Hotels for Lodging in New Mexico

Lodgingwithall New Mexico destination guide is where you can make hotel reservations and find information and tips on travel to New Mexico. This lodging guide will help our readers find the perfect places to stay for lodging accommodations in New Mexico. Whether you are traveling with your family on a leisure holiday vacation or visiting on a corporate business trip, our New Mexico lodging guide will help you find a hotel room that suits your specific needs. This is where you can find available luxury five star New Mexico resorts, comfortable four star New Mexico hotels, clean three star New Mexico lodges, convenient two star New Mexico inns, budget one star New Mexico motels, the best New Mexico vacation rentals, and other New Mexico accomodations.

Fray Marcos de Niza first saw what is now New Mexico in May, 1539. From a nearby mesa he viewed the Zuni pueblo of Hawikah, not far from the present Gallup. He returned to Mexico with tales of cities of gold which so impressed the Viceroy that in 1540 he dispatched Francisco Coronado with an army and Fray Marcos as his guide. They found no gold and very little of anything else. Coronado returned home two years later a broken man.

While others came to New Mexico before him for a variety of purposes, Don Juan de Onate established the first settlement in 1598. Don Pedro de Peralta founded Santa Fe as the capital in 1609. Spanish villages were settled all along the Rio Grande until 1680, when the Pueblo, with Apache help, drove the Spaniards out of New Mexico in the famous Pueblo Revolt. Twelve years later, Don Diego de Vargas reconquered the province with little resistance. The territory grew and prospered, though not entirely without conflict, since the Spanish were determined to maintain control at any cost. They forbade trade with the French of Louisiana, their nearest neighbors and rivals.

New Mexico is a land of contrasts. Traces of prehistoric Folsom Man and Sandia Man, whose ancestors may have trekked across the Bering Strait land bridge from Asia, have been found here. Working in the midst of antiquity, scientists at Los Alamos opened up the new atomic world. Where sheep and cattle were once the only industry, extractive industries-of which oil and uranium are a part-now yield nearly $5 billion a year.

Southern New Mexico has fascinating desert country and cool, green, high forests popular with campers, anglers, and vacationers. In the north, it also has desert lands, but most of this area is high mountain country with clear streams and snow, which sometimes stays all year. Spanish-speaking farmers mix with Native Americans and urban Americans in the plazas of Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

Native Americans occupied New Mexico for centuries before the arrival of Europeans. The exploring Spaniards called them Pueblo Indians because their tightly clustered communities were not unlike Spanish pueblos, or villages. The Apache and Navajo, who arrived in New Mexico after the Pueblo people, were seminomadic wanderers. The Navajo eventually adopted many of the Pueblo ways, although their society is less structured and more individualistic than the Pueblo. The main Navajo reservation straddles New Mexico and Arizona. The Apache, living closer to the Plains Indians, remained more nomadic.

The 19 Pueblo groups have close-knit communal societies and cultures, even though they speak 6 different languages. Their pueblos are unique places to visit. In centuries-old dwellings, craftspeople make and sell a variety of wares. The religious ceremonies, which include many dances and songs, are quite striking and not to be missed. While some pueblos are adamantly uninterested in tourists, others are trying to find a way to preserve those aspects of their ancient culture they most value, while taking advantage of what is most beneficial to them in non-Native American culture and ways.

Tourists are welcome at all reservations in New Mexico on most days, although there are various restrictions. Since the religious ceremonies are sacred, photography is generally prohibited. This may also be true of certain sacred areas of the pueblo (in a few cases, the entire pueblo). Sometimes permission to photograph or draw is needed, and fees may be required. The ancient culture and traditions of these people hold great meaning; visitors should be as respectful of them as they would be of their own. Questions should be directed to the pueblo governor or representative at the tribal office.

Water-related activities, hiking, riding, various other sports, picnicking, camping and visitor centers are available in many of New Mexico's parks. Most parks are open all year. Limit 14 consecutive days during any 20-day period; pets on leash only. Annual entrance passes and camping permits are available. New Mexico, with six of the seven life zones found on the North American continent, has a large number of wildlife species, among them four varieties of deer, as well as mountain lion, bear, elk, Rocky Mountain and Desert Bighorn sheep, oryx, antelope, javelina, Barbary sheep, ibex, wild turkey, goose, duck, quail, pheasant, and squirrel. There is good fishing for trout in mountain streams and lakes; bass, bluegill, crappie, walleye, and catfish can also be found in many of the warmer waters. Hunting and fishing regulations are complex and vary from year to year.

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