On a slightly raised plateau two miles southeast of the town center, with extensive views of the hills and mountains that almost entirely surround the city, stands Santa Fe's other concentration of museums, reachable by Santa Fe Trails bus #10. The delightful Museum of International Folk Art , part of the New Mexico State Museum, focuses on a huge collection of clay figurines and models from around the world, arranged in colorful dioramas that include a Pueblo Feast Day with dancing kachinas and camera-clicking tourists. The Hispanic Heritage Wing is an engaging reminder of just how close New Mexico's ties have always been with Mexico itself, while the museum's gift shop sells some unusual ethnic souvenirs. The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture , across the attractively landscaped plaza and also part of the Museum of New Mexico, holds a superb array of Native American pottery, ranging from Ancestral Puebloan pieces right up to the works of twentieth-century revivalists, and covers contemporary Southwestern cultures in fascinating detail.

Fifteen miles southwest of the city, three miles from exit 276 off I-25, the Rancho de las Golondrinas (June-Sept Wed-Sun 10am-4pm; $5) preserves the eighteenth-century "Ranch of the Swallows." As well as the main adobe farmstead, once a fortified outpost on the Camino Real, this living-history complex includes a water mill, a Penitente chapel, and several other early Hispanic structures - and it's also a lovely spot in its own right.

Outlying museums

• Outlying museums

New Mexico cities


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