Your Santa Fe CME conference.

Santa Fe after your study day

Study days finish at 2:00 PM Santa Fe time. For an easy afternoon, choose one outing near your study setting: a walk around the Plaza, a stroll along Canyon Road’s galleries, or the Farmers’ Market area at the Railyard. Leave time for each place’s own opening days; the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s Santa Fe galleries, for example, are closed on Wednesdays, and advance tickets are recommended.

Travel, accommodation and admission are arranged separately. Your conference is built around your specialty and interests; the city is the setting you choose for it.

The Plaza and downtown on foot

Tourism Santa Fe calls the Plaza and downtown the original city center, with galleries, boutiques, restaurants, bookstores and hotels in classic architecture, and a walk along the Santa Fe River. The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi stands on the site where Franciscan friars built the first church when the city was founded in 1610. San Miguel Chapel is described as the oldest church in the United States.

The Palace of the Governors is a Spanish colonial-era building that is now a history museum, with Native American artisans under its portal. The New Mexico Museum of Art opened in 1917 as the state’s first building dedicated to art, in Pueblo Revival style. The Roundhouse, the state capitol, is the only circular state capitol building in the country and holds the New Mexico Capitol Art Collection. Loretto Chapel is an 1878 Gothic Revival chapel known for its spiral staircase, and the Lensic Performing Arts Center has hosted performances downtown since 1931. Guided walking and open-air tram tours start from the Plaza, and Cross of the Martyrs is a hilltop viewpoint with historical plaques and city views. Compare each museum’s hours with your 2:00 PM finish.

Canyon Road or Museum Hill?

Choose Canyon Road if you want to wander. The road is about half a mile long between Paseo de Peralta and Camino del Monte Sol, and its official site says the gallery district dates from the 1920s. Dozens of galleries, studios, jewelry shops and restaurants line it, and gallery staff will explain techniques or help you choose a piece. Individual galleries set their own days, so check before you walk over.

Choose Museum Hill if you want a museum afternoon. Tourism Santa Fe lists four museums and a garden there: the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, the Museum of International Folk Art, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, the Nuevo Mexicano Heritage Arts Museum and Santa Fe Botanical Gardens. Tourism Santa Fe mentions the art, history and culture of the Native American Southwest and Hispano arts past and present, and the botanical gardens are a landscape of traditional and native plants in a piñon-juniper woodland. The Folk Art museum is at 706 Camino Lejo. Compare hours with your 2:00 PM finish and pick one or two rather than all five.

The Railyard and Guadalupe Street

The Railyard Arts District is a cluster of contemporary galleries, and SITE Santa Fe presents local and international exhibitions. The Santa Fe Farmers’ Market is at Railyard Plaza and runs on Tuesdays and Saturdays in season, and the Railyard’s own site lists year-round markets, and its events include an artisan market. Guadalupe Street has boutiques and consignment shops. Tourism Santa Fe describes this area as blending contemporary visual and performing arts.

Trails, snow and a longer drive

Tourism Santa Fe says Santa Fe County has more than 300 trails and offers a trail map for nearby options. In winter, Ski Santa Fe is about 16 miles from the Plaza, where snow averages up to 300 inches, according to the tourism board. Bandelier National Monument protects more than 33,000 acres of canyon and mesa country, including dwellings carved into the soft rock cliffs of Frijoles Canyon, and the park lists the drive from Santa Fe as one hour each way. It is remote, with cell service in the canyon limited to Verizon 4G, so arrange rides in advance. The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s Home & Studio is in Abiquiú, about 52 miles north of Santa Fe, with tours running March through November. Both are trips for a day outside your study schedule.

When to visit Santa Fe

March through May and September through November are useful starting points. Tourism Santa Fe describes a semiarid climate with more than 320 days of sunshine. Spring brings aspens, cottonwoods and cactus flowers, though late-season snowstorms are still possible. Summer monsoon season brings brief afternoon thunderstorms. Late September brings golden aspens and cottonwoods. Snow is common from November through March.

Getting to Santa Fe and your study setting

Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ) is New Mexico’s largest commercial airport. Santa Fe Regional Airport (SAF), operated by the City of Santa Fe, also serves the area. Check the airports’ ground transportation pages and arrange your transfer separately, and choose your accommodation with both your study setting and your plans outside study hours in mind.

The map shows straight-line distances from Shift’s designated center. These are orientation distances, not driving distances or travel-time estimates. Check your exact address against the conference’s check-in area before booking.