Luxury Santa Fe & Taos Walk (Rich Heritage, High Desert & Taos Pueblo) 6D5N, Fully Guided

TWO HIKING OPTIONS:
Level 1, Approx. 5 km (3 miles), Elevation gain: 122 m (400 ft)
Level 2, Approx. 11 km (7 miles), Elevation gain: 152 m (500 ft)

Rendezvous with your tour leaders at 9 am at Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi, New Mexico. Please ensure you arrive dressed in your hiking clothes, come with a daypack containing your rain gear and anything else you may want for today's hike and also bring your luggage (it will be transported to your room).

Welcome to New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment! After our meeting in downtown Santa Fe, we shuttle east briefly into the wilderness of southwestern terrain enclosed in National Forest land, the Dale Ball Trails. This 35 kilometre network of trails is located in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo, and it provides hikes that allow you to get accustomed to the area's elevation range (2130 m - 2740 m). Moving through pinon and juniper forests, we encounter amazing panoramas of the city of Santa Fe and the surrounding mountains.

You can choose to keep walking through neighbourhoods of adobe houses to Canyon Road, where the group will meet for lunch. Or, you can get a lift in the shuttle to Canyon Road, giving you more time to explore this thoroughfare with the highest cluster of art galleries in the country.

After eating lunch, we go on a walking tour with a local expert as our guide to see how diverse influences have molded the city and discover why its architecture is so unique. After this, you are allowed to wander on your own to check out Santa Fe's shops and galleries or settle into your room at Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi, our home for the next two nights. The Rosewood Inn of Anasazi is a cozy hotel in the heart of the city that celebrates the area's native Anasazi tribe with its name and interior decorations.

You’ll stay at the luxury 5-star Rosewood Inn of Anasazi for the next two nights. Located in the heart of Santa Fe, a magical land where the sun casts alluring shadows on mountains, desert, adobe and the scent of piñon lingers in the crisp air. The hotel perfectly embodies the essence of New Mexico. Enjoy a soothing drink at the exquisite bar lounge, cozy up by the fireplace or take a dip in the hot tub before gathering in the night for a welcome reception and dinner at a famed local restaurant, where you'll savour the taste of amazing American Southwest cuisine.

THREE HIKING OPTIONS:
Level 1, Approx. 6 km (3.5 miles), Elevation gain: 91 m (300 ft)
Level 2, Approx. 10 km (6 miles), Elevation gain: 244 m (800 ft)
Level 1, Approx. 5 km (3 miles), Elevation gain: 91 m (300 ft)

In the morning, we shuttle to the diversified and picturesque land that is Bandelier National Monument, home to an amazing collection of Ancestral Pueblo ruins carved into the walls of Frijoles Canyon.

We explore Bandelier following a centuries-old walking path first used by the Ancestral Pueblo people, where we encounter its rugged and stunning canyon and mesa country. This path leads us beneath the shade of cottonwood trees and through Frijoles Canyon. Here, we will face Bandelier's popular Tyuonyi ruin (a circular pueblo that once stood up to three stories high) and several Ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings.

Following this, climb along the rocky rim trail for awe-inspiring views of the canyon below. Afterward, survey the exceptional talus homes, built into the volcanic tuff, which were, at some point, extended with adobe structures supported by vigas made of ponderosa pines. The next stop is the Alcove House, perched 43 m (140 ft) above the canyon floor.

After enjoying a tasty picnic lunch, you have the option of extending any of the morning hiking options by going into the canton to see the 27 m (90 ft) waterfall on Frijoles Creek. Or you could shuttle back to Santa Fe to explore some of the city's captivating museums or even forsake the outdoors for a massage at the hotel. (Massage and aromatherapy treatments are not included in the trip fee. Reservations are advised.)

THREE HIKING OPTIONS:
Level 1, Approx. 3 km (2 miles), Elevation gain: 30 m (100 ft)
Level 1, Approx. 5 km (2.5 miles), Elevation gain: 183 m (600 ft)
Level 3, Approx. 8 km (4.7 miles), Elevation gain: 396 m (1300 ft)

Before breakfast, go for a quick stroll to the Cross of the Martyrs nearby Fort Marcy Park by yourself. At an elevated height, a stunning view of Santa Fe awaits you. After drinking the view in, journey back to the hotel as the community awakens. You also have the option of sleeping in; after eating breakfast, we shuttle to Ghost Ranch in "O'Keefe Country." The place was named by the Spanish, based on the belief that it was haunted; it is called El Rancho de Los Brujos (Ranch of Witches).

Before enjoying a picnic on the grounds of the ranch, take in the southwestern panorama as we hike calmly up to Chimney Rock or an averagely strenuous hike to Kitchen Mesa, where you'll have to scramble through a small shaft to reach the top. In the afternoon, we shuttle down the path to the Chama River Valley to see Plaza Blanca (The White Place).

Following our visit, shuttle North to the high desert town of Taos and El Monte Sagrado, an eco-conscious resort that'll be our home for the next two nights. Seated on 3½ acres of flourishing grounds, a short walk from Taos Plaza is the resort that embodies that environmentalism can go hand in hand with aesthetics. Settle into your room, take a dip in the chlorine-free pool, or you can indulge in a rejuvenating session at the resort's spa.

This evening, you have the opportunity to stroll into Taos for dinner on your own. Be delighted by the flavours of Mexican Southwestern dishes.

TWO HIKING OPTIONS:
Level 1, Approx. 5 km (3 miles), Elevation gain: 61 m (200 ft)
Level 2, Approx. 8 km (5 miles), Elevation gain: 183 m (600 ft)

We eat breakfast at the resort and shuttle eastward into Carson National Forest named for Kit Carson, a 19th-century mountain man whose adventures as a trapper and guide in the West were eternalized in dime-stone novels. Our day's adventure starts with a hike at Palo Flechado Pass, a path often traveled by natives before the arrival of the Spanish. Then, we make our way along the Elliot Barker Trail into a topography of aspen trees, diverse pines and spruces, and wildflowers.

When we're high above the Moreno Valley, we are blessed with panoramas of the neighboring mountains, the Eagle Nest Lake, and the Wheeler Peak wilderness. After this, it's lunchtime; you can choose to enjoy lunch along the trail or in a mountain meadow close to a beautiful pond.

In the afternoon, we visit the exceptional World Heritage site of Taos Pueblo, which is considered the oldest, constantly inhabited community in the U.S. Taos is the largest and northernmost of New Mexico's pre-Hispanic Pueblo settlements. It comprises adobe houses constructed between 1000 and 1450 A.D.

Lately, about 150 Taos Indians live within Pueblo full-time, while 1,900 have regular houses somewhere else on the greater Pueblo lands. We go on a guided tour of the Pueblo and learn the tribal structure that makes this part of the Southwest special. (sometimes, Taos Pueblo closes its doors to visitors, without prior notice, to tend to Pueblo business.)

Following that, you get the chance to explore the town of Taos on foot; its shops and galleries are located near the square. Or if you'd prefer to relax, you could do that at the hotel's spa.

In the evening, we take a short walk to Lambert's, a Taos classic known for its mouthwatering southwestern and American cuisine. It promises to be an unforgettable dinner.

TWO HIKING OPTIONS:
Level 1, Approx. 6 km (4 miles), Elevation gain: 183 m (600 ft)
Level 2, Approx. 10 km (6 miles), Elevation gain: 427 m (1400 ft)

After eating a nourishing breakfast at the resort, you are presented with the choice of taking a short shuttle for a hike in the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range. Or you can go downtown by yourself, for a tour of the historic Taos Plaza, which was once the terminal of the 2500 kilometre (1600 miles) Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (King's Highway of the Inland), a trade route from Mexico City. Currently, this section of Taos encompasses over 65 galleries, shops, and restaurants, with seven nearby museums. However, if you aren't a morning person, you can stay behind in the hotel and enjoy its amenities.

Subsequently, our hiking route takes us through the stunning conifer forest and amazing stands of aspen. The Southern Boundary Trail shows an assemblage of stunning yellow, gold, and orange foliage when it's at its best in autumn. Go up to Devisadero, a lookout tower once used by the Taos Pueblo Indians to stand guard against the Apaches who would attempt to raid the pueblo.

After a lovely lunch in town, we shuttle along the historical High Road to Chimayó, a small village founded after the Spanish reconquest of New Mexico in 1680. This town houses one of the most revered places in the whole of the Southwest; El Santuario, a 19th-century adobe church. You can choose to go further on your own to explore the church whose grounds have been alleged to have healing powers.

We hike along a gravel trail that begins at the Four Seasons to kick out the last day of our adventure. The rugged trail rolls through the nearby volcanic tuff towering the Rio Grande river valley, giving you the chance to drink in the vast vistas of the New Mexico sky and the peaks of the Jemez Mountains, and the pleasing aroma of sagebrush. Or you could enjoy a slow-paced and relaxed morning at the resort.

After the hike, we enjoy a final lunch together. Then we shuttle to the nearby Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi, which marks the end of our trip.

NOTE: This itinerary is provided as an example only – prevailing conditions and local arrangements may cause variation.