Looking for a home in Santa Fe? Check out these great listings!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Santa Fe is at 7,000 feet. If you\u2019re coming from most places that aren\u2019t in the Rockies, the elevation will get to you for awhile. Don\u2019t get frustrated when you get out of breath going up the stairs the first few days you are here.<\/p>\n If you are reasonably in shape, the norm is about 30 days to get your mountain legs. The trick is to stay hydrated and do some easy exercises to acclimate yourself. Gentle hikes are ok, but maybe don\u2019t plan on doing that 100-mile bike ride for a bit. Here are some more tips to help you acclimate to our altitude<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once you get used to the elevation in town, you can start to venture higher up into the mountains to get some serious altitude. Atalaya Mountain in town tops out over 9,000 feet and is a great, if strenuous, hike. The ski area tops out over 12,000 feet and there are some glorious places to hike and mountain bike up high.<\/p>\n The elevation also means that we have four proper seasons. (Sometimes we have all four seasons in one day!) People ask us all the time if it gets really hot in the desert, as if we are similar to Phoenix. We definitely have some hot days before monsoon hits, but it almost never hits 100 (or 90 for that matter) and the nights are oh so nice, with temps dropping as much as 30 degrees. We have a proper monsoon, or rainy season, most years in July.<\/p>\n And in winter we have snow. Snowfall varies by year but can reach hundreds of inches in the mountains. It snows much less in town, but we do get a handful of big dumps every winter. Generally the snow starts to evaporate as soon as the sun comes out, which is most of the time. We\u2019re blessed with close to 300 days of sun on average. And with that sun comes amazing outdoor winter recreation<\/a>, like sledding<\/a> or skiing<\/a>!<\/p>\n It\u2019s common to have warm days in early spring, which can give a false sense that winter is truly over. That being said, it can also be a nice time to get out of the house and start the garden or get in an early season bike ride. Spring in Santa Fe is typically windy, but not terribly so. Expect a rogue snowfall in late spring. Check out our video about places to explore in spring!<\/a><\/p>\n Fall just might be the best season in Santa Fe. The weather has cooled down a little, but the days are still long \u2014 a perfect combination for getting outdoors for hours on end. And in the mountains, the aspens begin to turn their signature bright yellow.<\/p>\n Things even smell great as vendors set up their green chile roasting<\/a> stations in parking lots all over town. If Santa Fe has a signature smell, this is it.<\/p>\n The pueblo inhabitants of Santa Fe and the surrounding areas built their homes from adobe, a sun-dried clay brick, as far back as 1,000 years ago. When the Spanish came up from Mexico in the 1500s they adopted this style, too, because it is somewhat easy to build. The thermal properties of adobe also help keeps homes cool in the summer and warm in the winter.<\/p>\n When artists and architects started coming to Santa Fe in the 1920s and ’30s, they wanted to establish a unique identity for the town. The style was mandated for the historical district of Santa Fe in 1957 and is generally used all over town, though modern and industrial influences are starting to surface in the many in-fill projects in town, especially the Santa Fe Railyard.<\/p>\n Though you may hear visitors say \u201ceverything looks the same\u201d in Santa Fe, you begin to appreciate the style when you realize how well it blends in with the hills and preserves the appearance of being a part of the surroundings, not lording over them.<\/p>\n We really are blessed with an amazing variety of places to eat in Santa Fe. Of course we have some great New Mexican restaurants and we love our chile . . . on everything. But we also have great Asian food, amazing French cuisine, Salvadoran food, Italian, African, Tibetan, vegetarian…you name it. And don\u2019t get us started on the taco trucks. You could eat out every night of the year at a different place. Get an idea of what the Santa Fe restaurant scene is all about with our Santa Fe dining directory<\/a>.<\/p>\n We hear lots of complaints about the drivers in Santa Fe, but take them with a grain of salt because we live in a small town and such things are talked about in small towns. The truth is we\u2019re not anywhere near the worst drivers in the United States<\/a>. Mostly you will need to be prepared for drivers going under the speed limit. Oh, and tourists trying to figure out our whacky streets. And if you’re coming from a big city, we don’t tend to honk our horns unless someone is looking at their cell phone when the light turns green.<\/p>\n If you move here, you will likely be one of those people trying to figure out our street system. It\u2019s based on the Spanish plaza system, where the plaza mayor is the center of the city and all roads radiate from there. Also, Santa Fe was founded more than 400 years ago, so many of the streets were really built as cart paths for foot and horse traffic. If you\u2019ve been to Europe, you\u2019ll have some understanding of how windy the streets can be.<\/p>\n When you need to transfer your title, get plates or get a New Mexico Driver’s license, make an appointment at MVD Express<\/a> and get in and out in a jiffy.<\/p>\n Santa Fe gets about 2 million visitors a year. And because we have so many visitors, much of the economy is geared to tourists and part-time residents. The great part about this is we have tons of great restaurants and shops. The bad can be that prices are a little high depending on where you eat, drink, and shop.<\/p>\n Those drawbacks, however, are mitigated by the fact that you will meet tons of interesting people with tons of interesting stories. It also means that Santa Fe has a laid-back personality that inevitably turns many visitors in those who are moving to Santa Fe. In addition, you can enjoy those same places tourists flock to see, like the iconic Santa Fe Opera and immersive experience at Meow Wolf<\/a>!<\/p>\n The housing market in Santa Fe is a little crunched at the moment. Rental occupancy rates are north of 97% according to official statistics, which has put a squeeze on available rentals and driven up rates. But if you have the right strategy and have some flexibility, you\u2019re more likely to find something that fits your needs. Summer season has higher demand, so look in fall or spring. Ask everyone you know in town if they know of anything: chances are word of mouth can help you as much as the online listings.<\/p>\n If you are buying a home, the situation is a little different. Inventory is still tight, but open-minded buyers can still find relative deals (especially if you are coming from the East Coast or West Coast) that might need a little bit of updating to bring them out of the 1970s. If you have means, there are many larger homes that have loads of Santa Fe charm. Check our Santa Fe Real Estate Services guide<\/a> to find someone who can guide you through the home-buying process.<\/p>\n Also keep in mind that Santa Fe’s neighborhoods<\/a> are very diverse and where you live doesn’t define you.<\/p>\n Santa Fe may not be much of a late-night town, but there is always something going on. Our fine dining is unparalleled for such a small town. And because we have such a strong artistic community there is always an amazing play, reading, or art opening somewhere. We have world-class museums here, with many downtown and more up on Museum Hill<\/a>. Santa Fe also has a large intellectual community, so we have regular lectures from global thought leaders.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re more into live music, we have that, too. Of course, there’s the Santa Fe Opera, as well as the Santa Fe Symphony<\/a>, and many other options. In the past few years, the town has gone from loads of restaurant acoustic acts to legitimate performance venues. Much of this is down to Meow Wolf, but The Bridge at Santa Fe Brewing has brought in some big names and 2nd Street Rufina and Tumbleroot offer great shows, as well. Just looking for a place to enjoy a cold one with friends? Here’s our list of seven local breweries<\/a> to visit.<\/p>\n And if you\u2019re looking for late night<\/a> (at least for Santa Fe), there are a couple of options in town. Box Car<\/a> is a great one for late-night eats and DJ shows, while Matador, Evangelo\u2019s, and Tonic all stay open until 2.<\/p>\n1. Santa Fe Elevation<\/h2>\n
2. Santa Fe Weather<\/h2>\n
3. There\u2019s a reason all the buildings are brown<\/h2>\n
4. There are so many great places to eat here<\/h2>\n
5. Driving here can be…interesting<\/h2>\n
6. Tourism drives the economy here
![\"Meow](\"http:\/\/santafe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Meow_Wolf-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/h2>\n7. Figuring out where to live in Santa Fe<\/h2>\n
8. Going out in Santa Fe<\/h2>\n
9. Like the outdoors?<\/h2>\n