What to do in Las Vegas, New Mexico!

Hundreds of years of incredible history in Las Vegas, New Mexico!

My boys enjoy the Montezuma Hot Springs.

My boys stand on the outskirts of town, Hermit's Peak behind them.

Las Vegas sits at an elevation of 6500 feet - higher than Denver, the Mile High City. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains - the southern end of the Rocky Mountain Range - rise to the west of town, and the Great Plains roll out from the east side of Interstate 25.

"Las Vegas" means "The Meadows" in Spanish. The winter snow runs off the Rockies in the spring, watering the graceful pinon and prairie grasses. Las Vegas is much greener than most of New Mexico thanks to its elevation.

The Las Vegas area was occupied as early as 8,000B.C. by Paleo-Indians, and much later by the Plains American Indians. The Spanish explorer Coronado crossed Las Vegas' Rio Gallinas in 1541.

The Santa Fe Trail passed through what became the center of Las Vegas. If you walk down Bridge Street, you follow the path of thousands of hopeful gold rushers, Native American traders, and Spanish settlers.

Today Las Vegas is a vibrant small city with unique features, including New Mexico Highlands University. Not only does the town sport over 1000 homes and buildings on the historic register - it is a favorite location spot for film directors!

The Hot Springs near Montezuma Castle are a local favorite spot. You can soak in the 112 degree hot pool while your young children splash in the 100 degree warm pool. These natural hot springs have been used by the local population for hundreds of years. The pools are free, outside, and are maintained by the students of the Armand Hammer World College, a two-year dormitory college prep school which has students from over 100 different countries.

The Plaza Hotel and Byron T's Saloon, on the Plaza in Old Town Las Vegas, New Mexico, is the site where the Rough Riders first met. The hotel has been restored and features a wonderful restaurant and wild west accommodations with a modern touch.

Each Saturday and Sunday on Grand Avenue, the People's Flea Market offers fun, excitement, and some amazing bargains! Find a used leather holster, or buy a crate of live chickens! Farmers, ranchers, cowboys, and townspeople set up free tables where they sell their extra goods. Don't miss the fresh tamales and prune empanadas - mmmmmm!

The Rio Gallinas splits Las Vegas into East and West. The river boasts a pretty gravel river walk, where you can enjoy the pinon trees and watch the numerous beavers work on their dams. Pick up a smothered green chile burrito at Charlie's Spic and Span on Douglas Ave, and enjoy some lunch at the river's edge.

The Las Vegas Museum and Rough Riders Museum on Grand Avenue is a free museum crammed with photographs and artifacts from the town's Wild West days. The historian on duty will describe what life was like when Billy the Kid terrorized the town.

The haunted La Castaneda Hotel is located next to the old Las Vegas Train Depot. The hotel is closed, but the saloon on the ground floor is still open - and it looks exactly like it did during Doc Holliday's years. Grab a Corona and sit on the hotel deck. If you're lucky, you might spy the ghost!

Nature abounds in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Take a hike up Hermit's Peak, or a quiet drive through the Great Plains until you reach the Las Vegas National Wildlife Sanctuary. You can play golf at New Mexico Highlands University's beautiful course off of Mills Avenue, overlooking the Great Plains.

Love to ski? Las Vegas, New Mexico is close to world-class skiing at Taos, Ski Santa Fe, and Angel Fire. A fun and reasonably priced family resort, Sipapu, is just an hour's drive from town center. Skiing has been great at the start of 2008! We've been getting regular snow, and all resorts are reporting powder-packed slopes.

Las Vegas, New Mexico has over 1000 homes and businesses on the Historic Register. Take a slow drive through town and admire the incredible Victorian architecture and the 200-year-old adobe and stone homes. The Tourism office on Grand Avenue can help you charter a tour.

The train ride from Las Vegas, New Mexico to Santa Fe is said to be one of the most beautiful in the country. The tracks wind through the Pecos river valley, through canyons and mesas, through the same back country Kit Carson and other pioneers rode. Every time of year is special - winter brings gorgeous snow drifts around pinon forests, spring brings more green than you could ever imagine in New Mexico, with hundreds of thousands of tiny yellow and purple flowers, summer is the time of gold-crusted meadows - you'll even spot coyote and antelope!

The Las Vegas Plaza is the heartbeat of Old Town Las Vegas. Surrounded by the Plaza Hotel where the Rough Riders first met, an old parachute factory from World War II, and a collection of incredible adobe buildings on the historic register, the Plaza has a restored gazebo circled by tall live oak trees.

Each year my town holds an old-fashioned Fiesta, complete with parade, food booths where you can find roasted corn, Navajo Tacos and other local treats, traditional dancing, and music!

The Plaza is home base for the annual Rough Riders Motorcycle Rally, a long weekend of music, dancing, contests, and events for bikers held in July. Straddle your Harley and hit town for a Poker Run through San Miguel County.

During summer months, the Highlands University Dance Team teaches free Salsa lessons on the Plaza. Watch the Las Vegas Optic for the weekly events schedule.