Northern New Mexico

Cerrillos & Madrid

Mining towns turned art villages on the Turquoise Trail.

To the Plaza25–35 minutes

The place

The Turquoise Trail runs south from Santa Fe through Cerrillos, a nineteenth-century mining town that still looks like one, and Madrid, a coal town reborn as an arts village. Between them are hills that have been mined for turquoise for a thousand years, and homes with views to the Ortiz and Sandia mountains.

What to love

Madrid’s galleries, music, and Christmas lights
Cerrillos Hills State Park trails
Views to the Ortiz Mountains
Land at prices the city left behind long ago

Character: Independent, artistic, and unpolished. Weekend crowds in Madrid; weekday quiet everywhere else.
Architecture: Mining-era adobes and frame houses, owner-built homes, and newer houses on the hills between the villages.
What you’ll find: Village homes, acreage with views, and the occasional historic commercial building.
Lifestyle: The Mine Shaft Tavern, galleries, and the Turquoise Trail’s weekend traffic. Santa Fe is thirty minutes; Albuquerque forty-five.
Getting around: South of Santa Fe on NM 14, the Turquoise Trail. Santa Fe County.
Who it suits: Artists, remote workers, and buyers who want character and acreage between Santa Fe and Albuquerque.