The City That Route 66 Lost — and Why Travelers Who Find It Again Are Rewarded
In the entire 2,448-mile history of Route 66, no city has a more dramatic or more politically charged relationship with the Mother Road than Santa Fe, New Mexico. The ancient capital — founded in 1610, the oldest state capital in the United States, the oldest continuously occupied European settlement west of the Mississippi — was on Route 66 for only eleven years: from the highway’s commissioning on November 11, 1926, until its political excision from the Mother Road in 1937 by a governor settling a score with his enemies. For that brief, brilliant decade, Route 66 ran directly through the heart of Santa Fe — past the La Fonda Hotel on the Plaza, along Old Santa Fe Trail past the Loretto Chapel and San Miguel Mission, and south on Cerrillos Road through a corridor of motor courts and filling stations that defined the early automobile era in the American Southwest. Then, in an act of political revenge that reshaped New Mexico’s geography, Santa Fe was cut from the map of the Mother Road.
That act of erasure makes Santa Fe’s Route 66 story one of the most layered, most historically textured, and most rewarding on the entire highway. The city was bypassed but never diminished. Santa Fe today — at an elevation of approximately 7,200 feet, the highest state capital in the nation — is the “City Different,” a city unlike any other in the United States: an adobe capital where three cultures (Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo) have been weaving their histories together for four centuries, where every building in the historic district must conform to the pueblo adobe style by municipal ordinance, where more than 300 art galleries line the streets, and where the Santa Fe Trail — the 19th-century wagon route that preceded Route 66 by a century — ended at the same Plaza that Route 66 traveled past in the 1920s and 1930s. For travelers willing to take the Santa Fe Loop detour off the post-1937 Route 66 alignment, the reward is one of the most historically and culturally rich cities in the entire Southwest.
This guide covers everything a Route 66 traveler needs to know about Santa Fe: the original 1926–1937 alignment through the city, the political drama that removed it, the landmarks that survive on the historic route, the Cerrillos Road motor court corridor, La Bajada Hill’s legendary switchbacks, Pecos National Historical Park, and how Santa Fe connects to the broader story of Route 66 across New Mexico and the complete Mother Road.
Where Is Santa Fe on the Route 66 Map?
Santa Fe sits at approximately 35° 41’N, 105° 57’W in north-central New Mexico, at an elevation of 7,199 feet above sea level — the highest elevation of any U.S. state capital and among the highest cities on the entire Route 66 corridor. It is located approximately 65 miles northeast of Albuquerque via I-25, and approximately 235 miles west of Amarillo, Texas via the pre-1937 Santa Fe Loop alignment through Tucumcari and the Pecos River valley. On the modern (post-1937) Route 66 alignment, Santa Fe is a 65-mile detour north of I-40 — a side trip that adds approximately 130 miles round-trip but delivers one of the most historically and culturally rewarding experiences available to any Route 66 traveler.
Santa Fe is the county seat of Santa Fe County and the capital of New Mexico. It was founded in 1610 as La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís (“The Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi”) by Spanish colonial governor Don Pedro de Peralta, making it the oldest state capital in the United States and the oldest continuously occupied European settlement west of the Mississippi. It has served as capital under five different governments: Spain, the Tewa Puebloans (who occupied it from 1680 to 1693 during the Pueblo Revolt), Mexico, the Confederate States of America (briefly in 1862), and the United States.
The Santa Fe Loop: Route 66’s Most Historically Dramatic Alignment
The Political Bargain That Put Santa Fe on Route 66: 1926
When U.S. Route 66 was commissioned on November 11, 1926, its New Mexico alignment was shaped as much by politics as by geography. The Ozark Trail — a predecessor highway network whose westernmost point connected to the Santa Fe Trail at Romeroville, southwest of Las Vegas, New Mexico — formed the backbone of the original Route 66 alignment through the state. From Romeroville, the highway followed the corridor of the old Santa Fe Trail and the Santa Fe Railway northwest through the Pecos River valley — through Tecolote, Bernal, San Jose, Rowe, and Pecos — climbing to 7,560-foot Glorieta Pass in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains before descending into Santa Fe. This alignment created a large “S-Curve” through New Mexico that added approximately 107 miles and several hours of difficult driving compared to a direct east-west route through the state.
The reason Santa Fe was included despite this geographic inefficiency was straightforwardly political: New Mexico’s state capital and its influential civic and commercial establishment — sometimes called the “Santa Fe Ring” — ensured the highway passed through the city. When Route 66 arrived in Santa Fe in 1926, it entered along the Old Pecos Trail from the east, turned onto Old Santa Fe Trail (called College Street at the time), passed the San Miguel Mission and Loretto Chapel, crossed the Santa Fe River, and arrived at the historic Plaza — behind the La Fonda Hotel on Water Street. From the Plaza, Route 66 turned south on Galisteo Street and then along Cerrillos Road toward Albuquerque.
Governor Hannett’s Revenge: The Political Realignment of 1937
The removal of Santa Fe from Route 66 is one of the most remarkable stories of political payback in American highway history. Arthur T. Hannett, Democratic governor of New Mexico, lost his bid for reelection in 1926 and blamed his defeat squarely on the Santa Fe Ring — the network of corrupt politicians, land speculators, and lawyers who controlled Santa Fe’s political establishment. Before leaving office, Hannett ordered the emergency construction of a new state highway: a direct east-west route from Santa Rosa through Moriarty to Albuquerque that completely bypassed Santa Fe. The new road — constructed in record time before Hannett left office in early 1927 — shaved 107 miles off the New Mexico Route 66 alignment and eliminated the need to traverse Glorieta Pass and the switchbacks of La Bajada Hill.
The new alignment was initially designated New Mexico Highway 6 and sat unused as a Route 66 alignment for a decade. In 1937, it was officially incorporated into Route 66 as the “Santa Fe Cut-Off,” reducing New Mexico’s Route 66 mileage from 507 miles to 399 miles. Santa Fe was bypassed and relegated to a detour from the main alignment — a status it has retained ever since on the official Route 66 corridor, even as the city itself has grown into one of the most visited destinations in the American Southwest. A historical marker on Old Las Vegas Highway (State Highway 300) outside Santa Fe, erected by the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division, commemorates the original alignment and its 1937 realignment.
Driving the Santa Fe Loop Today
The Santa Fe Loop — the original 1926–1937 Route 66 alignment from Santa Rosa to Albuquerque via Santa Fe — can still be driven today, though portions follow paved modern highways (particularly I-25 between Albuquerque and the Glorieta Pass area) rather than the original roadbed. Travelers can pick up the Loop at Exit 256 off I-40 west of Santa Rosa, heading north on U.S. 84 through Dilia and the Pecos River valley to Romeroville, then northwest through Pecos and over Glorieta Pass to Santa Fe. The complete Santa Fe Loop adds approximately 107 miles to the New Mexico Route 66 journey — but delivers the full historical depth of the original highway, including Pecos National Historical Park, the Santa Fe Plaza, the Cerrillos Road motor court corridor, and the dramatic landscape south of Santa Fe toward La Bajada.
The Original Route 66 Alignment Through Downtown Santa Fe
Within Santa Fe, the original Route 66 alignment runs through a sequence of historic streets that are walkable, drivable, and extraordinarily well-preserved. A Route 66 pre-1937 alignment sign at the corner of Water Street and Old Santa Fe Trail — one block from the Plaza — marks the historic route for travelers who want to trace the original path. The complete downtown alignment is approximately 1.5 miles from the Old Pecos Trail entry to the Cerrillos Road departure, passing through some of the most historically significant blocks in the United States.
Old Pecos Trail and Old Santa Fe Trail: Entering from the East
Route 66 entered Santa Fe from the east via Old Pecos Trail, which connects the Glorieta Pass approach to downtown Santa Fe. The road passes through the Barrio de Analco Historic District on East De Vargas Street, home to two of the most remarkable historic sites in the continental United States: the San Miguel Chapel at the corner of Old Santa Fe Trail and De Vargas Street, and the Oldest House in the United States at 201 East De Vargas Street. San Miguel Chapel dates to approximately 1610 — built by Tlaxcalan Indian servants of the Spanish missionaries — and is the oldest continuously operated church in the continental United States. Its bell, dating to 1356, is among the oldest in North America. The Oldest House in the U.S. at 201 East De Vargas, dating to approximately 1200 CE and built atop even older Pueblo ruins, stands directly on the original Route 66 alignment. These two structures alone — passed by every Route 66 traveler between 1926 and 1937 — would make the Santa Fe Loop alignment remarkable even without everything that follows.
Loretto Chapel: The Miraculous Staircase on Route 66
A short walk north of San Miguel Chapel on Old Santa Fe Trail, the Loretto Chapel at 207 Old Santa Fe Trail is one of the most architecturally intriguing buildings on the entire Route 66 corridor. Built in 1878 by the Sisters of Loretto in a Gothic Revival style inspired by King Louis IX’s Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, the chapel’s primary claim to fame is the “Miraculous Staircase” — a helix-shaped spiral staircase that rises 22 feet in two perfect 360-degree turns with no visible central support, no nails, and wood that is not native to the region. The chapel had no staircase to reach the choir loft; the Sisters prayed to St. Joseph, patron saint of carpenters, and an unidentified craftsman appeared with simple tools and a donkey, built the staircase, and disappeared without payment or identification. The carpenter’s identity remains unknown. Whether the staircase’s engineering mystery is miraculous or simply masterful, the Loretto Chapel is one of the most photographed historic buildings in New Mexico and an essential stop on the original Route 66 alignment through Santa Fe.
The Santa Fe Plaza and La Fonda Hotel: The Heart of the Route 66 City
The original Route 66 alignment arrived at the Santa Fe Plaza — the historic heart of the city since 1610, where the Santa Fe Trail ended, where Spanish colonial governors administered New Mexico, and where Native American artisans from all 22 New Mexico pueblos and tribes still sell jewelry and crafts beneath the long portal of the Palace of the Governors daily. The Palace of the Governors, built between 1610 and 1612 on the north side of the Plaza, is the oldest continuously used public building in the United States — a single-story adobe structure that served as residence for Spanish, Mexican, and American territorial governors until 1909, when the New Mexico legislature converted it to a museum. A marker on the southeast corner of the Plaza at East San Francisco Street and Old Santa Fe Trail identifies the End of the Santa Fe Trail — the point where the 900-mile wagon route from Independence, Missouri, concluded its journey from 1821 to 1880, and where Route 66 passed directly behind the La Fonda Hotel in the 1920s and 1930s.
Directly adjacent to the Plaza, at 100 East San Francisco Street, stands La Fonda on the Plaza — arguably the most historically significant hotel in New Mexico and one of the most important buildings on the original Route 66 corridor. The site has hosted travelers since approximately 1607 — before the Mayflower arrived on the East Coast — when a rudimentary inn on the dusty corner welcomed travelers and traders to the Spanish colonial capital. The current hotel building was constructed in 1922, and in 1926 the Fred Harvey Company leased the property, bringing the design talents of Mary Colter and architect John Gaw Meem to expand and transform it into the massive adobe structure with Southwestern elegance that occupies a full city block today.
Two things happened in 1926 that transformed La Fonda: in May, the Indian Detours tourism program (motor car trips to the pueblos) launched, and in November, Route 66 opened directly behind the hotel on Water Street. The combination of highway travelers and pueblo tourism saved a hotel that had been in bankruptcy, and La Fonda has been a landmark of Santa Fe hospitality ever since. Called “Santa Fe’s living room,” La Fonda has hosted governors, presidents, artists, and writers throughout its century-plus history. Its 180 rooms and suites feature original artwork, hand-crafted furnishings, and luxury amenities; the Bell Tower rooftop bar offers panoramic views of the Cathedral, the Loretto Chapel, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and the historic Plaza below. A complimentary art and history tour of the property is offered four days a week. La Fonda is the only hotel directly on the historic Santa Fe Plaza.
Directly on the Plaza, the Plaza Café at 54 Lincoln Avenue has been serving meals since 1905 — making it one of the oldest continuously operating restaurants in New Mexico. When Route 66 passed through Santa Fe between 1926 and 1937, the Plaza Café was a natural stop for highway travelers: its soda fountain counter, old-fashioned tile floor, green-chile meatloaf, and Frito Pie (served at the snack bar at the back in a bag of Fritos, as it has been for generations) made it the archetypal Route 66 diner experience. Seated at the Plaza Café soda fountain today, it is easy to imagine the highway travelers of the 1920s and 1930s pausing here before pushing south on Cerrillos Road toward Albuquerque.
For Route 66 souvenirs, vintage signs, and Southwestern memorabilia, the Five & Dime General Store on the Santa Fe Plaza occupies the building where Woolworth’s stood from 1935 until the chain closed in 1997 — making Woolworth’s itself a Route 66 era institution at this address. The Five & Dime’s aisles of retro Route 66 signs, T-shirts, kitschy souvenirs, and cowboy hats are a direct continuation of the roadside commercial culture that Route 66 generated at this Plaza location for decades.
The Cathedral Basilica and Canyon Road
One block east of the Plaza, the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi towers over Old Santa Fe Trail in a Romanesque Revival style that stands in striking contrast to the surrounding adobe cityscape. Built between 1869 and 1886 under the direction of Archbishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy (the historical basis for Willa Cather’s novel Death Comes for the Archbishop), the Cathedral Basilica is one of the dominant landmarks of downtown Santa Fe and was visible to Route 66 travelers from the moment they turned onto Old Santa Fe Trail from Old Pecos Trail. One of Santa Fe’s largest museums, the New Mexico History Museum, stands adjacent to the Palace of the Governors on Lincoln Avenue and traces the city’s multi-layered history through the Ancestral Puebloan era, Spanish Colonial period, railroad era, Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project, and the modern period.
Two blocks south of the Plaza, Canyon Road — a narrow, tree-lined street running east from Paseo de Peralta into the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains — hosts the highest concentration of art galleries in Santa Fe and arguably the finest gallery walk in the American Southwest. Galleries along Canyon Road span Southwestern, Native American, experimental, contemporary, and Taos Masters traditions. Canyon Road itself predates Route 66 as a historic pathway; it was used by Native Americans for centuries, served as a trade route through the colonial era, and became an artist’s haven in the early 20th century that attracted Georgia O’Keeffe and others who would define the visual culture of the American West. Route 66 travelers exploring downtown Santa Fe should budget at least two hours for Canyon Road.
Cerrillos Road: Santa Fe’s Route 66 Motor Court Corridor
South of the downtown Plaza, the original Route 66 alignment turned onto Cerrillos Road — the main commercial corridor connecting Santa Fe to Albuquerque on the old highway alignment. Cerrillos Road was the alignment of both Route 66 and U.S. Highway 85 when they were created in 1926, and the corridor developed a full complement of motor courts, filling stations, cafes, and tourist services during the eleven years that Route 66 ran through Santa Fe. Route 66 was realigned in 1937, but Cerrillos Road retained its U.S. 85 designation and continued to carry significant automobile traffic — which is why many of the motor court buildings that line it date from the late 1930s and 1940s rather than strictly from the 1926–1937 Route 66 era.
El Rey Court: The Iconic Adobe Motor Court
The most celebrated surviving motor court on the Cerrillos Road Route 66 corridor is El Rey Court at 1862 Cerrillos Road — a boutique hotel built in 1936 on five acres of old-growth gardens that has been called “a laid-back, come-as-you-are type of place where everyone’s a friend.” Originally a 12-room motor inn (it grew to 86 uniquely decorated rooms and suites), El Rey Court has been under the same ownership since 1973 and is celebrated for preserving the authentic Route 66 motor court experience: adobe architecture, sprawling grounds, a warm and unpretentious atmosphere, and the feeling of arriving at the end of a long road and finding rest in the desert. El Rey Court’s rooms are individually decorated with Southwestern art and furniture; guests often mention that no two rooms are alike. It is the most characterful Route 66 lodging option in Santa Fe.
Other surviving motor courts and classic motels along Cerrillos Road include the former El Pueblo Court (now operating as the International Hostel Santa Fe Pension at 1412 Cerrillos Road) and the site of the former Thunderbird Inn at 1821 Cerrillos Road, now converted to apartments but still recognizable in its 1960s motor court footprint. A surviving 1930s Texaco filling station building along Cerrillos Road is another physical remnant of the Route 66 era commercial infrastructure. Cerrillos Road today is a busy modern commercial arterial, but its southern stretches retain enough surviving Route 66-era buildings and neon to reward slow, attentive driving.
Another historic Cerrillos Road property worth noting is the former De Vargas Hotel, now operating as the Hotel St. Francis at 210 Don Gaspar Avenue downtown. The hotel has been in continuous operation for over a century; a 1940s postcard described it as being “at the end of the Santa Fe Trail… near historic Plaza.” The Hotel St. Francis is one of the few Cerrillos Road / downtown Santa Fe hotels with a documented history connecting the Santa Fe Trail era to the Route 66 era to the present.
La Bajada Hill: Route 66’s Most Terrifying Descent
Approximately 15 miles south of Santa Fe on the old Cerrillos Road alignment, the original Route 66 encountered one of the most dramatic and feared passages on the entire highway: La Bajada Hill. “La Bajada” is Spanish for “the descent” — and the descent is no metaphor. The route dropped approximately 500 feet over only 1.5 to 2 miles via a series of 23 to 26 switchbacks (sources vary) with grades reaching 28 percent in places — hairpin turns that struck terror into early automobile travelers and earned the hill a legendary reputation across the entire Route 66 corridor.
Before cars had fuel pumps, they relied on gravity-fed fuel systems — which meant that vehicles climbing La Bajada Hill sometimes had to go in reverse so that fuel would flow properly to the engine from the rear-mounted tank. Locals were sometimes hired to drive nervous travelers’ vehicles down the steep slope. The original switchback road was used from 1926 to 1932, when Route 66 was moved approximately three miles to the east on a somewhat less severe alignment (which in turn was superseded by the 1937 Santa Fe Cut-Off that eliminated the hill entirely from the Route 66 corridor). The original switchbacks remain today as a dirt road accessible to hikers and high-clearance, four-wheel-drive vehicles — located on land that requires permission to access. Remnants of the retaining walls built by laborers from the state penitentiary and nearby pueblos are visible along the original roadbed.
From the top of La Bajada, the view across the Rio Grande valley toward the Jemez Mountains and the Sandia Mountains to the south is one of the most dramatic landscape panoramas accessible from the Route 66 corridor in New Mexico. The mesa landscape — juniper-studded high desert, black basalt outcroppings, and the vast sweep of the high plateau stretching toward Albuquerque — reveals the full scale of what early Route 66 travelers faced crossing New Mexico before the modern I-25 alignment smoothed the route.
Pecos National Historical Park: The Santa Fe Loop’s Most Remarkable Side Trip
Approximately 25 miles southeast of Santa Fe on the original Route 66 alignment (via the Pecos River valley on NM-50 / the old highway corridor), Pecos National Historical Park is one of the most historically layered sites accessible from any Route 66 alignment in the country. The park encompasses the ruins of Pecos Pueblo — one of the largest and most powerful Ancestral Puebloan settlements in the American Southwest at its peak, home to an estimated 2,000 people in the 15th and 16th centuries and the dominant trading power of the Rio Grande corridor for generations.
When Coronado’s expedition arrived in 1540, Pecos was the first major pueblo his forces encountered; the encounter between Spanish explorers and Pecos’s inhabitants is preserved in the park’s interpretive narrative alongside centuries of subsequent history: the construction of a Spanish mission church on the pueblo ruins in the 17th century, the destruction of both pueblo and mission during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the eventual abandonment of the pueblo in 1838 as its population dwindled to 17 survivors who relocated to Jemez Pueblo. The park also encompasses the Glorieta Battlefield from the Battle of Glorieta Pass (March 1862) — the Civil War engagement that stopped Confederate forces from capturing New Mexico and potentially California, effectively decided by Union forces destroying a Confederate supply train in Glorieta Pass. Wagon wheel ruts from the Santa Fe Trail are visible within the park, connecting the 19th-century wagon route directly to the 1926–1937 Route 66 alignment that followed the same corridor.
Route 66 travelers on the Santa Fe Loop drove directly past the park’s entrance. The Forked Lightning Ranch, located within the park boundaries, was a dude ranch that catered specifically to Route 66 travelers during the highway’s Santa Fe Loop era and is now open for tours. Plan a minimum of two to three hours for a complete Pecos National Historical Park visit. Admission is charged; the park is open daily.
The Turquoise Trail: Cerrillos Road South to Albuquerque
South of Santa Fe on the old Route 66 / Cerrillos Road alignment, the highway follows what is now designated as New Mexico State Highway 14 through the Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway — a 50-mile route connecting Santa Fe to Albuquerque through the former mining towns of Cerrillos and Madrid. The Turquoise Trail parallels and occasionally overlays the original Route 66 alignment from Santa Fe toward the La Bajada descent, offering a scenic alternative to I-25 that passes through landscapes virtually unchanged since the early automobile era.
The village of Cerrillos — Spanish for “Little Hills” — began in the 1870s as a gold and silver mining town, then turquoise. Its historic adobe buildings, dirt streets, old opera house, and St. Joseph’s Church survive largely intact from the Wild West era. The village of Madrid was a coal mining company town whose entire operation shut down in the 1950s, leaving the complete built environment abandoned before artists and craftspeople moved in during the 1970s and transformed it into the eclectic arts community it is today — with galleries, studios, a saloon, and the Madrid Old Coal Town Museum lining the original Route 66 / Highway 14 alignment through the canyon.
Santa Fe’s Art, Culture, and the Route 66 Legacy
300 Galleries and the Art Capital of the Southwest
Santa Fe’s identity as an art capital — with approximately 300 art galleries and a cultural infrastructure that includes the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, the Museum of International Folk Art, the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, and the New Mexico Museum of Art (on the northwest corner of the Plaza adjacent to the Palace of the Governors) — is inseparable from the Route 66 era. It was Route 66 that brought the first mass-market tourist traffic to Santa Fe, filling La Fonda’s rooms and the Plaza Café’s stools and making the city’s art and culture commercially viable for the first time. The Indian Detours — Fred Harvey Company motor car excursions to the pueblos, launched the same year as Route 66 — introduced tens of thousands of highway travelers to Native American arts and culture, creating the market that sustains Canyon Road’s galleries to this day. The connection between Route 66 and Santa Fe’s art economy is direct, documented, and lasting.
Meow Wolf and Contemporary Santa Fe
While Santa Fe’s Route 66 heritage is anchored in the 1920s and 1930s, the city’s cultural energy continues to generate experiences that connect to contemporary travelers. Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart in the Railyard District — an immersive art installation that bills itself as an “immersive experience” inside a surreal supermarket — has become one of Santa Fe’s most visited attractions since its opening, drawing travelers who connect Santa Fe’s tradition of artistic experimentation to a 21st-century creative vocabulary. The Railyard-Guadalupe District at the southwest edge of downtown — centered on the historic railroad depot that marks where the Santa Fe Railway connected the city to the wider world — is a vibrant neighborhood of restaurants, galleries, and the Saturday morning Santa Fe Farmers Market, held in the historic Railyard building.
Practical Information for Your Santa Fe Route 66 Visit
Getting to Santa Fe
From the east via the Santa Fe Loop: Take I-40 to Exit 256 near Santa Rosa, then head north on U.S. 84 through Dilia, then northwest via the Pecos River valley and Pecos (near Pecos National Historical Park) to I-25 north into Santa Fe. This is the original Route 66 alignment and the most historically rewarding approach. From Albuquerque: I-25 north approximately 65 miles to the Santa Fe exits, entering the city on Old Las Vegas Highway (which follows the early Route 66 alignment from Glorieta Pass). Alternatively, drive the Turquoise Trail (Highway 14) from Albuquerque through Madrid and Cerrillos — a scenic 60-mile alternative that follows the original Route 66 alignment in reverse.
How Long to Spend
A thorough Santa Fe Route 66 visit — the Plaza walking tour (Palace of the Governors, San Miguel Chapel, Loretto Chapel, Cathedral Basilica, La Fonda), Canyon Road galleries, Plaza Café, and Cerrillos Road motor court corridor — requires a full day. Adding Pecos National Historical Park extends the visit to a day and a half to two days. Travelers driving the complete Santa Fe Loop from Santa Rosa should plan for two full days to do justice to the alignment, the city, and the surrounding region. Santa Fe’s dining, lodging, arts, and cultural programming justify extended stays of three to five days for travelers who want to engage with the city beyond its Route 66 heritage.
Climate and Best Time to Visit
Santa Fe’s elevation of 7,200 feet gives it a high-desert climate that is cooler and more temperate than most Southwest destinations. Summers are warm (average highs in the low 80s°F / high 20s°C) with afternoon monsoon thunderstorms arriving reliably in July and August. Winters are cold (average highs in the 40s°F) with significant snowfall possible from November through March — though the city’s adobe architecture and piñon-scented air make it one of the most beautiful winter destinations in the Southwest. The most comfortable visiting seasons for outdoor Route 66 exploration are May through June and September through October. The annual Santa Fe Indian Market (held each August since 1922) is the largest Native American art event in the world, drawing more than 600 artists to the Plaza — the single busiest week in the city’s tourism calendar.
Where to Stay on the Route 66 Alignment
La Fonda on the Plaza (100 East San Francisco Street) — the only hotel directly on the Plaza, the definitive Route 66 era lodging in Santa Fe, with 180 rooms and suites, an art collection of 1,200+ works, rooftop Bell Tower bar with panoramic views, and a century of history that runs directly through the Route 66 era. El Rey Court (1862 Cerrillos Road) — the iconic 1936 adobe motor court on the old Route 66 Cerrillos corridor, 86 individually decorated rooms, five acres of old-growth gardens, and the most authentic Route 66 motor court atmosphere in New Mexico. Hotel St. Francis (210 Don Gaspar Avenue) — the former De Vargas Hotel, in continuous operation for over a century, two blocks from the Plaza. Inn on the Alameda (303 East Alameda) — two blocks from the Plaza in easy walking distance to all Route 66 downtown landmarks.
Where to Eat on Santa Fe’s Route 66 Alignment
Plaza Café (54 Lincoln Avenue) — open since 1905, serving the Frito Pie, green-chile meatloaf, and soda fountain classics that made it a Route 66 era institution directly on the Plaza. The Shed (just off the Plaza) — serving New Mexican red and green chile in a historic adobe setting since 1953, celebrated as one of Santa Fe’s finest traditional New Mexican restaurants. Café Pasqual’s (121 Don Gaspar Avenue) — just off the Plaza, celebrated for inventive Southwestern cuisine using local and seasonal ingredients. For the essential New Mexican green chile cheeseburger and milkshake pairing that defines Route 66 dining in New Mexico, the Plaza Café is unmatched on the original alignment.
The Route 66 Alignment Through Santa Fe: At a Glance
Entering from the East via the Santa Fe Loop: I-40 Exit 256 at Santa Rosa → U.S. 84 north through Dilia → Pecos River valley through Romeroville, Rowe, Pecos (Pecos National Historical Park) → NM-50 west over Glorieta Pass (7,560 ft) → Old Pecos Trail into Santa Fe.
Downtown Santa Fe Route 66 Alignment: Old Pecos Trail → east side of Old Santa Fe Trail (San Miguel Chapel, Loretto Chapel, Loretto Chapel at 207 Old Santa Fe Trail) → Water Street behind La Fonda Hotel (Plaza Café, Palace of Governors, Five & Dime at the Plaza) → Galisteo Street south → Cerrillos Road south.
Cerrillos Road South (Route 66 Motor Court Corridor): El Rey Court (1862 Cerrillos Road), former El Pueblo Court (1412 Cerrillos Road), former Thunderbird Inn (1821 Cerrillos Road), surviving 1930s Texaco station. Continue south toward La Bajada Mesa.
La Bajada Hill (Historic Engineering Challenge): Approximately 15 miles south of Santa Fe on old Cerrillos Road alignment. The original 1926–1932 switchback descent (dirt road, high clearance required, permit may be needed). The 1932–1937 improved alignment toward Albuquerque and I-25 follows more closely the modern highway corridor.
Exiting South via the Turquoise Trail: Highway 14 south through Cerrillos and Madrid to Albuquerque (approximately 60 miles) — the scenic alternative to I-25 that follows portions of the original Route 66 alignment south toward Albuquerque.
Nearby Route 66 Highlights: The Santa Fe Loop and Beyond
Route 66 in New Mexico — Complete Guide — The full overview of all Route 66 miles through New Mexico, covering both the 1926–1937 Santa Fe Loop alignment and the post-1937 alignment through Tucumcari, Santa Rosa, Albuquerque, Grants, and Gallup.
Route 66 in Texas — East of New Mexico, Route 66 enters Texas at Glenrio and heads through Amarillo and the Texas Panhandle. The Tower Station and U-Drop Inn in Shamrock are among the finest architectural landmarks on the Texas Route 66 corridor.
Tower Station and U-Drop Inn Cafe — The most architecturally spectacular surviving service station on the Route 66 corridor, located in Shamrock, Texas — accessible via the Santa Fe Loop connection through Tucumcari and the Texas border.
The Painted Desert in Arizona — West of New Mexico on the post-1937 Route 66 alignment, the Painted Desert offers one of the most visually spectacular landscapes on the entire Mother Road corridor.
Petrified Forest National Park — Located along the post-1937 Route 66 corridor in Arizona (I-40 Exit 311), the Petrified Forest complements Pecos National Historical Park as a geological and archaeological landmark accessible from the New Mexico–Arizona Route 66 corridor.
Winslow Arizona on Route 66 — West of Gallup and the New Mexico-Arizona border, Winslow is home to Standing on the Corner Park and the La Posada Hotel — the last great Fred Harvey railroad hotel, designed by Mary Colter, who also transformed La Fonda in Santa Fe.
La Posada Hotel on Route 66 — Mary Colter’s masterpiece Fred Harvey Hotel in Winslow, Arizona, shares its designer and its Fred Harvey Company heritage with Santa Fe’s La Fonda on the Plaza — making these two landmark hotels the bookends of Fred Harvey’s New Mexico-Arizona Route 66 cultural legacy.
Vintage Route 66 Motels — Santa Fe’s El Rey Court (1936) on Cerrillos Road is among the oldest and finest surviving Route 66 motor courts in New Mexico. See this guide for the complete story of motor court culture on the Mother Road.
Savoring the Journey: Dining and Lodging Along Route 66 — Santa Fe’s Plaza Café (1905) and La Fonda on the Plaza (1922) are among the oldest continuously operating dining and lodging establishments on the original Route 66 corridor. See this guide for the broader story of Route 66 roadside hospitality.
Route 66 Centennial 2026 — The 100th anniversary of Route 66 is November 11, 2026. Santa Fe — as the city on the original 1926 alignment that was politically removed from the Mother Road and whose history intersects Route 66 at the deepest levels — is participating in centennial celebrations. Check this page for New Mexico centennial event details, and visit the Santa Fe County and Visit Santa Fe websites for city-specific centennial programming.
Route 66 — Complete Guide — The definitive guide to all 2,448 miles of America’s Main Street, from the Begin sign in Chicago to the End of the Trail at the Santa Monica Pier.
