Getting Here, Getting Around - Santa Fe, New Mexico



Getting Here, Getting Around

Four hundred years ago, there was only one way into Santa Fe—El Camino Real (the “Royal Road” or “King’s Highway”), an arduous and, for some, fatal network of roads and trails that began in Mexico City. This camino de tierra adentro, or “road to the interior,” started out as Indian trails and slowly extended northward, segment by segment, throughout the 16th century, as conquistadores and settlers, missionaries and merchants, and seekers of fame, fortune, and adventure all made their way to New Mexico.

More than two centuries later, on September 1, 1821, William Becknell left Franklin, Missouri, with a wagonload of goods to trade with Indians. He never got farther than Santa Fe where, despite Spain’s restrictions against Anglo Americans and trade with the eastern United States, colonists eagerly bought all his goods, which were scarce and highly coveted in the territory. This was in November. The following month—on December 26, 1821—word reached Santa Fe that Mexico, and therefore New Mexico, had won independence from Spain. With that news the frontier opened and, with it, so did the Santa Fe Trail. For the next six decades, until the first locomotive steamed through northeastern New Mexico, the 900-mile stretch from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, remained a bustling, if hazardous, trade route that represented profits to businessmen, adventure to mountain men, and converts for Protestant missionaries—all of them willing to risk death by disease, starvation, or hostile Indians to achieve their goals.

Only traces of the original Santa Fe Trail remain in the city, most notably behind the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, 2 miles southeast of the Plaza, where you can still see the indentation of wagon wheels in the hard, dry dirt. Much of the original trail is now beneath the pavement of the well-traveled Old Santa Fe Trail—a scenic, narrow road wending its way from County Road 67 south of the city to its terminus at the Santa Fe Plaza. El Camino Real, however, is still a vital Santa Fe thoroughfare—at least the part now called Agua Fria (“Cold Water”) Street, which begins in the Guadalupe District west of the Plaza and meanders parallel to the Santa Fe River through the west side barrio and the historic village of Agua Fria.

Today, of course, there are a number of ways to get into and out of Santa Fe, as well as around and through it—though never enough for some people and far too many for others. Additional roads naturally translate into more traffic and all its accoutrements: congestion, noise, and the threat of polluting our pristine skies. So far, however, a population painfully aware of this particular downside of growth, as well as city and county governments that for the most part are sympathetic to their constituents’ concerns, are trying to find a happy medium that allows for expanding our highways and byways without destroying the aesthetic, cultural, and historic integrity of Santa Fe. Here’s what we’ve got thus far.

1. Greyhound/Tnm&O

City: Santa Fe, NM
Category: Getting Here, Getting Around
Telephone: (505) 243-4435, (800) 231-2222

Description: Greyhound and TNM&O coaches provide bus service between the Albuquerque airport and the Santa Fe Bus Depot at 858 St. Michael’s Dr. Call for times and prices.


2. Sandia Shuttle Express

City: Santa Fe, NM
Category: Getting Here, Getting Around
Telephone: (888) 775-5696
Address: 3600 Cerrillos Rd., Suite 207C

Description: Sandia Shuttle Express makes 26 runs daily to and from the Albuquerque airport for $25 each way, or $45 prepaid with a credit card. The first run of the day is at 5 a.m. out of Santa Fe; the last van leaves the Capital City at 7 p.m. From the airport, you can catch the first shuttle to Santa Fe at 8:45 a.m. and the last at 10:45 p.m. Sandia Shuttle Express picks up and drops off passengers at all Santa Fe hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfast inns, and a number of other locations in and around the Capital City, including retirement homes, Fort Marcy Compound, and St. John’s College.

3. Lamy Shuttle And Tours

City: Santa Fe, NM
Category: Getting Here, Getting Around
Telephone: (505) 982-8829
Address: 1476 North Miracerros Loop

Description: The Lamy shuttle takes passengers with reservations to meet the Amtrak Southwest Chief trains that arrive once a day at the Lamy Depot from Chicago and Los Angeles. For $16 per person—which works out to less than $1 a mile—the shuttle provides door-to-door service from the depot to your hotel or residence and vice versa. As its name implies, the company also offers custom tours. Call for details and prices.

4. Grayline Tours Of Santa Fe

City: Santa Fe, NM
Category: Getting Here, Getting Around
Telephone: (505) 983-9491
Address: 1330 Hickox St.

5. Carey Southwest Limousine

City: Santa Fe, NM
Category: Getting Here, Getting Around
Telephone: (505) 820-6700
Address: 1251 S. St. Francis Dr.

6. Advantage Rent-A-Car

City: Santa Fe, NM
Category: Getting Here, Getting Around
Telephone: (505) 983-9470, (800) 777-5500
Address: 3963 Cerrillos Rd.

7. Avis Rent-A-Car

City: Santa Fe, NM
Category: Getting Here, Getting Around
Telephone: (505) 471-5892, (800) 831-2847
Address: 443 Airport Rd.

8. Budget Car Rental

City: Santa Fe, NM
Category: Getting Here, Getting Around
Telephone: (505) 984-1596, (800) 527-7000
Address: 1946 Cerrillos Rd.

9. Enterprise Rent-A-Car

City: Santa Fe, NM
Category: Getting Here, Getting Around
Telephone: (505) 473-3600, (800) RENTCAR

10. Hertz Rent-A-Car

City: Santa Fe, NM
Category: Getting Here, Getting Around
Telephone: (505) 471-7189, (800) 654-3131
Address: 443 Airport Rd. #2

11. Thrifty Car Rental

City: Santa Fe, NM
Category: Getting Here, Getting Around
Telephone: (505) 474-3365, (800) 847-4389
Address: 2865 Cerrillos Rd.

12. Santa Fe Municipal Airport

City: Santa Fe, NM
Category: Getting Here, Getting Around
Address: 443 Airport Rd.

13. Greyhound/Tnm&O

City: Santa Fe, NM
Category: Getting Here, Getting Around
Telephone: (505) 471-0008, (800) 231-2222
Address: 858 St. Michael’s Dr.

Description: Greyhound and TNM&O coaches provide bus service between the Albuquerque airport and the Santa Fe bus station on St. Michael’s Drive several times a day. One-way nonrefundable fare is $19.75. Buses also run between Santa Fe and Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Clovis, Gallup, Grants, Las Cruces, Las Vegas (NM), Roswell, and Taos in New Mexico; Alamosa, Colorado Springs, Denver, and Pueblo in Colorado; Amarillo, Dallas, and El Paso in Texas; Flagstaff and Phoenix in Arizona; and New Orleans. Call the bus station for times and fares. The depot is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 to 9:45 p.m. and on weekends when buses arrive and depart.

14. Santa Fe Trails Transit System

City: Santa Fe, NM
Category: Getting Here, Getting Around
Address: 2931 Rufina St.

15. Sandia Shuttle Express

City: Santa Fe, NM
Category: Getting Here, Getting Around
Telephone: (888) 775-5696
Address: 3600 Cerrillos Rd., Suite 207C

Description: Sandia Shuttle Express provides nonstop service between Santa Fe and the Albuquerque airport (see listing under Albuquerque International Sunport on page 13).
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