Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My family and I are considering taking a vacation to Santa Fe and I have some questions:
1.) What would the temperature be in late March/Early April?
2.) What do you know about the Hilton Buffalo Thunder Resort? Have you stayed there? A family member? Friend? That is the resort we would be most likely be staying at. Any other suggestions, though?
3.) Within an hour's drive of Santa Fe, can you find the following activities: hiking, whitewater rafting, kayaking, horseback riding, and mountain biking? Okay I'm 99% sure that you can but I just want to make sure. Do you have any recommendations on where to do these activities? Like a state park that has good hiking? What river to go whitewater rafting on?
4.) I heard that there are a lot of hot springs in New Mexico. Are there any within 1 hour-1 hour 30 minutes drive of Santa Fe?
5.) What else is there to do in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and other towns within the area? We are not really looking to drive all around the state but just stay in that general area. Or do you think it would better to drive around the entire state instead of just staying in one area?
My family and I are considering taking a vacation to Santa Fe and I have some questions:
1.) What would the temperature be in late March/Early April?
2.) What do you know about the Hilton Buffalo Thunder Resort? Have you stayed there? A family member? Friend? That is the resort we would be most likely be staying at. Any other suggestions, though?
3.) Within an hour's drive of Santa Fe, can you find the following activities: hiking, whitewater rafting, kayaking, horseback riding, and mountain biking? Okay I'm 99% sure that you can but I just want to make sure. Do you have any recommendations on where to do these activities? Like a state park that has good hiking? What river to go whitewater rafting on?
4.) I heard that there are a lot of hot springs in New Mexico. Are there any within 1 hour-1 hour 30 minutes drive of Santa Fe?
5.) What else is there to do in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and other towns within the area? We are not really looking to drive all around the state but just stay in that general area. Or do you think it would better to drive around the entire state instead of just staying in one area?
1) fair temps, there might be some strong winds.
2) It is a casino, and pretty much like other Indian casinos.
3) Yes. Rafting is good on the Rio Grande. You can put in near Pilar.
4) Yes. Not telling you where mine are.
5) Art galleries, skiing, dining.
Beware of Buffalo Thunder -- a message for families
Buffalo Thunder Hilton Resort has received extremely bad reviews from people who have stayed there. Problems include erratic service, smoke odor from casino increasingly permeating the entire hotel, and all-night drunken partying by guests who have gotten free rooms paid by the casino because they gambled a lot. The Casino is doing great, but the Resort which is a separate corporation has done so poorly that it has missed both of its bond payments. It has not been foreclosed only because it is on reservation land and cannot be foreclosed.
Interestingly, the Buffalo Thunder Resort recently made a very good offer to the Santa Fe City and County employees to get their big Christmas parties, and clearly they anticipated a lot of drinking at them and a lot of drunks out of more than 1,500 partiers. How a Hilton Resort intended to reconcile a drunken bash with attracting family business is frankly beyond me. http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Loc...rth--not-local
Between the smoke and the drunken partying, I would not take a family there under any circumstances.
(I apologize if this amount of frankness is in violation of any rule, but I am afraid that families might go to Buffalo Thunder because of the Hilton Resort affiliation and I believe that they should be warned about the place.)
Surprisingly, the Homewood Suites which is right next door gets great reviews -- right up there with some of the most expensive places. I personally like the Bishops Lodge Resort and it offers horseback riding (I think.)
And add museums, particularly strong in Indian art, to the list of other things to do.
Weather is great that time of year. Is it stereotypical delightful spring weather but usually without rain (our "rainy" season comes in July/August).
Wow!! We stayed at the Hilton resort in Cancun and loved it so we thought that the Buffalo Thunder resort, being a Hilton, would also be nice. We have always tried to stay at Hilton-affiliated hotels whenever we go away because you can get points which have allowed us to get free hotel rooms at times. Thank you for letting me know about that hotel before we went and booked it. We definitely want to stay in a resort, do you recommend any others besides Bishops Lodge? In the Santa Fe or Albuquerque area.
I don't know what went wrong at Buffalo Thunder Resort. Part was bad luck -- they opened in the recession and they are a very big place by New Mexico standards -- probably need a lot of guests and convention business to make a profit. But they opened when there was less business to be had and when the Las Vegas places were offering very good deals.
Part may be the physical design. They needed to do a better job making sure that the smoke from the casino didn't get into the hotel. Even the success of the casino -- and it is very successful from everything I hear -- may be part of the problem. There are a lot of smokers down there and a lot of gamblers to be comped.
And partly it may be the competition from the Homewood Suites right next door which is also a Hilton and gets great reviews.
Santa Fe, I think timing had a lot to do with it. They opened just before the economy tanked and never got the volume of customers that they needed to support their debt. They do, however, have a tremendous art collection. Let's hope they can keep it.
Not the same time of year - but we drove to Northern New Mexico for Christmas a couple of years ago....
My first reaction was shock... the towns north of Santa Fe are more like those in a third world country. Indian casinos are the only economic engine - and not a good one at that.
Santa Fe is New Mexico's "Aspen". If you love Southwest art - there's lots of that to enjoy... Taos is quaint and lovely - but pricey as well.
It's been a few years - and I don't know how the recession has affected the area..... I'd like to go back and see ABQ - to see if there's any middle class (we're looking for places to retire)....
Not the same time of year - but we drove to Northern New Mexico for Christmas a couple of years ago....
My first reaction was shock... the towns north of Santa Fe are more like those in a third world country. Indian casinos are the only economic engine - and not a good one at that.
Santa Fe is New Mexico's "Aspen". If you love Southwest art - there's lots of that to enjoy... Taos is quaint and lovely - but pricey as well.
It's been a few years - and I don't know how the recession has affected the area..... I'd like to go back and see ABQ - to see if there's any middle class (we're looking for places to retire)....
But what I saw of No. NM was disturbing.
Hey now, LOL, that's my home area you're calling 3rd world! Tesuque? Pojoaque? Nambe? Alcalde? Embudo? Dixon? Hey our adobe homes may seem like mud huts to you but pleeeeeZe! Try buying an adobe in any of those areas & it's not quite 3rd world prices, that's for sure.
Last edited by bongo; 01-01-2010 at 05:45 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Beware of Buffalo Thunder -- a message for families
