Why Santa Fe Just Beat Charleston: What Makes the #1 U.S. Travel Destination So Special

Santa Fe just topped Travel + Leisure’s list as the #1 travel destination in the U.S. — and we’re not surprised. In this episode, Bunny and Johanna dive into what makes Santa Fe so magical, from the tricultural history and vibrant art scene to world-class cuisine, walkable neighborhoods, breathtaking landscapes, and a warm, inclusive community.

Whether you’re planning your first visit, thinking about moving here, or just want to fall in love with Santa Fe all over again, this episode is your personal guide to the real Santa Fe — hidden gems, can't-miss festivals, local food tips, family-friendly fun, and all.

Plus, find out what to say when someone asks: “So what’s so special about Santa Fe, anyway?”

Read the article: https://www.travelandleisure.com/worlds-best-awards-2025-cities-us-11740107

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Original Music by: Kene Terry

Transcript

Bunny Terry (00:01.688)
Hey everybody and welcome to the Real Santa Fe Show. We're so excited that you're here and the cool thing is that today you give both Johanna and me talking about Santa Fe. Yeah, we're super excited because we thought it was very timely to talk about how Travel and Leisure Magazine just voted Santa Fe the number one city to travel to in America or top city in America. Right, but I think that the official title was We Are Now.

the number one travel destination in the United States. And the truth is, we're not surprised. mean, between the two of us living here and all of the people from out of town that we get to see as a result of our business and as a result of this show, it's not surprising to us. But I got to tell you, we were in the airport headed to Las Vegas the other day for a conference and a gentleman from France,

said he's like Santa Fe, New Mexico, what's that about? And I said very proudly, we were named the number one travel destination in the US. And he said, so what's so special about Santa Fe? And I was dumbstruck, wasn't I? I I didn't quite know what to say because we take this so for granted. That's true. I mean, I think we know Santa Fe is amazing and we know there are many reasons why, but if somebody asks you that question, you're like, well, where do I start? Is it?

The views, is it the food, is it the culture? Like how do you have that elevator pitch basically for Santa Fe? And he said, so I guess you have lots of cowboys and Indians and cactuses, right? And I was like, well, no, although kind of, but certainly no saguaros, which is one of the questions he asked me. So I thought it'd be fun to talk about that.

designation that we received from Travel and Leisure and to say if you've been considering coming to Santa Fe for a visit or to live here, this episode is for you. Definitely, definitely. Or if you love Santa Fe but maybe you forgot some of those hidden gems, this is your little reminder of why we're the best. So Travel and Leisure cited all the really obvious reasons and there you can go on Instagram, you can go on their website and on their YouTube channel. They have some great
film videos that talk about the things that make us different. you know, one is the unique culture, which is hard to explain to somebody who hasn't been here. Very. It's, it's, mean, I've tried, I haven't lived a lot of other places in the world, but I've traveled a lot and it's unique. It's not really like anywhere else. So it is hard to describe. We're, we're tricultural at a minimum. mean, we,

mean, Native Americans have been here always. The Spanish came in the 1600s, 1500s actually, and stirred things up for centuries. And then the United States, everybody from the US east of the Mississippi started coming here in the 1800s. So we have three very strong cultures and somebody who hasn't been here doesn't...

quite get that you're like, they're like, yeah, we live in places where there people different from us. But what we have here is architecture and events and a real celebration of those cultures that I don't think exists anywhere else. No, and it's, think Santa Fe has blended those cultures in a unique way. That's very specific. Even Santa Fe.

as opposed to Albuquerque or Las Cruces, the culture is different. You when you talk about like that Northern New Mexican culture is different. Even like the Spanish you would speak here is different than what you would speak in Southern part of New Mexico. And that comes across in our celebrations and our food and our art and the way the people live here. It does. The other thing, you mentioned art. The other thing that Travel and Leisure talked about is our world-class art.

What a lot of people don't know and that we've mentioned before on this show is that Santa Fe, which has a population, the city has a population of just under 80,000, is the third largest art market in the United States. That's surprising to a lot of people. crazy. yeah. The art market and the art scene is, when I think of Santa Fe, that's like quintessential Santa Fe. You have Canyon Road, you have galleries around the plaza. Even now, like,

Johanna Medina (04:39.852)
we started Meow Wolf and that's like another art explosion. And we have, you know, classical Native American art to this unique, like contemporary art and young artists coming in. And I think it's really a hub. And I think if you're an artist or you're an art lover, Santa Fe has to be on your list. Absolutely. you know, Canyon Road.

for people, I mean we always have to assume people who are listening to this show have never been here. Maybe haven't ever even been to the United States. Canyon Road is a road that is less than a mile long but has over 100 galleries and businesses and restaurants. Where you can, mean, you know my daughter-in-law came, your sister-in-law came from out of town and she was like, they have Picasso's, they have Monet's, they have.

And these tiny little Adobe galleries that have been here for hundreds of years. Yes. For over 100 years at least. Yes. The other thing, which is perhaps one of our favorites, is the cuisine. This is a foodie town. Multiple James Beard award winners and nominees. then like, I mean, a taco truck here has won a James Beard award. So it runs the gamut for sure. Yes. And lots of five-star dining.

And the best Frito pie in the world that you could eat on the plaza that you can buy at the Five and Dime. Yep. Yep. Even Anthony Bourdain tried it once. Right. Said some weird things about it, but still. It's unique. But now I think a lot of other places have emulated that and copied it like Market Steer, which is a high end steakhouse is like using that model of the Frito pie bag in their caviar Frito pie, which we've talked about before. But. Walkability and.

That's an interesting designation that they gave us that that was one of the high points. Certainly if you're staying in town, it's walkable. one sort of surprised me. I wouldn't say it's the most walkable city. Of course, it's not like New York. We don't have a lot of public transportation that's easily accessible. We have a bus, but and we have shuttles. But definitely, I think if you're in the main, you know, where someone would stay if they're visiting.

Johanna Medina (06:59.374)
downtown near the plaza or the rail yard. It's walkable. But you have to remember when you're visiting here that we're at a high elevation. So be careful if you're walking too much. that brings us to the next thing that they brought up with the landscape and outdoor adventures. So one of the cool things about Santa Fe is that it's walkable, but it's also the minute you get out of the city, have these

amazing views. I always, you know, we're, we are, this is the real Santa Fe show, but we also sell real estate and we talk to people all the time. Do you want to be walkable to the Plaza or do you want this long view of the Sangre de Cristos or the Ortiz Mountains or the Jemez? So to me, the landscape, which I see every day from

from my window at home is one of the best things about living here. Definitely, and probably one of the things that sets us apart from the previous winter in Charleston is that we have that horizon view. mean, yes, we don't have a lot of trees, but you can see the beautiful horizons from almost anywhere you look. You know, we talked about that before we started the show that Charleston has won this award. How long? I think 12 years is what I read. Yeah. Wow. So 12 years in a row.

12 years Charleston was the number one travel destination in the United States and now it's Santa Fe. And I've been to Charleston once. There's no comparison except that they're both really charming and unique cities. But wow, there's, that's completely different. And they have great food there, of course. But this is, if.

If you've been going to Charleston for years and now you're like, what's the deal with Santa Fe? Just know that it's so different. We talked about apples to apples. It's really like, it's not even apples to oranges. It's like apples to pizza. I there's no... I like the apples to donuts. Yes, yes. There's not a real comparison. And then, didn't they say year-round events?

Johanna Medina (09:16.206)
Yeah, that's all I was going to. Yeah, definitely the events I was going to say. There's never people ask us all the time. What's the best time to visit Santa Fe? When should I come? Honestly, there's not a bad time to come to Santa Fe because there's skiing in the winter, festivals in the summer, fall and spring are gorgeous. mean, you might get like wind here and there or if you don't like snow, maybe don't come in the winter. But there's just really not a bad time to come to Santa Fe. No, and I don't they didn't cite the weather.

But the weather... Well, they did talk about the days of sunshine. Oh, good. was a big thing. 360 days plus of sunshine. Yeah, which is amazing. But what about the festivals and the events? Like, how does that make set Santa Fe apart? Well, I think it goes back to the multicultural aspect. We've just had the international folk art market, which celebrated folk art market around the world.

But the other thing that we have is the in July we have the Spanish, the traditional Spanish market and the contemporary Spanish market, which are the same weekends. Those are festivals. People are always asking me, where is that? I have new clients who just moved here from Colorado and they said, so is that at the convention center? No, it's on the street. Every street downtown will have vendors, Spanish market vendors from all over the world. In fact,

And then Indian Market is the weekend of the, I think it's the 17th of August, mid August. And that's, I mean, we call it Indian Market. It's Native American artists from all over the United States who come here. It is the largest event in Santa Fe. So you have those two different cultures represented.

Crazy amazing art, sculpture, woodworking. And around that time we have like our fiesta celebration. Right, The first of September. And then we have our favorite. Zozobra. no, wine and chili. Wine and chili. I was still on the festival. But yes, wine and chili. Last weekend. Last week in September.

Johanna Medina (11:42.69)
No, I forgot. Yeah. But there's always, Sanfe loves to celebrate. know, we do Fourth of July different than anyone else. We do Pancakes on the Plaza. We do the Pet Parade at fiestas. It's like we try to turn everything into a little festival, a little get together, bringing this like small community together. And I have to say also related to culture and community, like

I'm part of the queer community and Santa Fe has been one of the most welcoming. Yes, I'm from here, but I've been other places and I'm like, it's a safe welcoming community for everyone. So I definitely think that that's a plus for us. it's really important. And the other thing that we didn't even talk about in terms of times to visit and a way that we celebrate differently is Christmas.

course, Christmas. Christmas on the plaza and on Canyon Road are certainly different than anywhere else in the world, I think. Yeah, that's another thing that we just take for granted. We just say, you know, we're going to go to Canyon Road for Christmas. We're going to go see the lights on the plaza that turn on the day after Thanksgiving and go until like February almost. It's so beautiful. wish they would leave them up all year.

But there are these little things that the people that live here come to expect and know are here. But if you're just visiting, you might not know. And you might not realize Santa Fe has all this cool stuff. You might just think, oh, we're cowboys. Cowboys and cactuses. Indian and cactuses, like the guy said in the airport. was like, what? But I think it's important if you live here to be able, I mean, really.

Just to be able to quantify that and discuss it with people who, I mean, I remember when we knew people from phycoloreptal cancer, which was a group that we were involved with, and I met a guy from New Jersey and he said, why would I ever go to Santa Fe? It's just dry desert. I mean, it's like, it's close to Phoenix, right? So we have to be ready to say, no, you got that.

Johanna Medina (14:00.566)
Yeah, yeah, we're not Arizona. We're not Utah. We're not Texas and you can't even compare. It's different and I don't really I wish I could think of another word to say but It's just unique. It's unique. Yeah, really is unique. It's also really inviting and I would say Pretty stress free Travel. I mean, I don't know about you. But when I come over that hill when I'm coming home

from somewhere and I come over that L'Abajada Hill and Santa Fe is spread out right there at the foot of the Sangre de Cristos. It feels like my blood pressure goes down. Definitely. think that, I mean, obviously we're a smaller town, but everything is at a slower pace. You know, we call it the land of mañana, because everybody just goes at their own pace. It's not like you're going to be on the streets like in New York City and rushing around and people walking past, like people take their time here. People are here to relax, have like a leisurely.

time and even if you live here there's nothing that's stressful or nobody's in a rush no which there's no traffic either so that's no no I mean I don't know why they didn't cite the traffic lack of traffic because if we have to sit through two light cycles we think it's a hardship yeah yeah yeah so I think just comparing to other cities you would visit like even like obviously not I mean LA

San Diego, New York, even Phoenix, the traffic there is crazy. Denver. Yeah, Denver. Denver. But I mean, think those are really key points that people don't always talk about. Well, and we talked before, when we were preparing for the show, we talked about the things that seemed to surprise, especially first time visitors. And I know, I mean, what do you think they're mostly surprised about?

I think they are surprised that it's not like a desert. Like it doesn't look like, like we said, like Arizona or it's, mean, yes, there's, it's brown because we modeled our buildings after the earth, but we're in the high desert. We have mountain views. We have beautiful landscapes. I think people, I mean, I even have friends that come up from Albuquerque and they're like, this looks so different. And it's cooler, like temperature wise.

Johanna Medina (16:19.534)
I don't know what you We're at 7200 feet, it is the high desert. To me, when I talk about the food scene, I think people who don't live here are really dismissive of it. like, yeah, right. And they think that this is just a place where you get enchiladas and chips and salsa with every meal. And that's not how it is.

You know, I can think about all the meals I've had recently because obviously I'm a local foodie, but I mean, I've had the best tuna, the best tuna appetizer I've ever had in my life at Coyote Cafe. Dakota Weiss is now the chef there, the executive chef. I had an amazing, holy mackerel lobster risotto at the compound.

couple of weeks ago and I sent Chef Kiffin a text and said I don't know I don't I don't know how you do it after 25 years it still feels really fresh and interesting every time I go in and of course we're huge fans of Market Steer and like Johanna said they have that Frito pie that is homemade, handmade, in-house made potato chips with cream fresh

caviar. if you're expecting a Frito pie like the one you get on the plaza when you go to Market Steer that's not what you're gonna get. That caramel bread pudding that they make at Market Steer those those are things that seem to surprise people. A lot of time when I have clients who have been looking at houses for three or four days I'll call and

and kind of weasel my way into a reservation at Market Steer. And they're all afterwards. I was like, we didn't expect that menu, that variety of food. Yeah. I think the other thing people don't expect, especially when moving here, because we have a lot of people that move here from out of state or they don't know anybody or they maybe have family in a different city in New Mexico, is that just how friendly people are and how welcoming they are going to a new grocery store or.

Johanna Medina (18:38.478)
walking downtown or going to a new restaurant. Like the people that live here, we are very welcoming and open. And we're not afraid of the new people or the tourists. Well, and we may get pushback on that because I know there are a lot of people whose families have been here for hundreds of years and they're like, we don't want new people coming here. But that is not I really haven't experienced I was gonna say, I read about it sometimes in the community.

forum on Facebook, but what I've experienced and what my clients have experienced is that there are groups that everybody can fit into. And like you said about being in the queer community, it's like everybody pretty much allows you to be who you are. Yeah. And I mean, you could about any city, there's always going to be people that are unfriendly. That's, that's just life. But for the most part,

And again, going back to what we've heard anecdotally and what we've experienced, we haven't had any clients that move here and like, we didn't feel welcomed, you know? I've had one client, one, who in the last 12 years came and lived here for about 14 months. And then they said, we got to go back to California. And I was like, you know, they say that Santa Fe and New Mexico will either welcome you or spit you out.

And maybe that's what happened. I don't know. I wasn't clear on the reason that they left, but they did go back. But otherwise, I only hear good things from people. Well, and you also work hard to help your clients integrate into the community and get to know what they're interested, tell them about companies, because there's also so many nonprofits and so many groups that people could join. And so that's a huge part, too. If you're going to move here, know that.

you can find your little community. It might not be everyone, but hopefully there's a little group you can be a part of. So what, if you're coming for the first time, we wanted to give everybody an idea of what not to miss. And the other thing is that if you've lived here all your life, there may be something surprising that you're going to hear us talk about. So what are your...

Johanna Medina (21:05.944)
It's like, are my insider itineraries? Well, do you want to go for, I'll let you go first. favorite breakfast. That's an ever-changing list. You can never, ever go wrong going to Tia Sofia's or the Plaza Cafe, either downtown or Southside. We love those places. We go there frequently. Recently,

And don't shoot me for saying this, for the longest time, both my husband and I would be like, we live really close to Harry's Roadhouse. And we'd like, know, everybody goes there. We went recently for breakfast and for lunch and holy mackerel, it was great. Yeah, Harry's is the type of place like everybody's gonna find something that they can eat there and that they'll like. Like they're very consistent and they're also like a fun vibe in there.

Right, right. So if you haven't thought about any of those places recently for breakfast, I'd choose that. then... I'm going to jump in. Please. I would say my favorite breakfast spot is, again, like has changed over the years, Pantry Rio. That's the one that's right off the plaza now. You have the original OG Pantry, which is amazing.

It's so popular though if you're trying to go on like a Saturday or Sunday the line is gonna be a little bit crazy But pantry Rio you're on the corner you can people watch the staff is so friendly and the food is really delicious So that's my for breakfast and if you don't want a place that's really traditional Santa Fe Dolina Yeah, really really amazing. type. Yeah and meal. Yeah, yeah, Dolina and meal

So what about, I know some of these we might have talked about like in one of our first episodes, but do you have any sightseeing spots? I think something that I mentioned to people and they don't know about is the rail trail, which I live next door to, so it's an easy hike for me. But Santa Fe County has created a

Johanna Medina (23:26.282)
series of trails that actually go from downtown all the way out here by my house I live off of rabbit road, which is just south of the city limits and I mean you can basically walk or bike all the way to Lamy. mean it goes through El Dorado where Johanna lives and people don't tend to know about the rail trail. You know people who have lived here always I'll say I live right off the rail trail and they'll say you mean over there by

you know, Sirius in St. France, no, no, no, no, no, South on Rabbit Road. So that of course is one of my favorites. Yeah, I mean, I'm kind of classic or cliche, but maybe people don't all know about like, I will go to Hyde Park, which is a little bit up the mountain. I mean, because I live a little bit outside of town.

hiking near Pecos and then like Galesdale Basin. Those are all like easy hikes especially having a little kid. Those are good spots. and that's something we should say people don't get when they see these sort of designations. I don't think they realize that Santa Fe is really family friendly. Totally. And you've got a five almost five-year-old. Yes. And there's a lot to do.

In fact, I think we should suggest that if you're bringing your kids get online and find our friend at Santa fam Yes, yes, but you could go back and listen to our episode with Megan or find Santa fam on Instagram She I mean is the wealth of knowledge for what to do here with kids She promotes their different events and also lets you know like she has a whole calendar of things to do So you can never say Santa Fe is not for kids. It's really is. Yeah This is not just a girlfriend weekend

or a spa getaway. This is a great place to bring your kids. And that's at S-A-N-T-A-F-E-F-A-M. Yes. what about, oh what about shopping? We love to shop in Santa Fe. We do love to shop in Santa Fe. It's one of our weaknesses. And I shop downtown. In fact, I tell clients or friends who are coming from out of town if you want to buy

Johanna Medina (25:45.938)
local jewelry get under the portal at the Palace of the Governors. Those are all artists from local pueblos and they hoof it in here every day and set up and sell. And there's value to buying from them, not only because you're buying directly from the artist, but also their overhead is different. So I would think prices are gonna be better.

They're not having to pay those high rents in downtown. And there's a wide variety of jewelry, pottery, different items that you can buy under the portal that you can't find anywhere else. Yeah. Yeah. mean, especially if you're coming during any of those festival times, you got to bring some shopping money. mean, I think I've mentioned before, we love FS2.

I love FS2. FS2, Santa Fe Trail Outfitters, that's a place you gotta stop. And then, you know, I also love, like, even in the DeVargas mall, like my favorite used bookstore is in there, the Opsit bookstore. We go in there all the time. You can get all kinds of stuff. And it's kind of cool just to cruise around DeVargas. Well, and I would say to people who think that DeVargas is just a strip mall, it's not. They've got great local, yeah, it's...

Good stuff there. Really good stuff. Plus you can have lunch at a Trisco, right? Or Dr. Feel Goods. Yes. What about anything off the beaten path or maybe things we haven't mentioned before? Well, I think that people forget to do things. I mean, you don't just have to stay in the center of the city. I think people even fail to go to the rail yard sometimes because

because they're thinking, know, drove up from Dallas or came down from Denver, I gotta hang out downtown. But the rail yard has amazing attractions. If you haven't been to the Vlatum Contemporary Art Museum, that's always a surprise to people and it's a couple of years old. think the other thing that people don't think about is to take like a half day trip somewhere, like even drive down to Surreyos and go to the Blackbird Saloon. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Johanna Medina (28:10.126)
Or Madrid. Yeah, go to the mine shaft in Madrid. But get out. If you want to live like a local, you're welcome to get in touch with us. But those are places that locals like to hang out. Yeah. Yeah. The place I'm always bringing up is going to Lamy and going to Legal Tender. Then you can go across the dirt parking lot to Knuckles and catch some live music. You know, they're only open on the weekends, but it's totally worth

worth it and everyone there is so nice. The other place I was gonna say, you're just exploring a little bit off the plaza, but maybe your hotel is still in that area, go by Chomp, which is kind of a food hall area, which I'll put links and stuff too, but they have different, there's a bar in there, there's different food, there's a little bit of shopping, they have an awesome new ice cream place in there. I hear they have the best pizza in town.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I hear that chomp. What's the name of the ice cream? Hello, sweet cream. Shout out to Ryan. Yeah. So, know, if you have a group and you're like, I don't know if people are going to like certain types of food, you can go somewhere like that and they can choose whatever they want. And then there's radish and rye right next door. God. If some other good food. If you want the best pork chops in the entire world, go and have dinner at Radish and Rye and tell them we sent you because I...

Those pork chops are amazing. So good. Yes. I don't even like pork chops. That's so good. So, you know, I was one of those people. I mean, I wanted to move here since I was six years old and I grew up in Northeastern New Mexico and visited when the Roundhouse was a brand new building. 1966, you guys can do the math. I'm probably older than some of you, but since I was six years old and stood in the rotunda of the Roundhouse.

I wanted to move to Santa Fe and now we're here. It's crazy. I always say to, how do I put this, like a lot of people end up here, right? They've lived other places, they've traveled and then they might come here to retire or later in life. And I always say like, I'm kind of spoiled because I ended up here so early in life and I don't ever want to go anywhere else. I'm kind like, why bother? I'm happy to visit other cities, but I never want to live anywhere.

Johanna Medina (30:35.372)
Well, and I would say that Santa Fe maybe has a reputation of being a little bit, having an older demographic, but I want you to know, and we've talked to some of these people, and we're going to talk to more of them, there are a lot of young people who either grew up here and came back or who purposefully moved here, like Johanna. There's people in their 20s and 30s and 40s, which is really young to me, who are making a life and a living here.

So don't let the idea that this is a retirement community put you off because it's not. Definitely not. No. There's lots of opportunities for work in Santa Fe. And there's also, you know, now that we have a lot of remote workers, people are choosing to move here when they could live anywhere else. Right. Yeah. So I think we have to wrap up because we've taken so long to talk about the things that we love and what we what we think travel and leisure loved about Santa Fe.

Should we just wrap up? Yes. Yeah. So if you're thinking about coming to Santa Fe, now's the perfect time. Like I said, there's really not a bad time to come to Santa Fe, but we'd be happy to have you visit. And if you have any specific questions about visiting Santa Fe, moving to Santa Fe, Bunny has a great guide on her site and we could share it with you. Reach out, send us a DM, email. And here's the other thing. If you liked

the show. We'd love for you to continue to follow us. But the other thing is, if you have a Santa Fe story to tell or you'd like to be a guest, get in touch. Because that's what we're most interested in, our Santa Fe stories. Because this is the real Santa Fe. Thanks for being here.

Bye.