Humble beginnings

Taos casts a lingering spell. Set on a rolling mesa at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, it's a place of piercing light and spectacular views, where the desert palette changes hourly as the sun moves across the sky and over the simple but comfortable and natural adobe homes. It's a scene that attracted the first Amercan artists to venture West—people like Joseph Sharp, Ernest Blumenschein and art patron Mable Dodge Luhan—and successive waves of immigrants, including the "Flower Children" of the 1960s drawn to the simple but fulfilling life here.

Our Native American and Spanish culture

It also is the homeland of Taos Pueblo (a World Heritage site), Spanish Colonial/Hispanic settlers and intrepid Anglo immigrants, whose combined histories and lifeways has produced a hybrid culture unlike any on Earth. Nearby river canyons, mesas and vast open spaces offer endless recreational opportunities. Come and embrace the Taos Life.

Our Living History

History is not a dry, musty subject here; it is alive and living all around us. Visit the Plaza area and soak up its character and characters, living and deceased. Drop by the home of Kit Carson or artists like E.L Blumenschein, visit the 18th century Hacienda de los Martinez or 1,000-year-old Taos Pueblo. See where the first Territorial Governor had his head cut off. History is not always pretty, but it can be fascinating.

Memory Makers

Your first sip of a margarita at the Adobe Bar; the slow immersion into an outdoor hot tub as snow swirls down; the taste buds tingle with your first red chile enchilada; old friends getting together; the new friends you quickly made here; that perfect turn in the white world; a summer sunset over Taos Mesa--the sky larger than it's ever looked.