More than 90 percent of visitors come to New Mexico for the attractions in northern New Mexico, including Santa Fe, Taos and Bandelier National Monument. To see the best of this region, begin at Albuquerque and travel north on Interstate 25 to the campground at Lake Cochiti, which has water and electric hookups and accommodations for any size RV. Lake Cochiti is the perfect base camp to allow you to experience the culture and museums of Santa Fe. From there you can drive to other destinations less than an hour away, such as the Rancho de los Golondrinas living history museum, a 200-acre ranch spotlighting Spanish colonial life during the early 1700s. Other fun places include Madrid, a mining town turned into an artist colony, and Tent Rocks National Monument, a geologic moonscape of seven million-year-old volcanic formations.
From Santa Fe, drive two hours north on I-25 to small community of Taos. The 1,000-year-old Taos Pueblo has been continuously inhabited for more than 1,000 years and is now the center of the Enchanted Circle Drive, an 86-mile circular route through the southern end of the Rocky Mountains. Begin at Taos and take Highway 64 East to the town of Angel Fire, then travel in a counter-clockwise direction to the quaint alpine towns of Eagle Nest, Red River and Questa (all of which have RV accommodations). Next, visit the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, the second-highest suspension bridge in the U.S. Lastly, head west to tour model homes at the Earthship Institute, a non-profit organization teaching sustainable building construction methods that use recycled and hand made materials.
Learn about New Mexico's place in atomic history, by traveling south from Albuquerque on I-25 to Socorro, then head west on Highway 60. Camp at the Datil Well National Recreation Site, which has a rustic campground (without utilities). Nearby is the Very Large Array (VLA), an astronomical radio observatory which features 27 antennas spanning 22 miles across. The VLA has year-round exhibits and an open house on the first Saturdays in April and October, when astronomers give tours to the public. In conjunction with the VLA's open house days, the nearby Trinity Test Site is also open for tours of this famous location where the first atomic bomb was tested in July 1945. Before leaving the area, stop for lunch at Pie Town, a small community made famous for home-baked pies as well as an annual pie festival.
