trails.

Acoma Pueblo (Sky City)

2 hrs

A mesa-top pueblo inhabited for roughly 800 years, visited on guided tours from the Haak'u Museum. Check opening days.

Very Large Array

1 hr

Twenty-seven 230-ton radio telescope dishes across the Plains of San Agustin, with a self-guided walking tour.

Valley of Fires Recreation Area

1 hr

A young black lava flow near Carrizozo with a short paved nature trail across the rocks.

Truth or Consequences Hot Springs

1–2 hrs

A quirky I-25 town named after a 1950s game show, with a historic district of walk-in hot spring bathhouses.

Old Mesilla

1–2 hrs

A historic plaza next to Las Cruces, known for enchiladas and chile ristras. Billy the Kid was tried here.