Santa Fe vs. Taos

Each week, Yahoo Travel pits writers from rival cities against each other to determine once and for all which destination is the best.

The Case for Santa Fe

Whoever first called New Mexico “the land of enchantment” must have spent time in Santa Fe. It’s attracted so many retirees and second-home owners that you can’t afford to buy a house here (median price is about $700,000), but visiting is a pleasure.

Population: 70,000

Shirley MacLaine (Photo: WireImage)

Famous Faces: A number of actors, including Gene Hackman and Shirley MacLaine, have first or second homes here.“Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin, a longtime resident, bought the shut-down Jean Cocteau Cinema and Coffee House and reopened it in 2013.

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Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (Photo: Kent Kanouse/Flickr)

The arts: The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum downtown is a place of pilgrimage for the many who love her voluptuous flower and landscape paintings. The city is also full of galleries boasting paintings, sculptures, and jewelry. That last category thrives thanks to the many turquoise mines south of town; you can see some of them and retrace the “Wild Hogs” movie (come on, admit it’s a guilty pleasure) by taking a day trip on the Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway, a loop linking Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

Zozobra (Photo: Tobias Roybal/Flickr)

Oddball offering: This town is not that serious about its art. Long before hippies ever took to the Nevada desert, Santa Fe was lighting a 50-foot-tall figure, dubbed Zozobra, on fire every September during the Santa Fe Fiesta, a tradition since 1712.

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Santa Fe Opera House (Photo: Geo Clark/Flickr)

Picnic at the opera: Santa Fe’s highly regarded opera company sings in a spectacular outdoor theater and could be the only major opera company that hosts picnics and pre-show tailgate parties.

Palace of the Governors (Photo: Tom Pratt/Flickr)

History: Spanish explorers made Santa Fe a regional capital in 1607, before the Mayflower was even a light in the Pilgrims’ minds. The Palace of the Governors in the city’s central square was an administrative building for about 400 years before it was converted into the New Mexico state history museum in 2009. That’s history with heft.

Pueblos in New Mexico (Photo: Éamonn O’Brien-Strain/Flickr)

Pueblo culture: Santa Fe’s environs are home to eight native pueblos, communities that existed long before Spanish settlers ever arrived and that still thrive here. While you can’t just wander into residential areas and peek into windows — folks live here, after all — visitors can get a taste through shops, cultural centers and festivals. (Most pueblos have casinos, too.)

Mud Facial (Photo: Thinkstock)

Spas: Folks in Santa Fe have high standards for relaxation. This has long been a place of healing for local tribes, and that tradition continues, especially in the hills above town. Treatments often use native remedies, including mud, plant extracts, and herbs.

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Chili peppers (Photo: Thinkstock)

Cuisine: Two words: chile peppers. Actually, no two words can do the culinary scene justice, but we’ll start with locally grown chiles, the centerpiece of New Mexican cuisine. The biggest question is whether you prefer red or green chile sauce with your enchilada, chiles rellenos, or breakfast burrito (I can’t decide, so I go Christmas-style and get both). Try local staples like Tia Sophia’s downtown or Coyote Café (head for the upstairs cantina). While Taos has New Mexican cuisine, too, Santa Fe goes beyond with lots of other well-prepared culinary styles for the times when you need something different.

Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi (Photo: Jim Nix/Flickr)

Architecture: Santa Fe’s Spanish-style buildings are gorgeous, and it would be easy to spend a day just exploring old churches. There’s the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, the Gothic wonders of the Loretto Chapel (contrary to myth, we do know how its “miraculous” curved stairway remains standing, but it’s still impressive), and the old San Miguel Mission, here since 1610.

If all the buildings in Santa Fe look suspiciously similar, it’s not an illusion: a 1958 ordinance mandated that all Santa Fe buildings be built in the traditional Spanish-Pueblo style. This leads to a handful of oddities (that wood-and-mud look just wasn’t meant for, say, gas stations) but also street after street of attractive adobe houses, office buildings and schools. Santa Fe architecture blows Taos’s away.

Bandelier National Monument (Photo: Sarah Stierch/Flickr)

Weird rocks: If Mother Nature is your favorite architect, two must-do sites are closer to Santa Fe than Taos. At Bandelier National Monument, native people living thousands of years ago carved homes into white cliff faces pockmarked with caves. You can climb into some of them with ladders (if you’re not afraid of heights — those ladders are also the only way to get back down). Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument southwest of town features odd volcanic formations. So if you like your rocks weird, stick to Santa Fe.

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The Case for Taos

While most people think desert when they consider New Mexico, Taos is in the state’s mountainous northern section, surrounded by a natural beauty that’s reflected in a local arts scene that beats Santa Fe’s, pound for pound.

Population: About 6,000

Julia Roberts (Photo: Getty Images)

Famous Faces: Julia Roberts owns a 40-acre spread just outside town. British novelist D.H. Lawrence made the Taos area his home in the 1920s, and renowned arts patron Millicent Rogers helped nurture local talent and introduce it to the world.

Taos Pueblo (Photo: terratrekking/Flickr)

A real-deal pueblo: Taos had a town long before the Spanish arrived, and Taos Pueblo is a beauty. At this UNESCO World Heritage site and National Historic Landmark (the only still-occupied Native American community to have both designations), sturdy adobe structures have housed people for 1,000 years, which puts Santa Fe’s 400-year-old main square to shame. In fact, as the oldest continually occupied community in the U.S., it puts every other American town to shame, too. For a small fee, members of the public are invited to visit and see this magical place for themselves.

Navajo pottery (Photo: Kim Davies/Flickr)

An artistic home: For more than a century, some of Santa Fe’s best artists have lived in … Taos. Creative types, inspired by Native American creativity and the verdant landscape, have been flocking here since the 19th century. The list of potters, sculptors, painters and craftspeople who call Taos home is astonishing, especially when you consider that the total population is only 6,000 people. How could that not be inspiring?

Easy to explore: As a small town, Taos is easy to get around in. Flatter and less crowded than Santa Fe, it’s a great place to explore by bicycle. Tons of museums, historic homes (the town has more than 20 sites on the National Historic Register, including explorer Kit Carson’s old place), restaurants and galleries are all within easy walking or cycling distance.

Visitor’s center for Earthship Community in Taos (Photo: aidg/Flickr)

Built for real people: While Santa Fe and Taos are known for high-end galleries, Taos seems to have more art normal people can actually afford to buy and take home. Or you can stay in a work of art by booking an environmentally sustainable and personality-filled Earthship made of recycled materials.

Rio Grande Gorge (Photo: Mark Betts/Flickr)

Side trips: The best parts of Taos might not be in Taos at all. You’ll see what I mean if you take one of the many possible day trips to the town’s environs. Check out the Rio Grande Gorge just a few miles out of town, where a bridge spans an 800-foot-deep basalt canyon. Follow the Rio Grande north to where a section is designated a Wild and Scenic River. Hike down a steep path to river’s edge (do not try this during the middle of the day in summer!) or just stand at viewpoints above and watch the Red and Rio Grande rivers converge.

Cumbres and Toltec Narrow Gauge Railroad (Photo: Matthew SaundersFlickr)

Offbeat recreation: While folks in Santa Fe are busy getting their high culture on, around Taos you can go llama trekking or mountain tubing or ride the country’s highest-elevation narrow-gauge railroad, the Cumbres & Toltec. That’s on top of more mundane activities like disc golf or mountain climbing, of course.

Wheeler Peak (Photo: Vicki Devine/Flickr)

True Mountains: Just north of Taos, the mighty Wheeler Peak rises 13,167 feet, making it the tallest of New Mexico’s many high mountains. The high alpine area surrounding it is verdant, with meadows that seem to go on forever surrounded by stands of evergreen trees. For visitors from Texas or even Albuquerque, this must feel like heaven on earth during the summer.

Sipapu resorts (Photo: ben orr/Flickr)

Skiing: Santa Fe’s nearest ski resort, Ski Santa Fe, is only 16 miles from town. But the resorts around Taos are some of the best in the West, with high elevation and dry air combining to make for up to 300 inches of deep powder each season. Angel Fire, Red River, Taos Ski Valley and Sipapu resorts, each with its own flavor and recreational bounty. And that’s not even mentioning the fantastic cross-country skiing at Enchanted Forest. During the summer, resorts offer everything from golf to mountain biking to concerts in the cool mountain air.

Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs (Photo: Emily Lewis/Flickr)

Who wins? Both cities embody the American Southwest, and they have a lot in common (scenery, art, retirees). Both are surrounded by national forest, allowing outdoorsy types to hike all day and then take a soak in a nearby geothermal spring such as Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs.

Georgia O’Keefe (Photo: Getty Images)

So it kind of depends what you’re looking for. Santa Fe is genteel, and moneyed and reputedly boasts the most galleries per person, while there’s a higher percentage of artists in Taos. We could consult Georgia O’Keeffe, but the painter made it hard for us by putting down roots in a location equidistant from Taos and Santa Fe, at plateau-ringed Ghost Ranch (now and education and retreat center — not a bad place to take an art class).

The city of Santa Fe itself is prettier and more civilized, with more going on. But Taos is more intimate and a bit wilder. I’m in it for the small-town quirkiness, so I choose Taos.

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