El Rancho de las Golondrinas, Santa Fe (must see)

El Rancho de las Golondrinas (The Ranch of the Swallows), a historic rancho and now a living history museum, is strategically located on what was once the Camino Real, the Royal Road that extended from Mexico City to Santa Fe. The ranch provided goods for trade and was a place where the caravans that plied the road would stop on their journey coming from or going to Santa Fe. It was a paraje, an official rest stop for travelers, and was even mentioned by the great colonial military leader and governor, Don Juan Bautista de Anza, when he stopped here with his expeditionary force in 1780.

El Rancho de las Golondrinas, located on 200 acres in the rural farming valley of La Ciénega just south of Santa Fe, New Mexico, strives to maintain examples of life during the period when Spain ruled in the southwestern portion of the North and most of the Central American continent. The museum opened in 1972 and is dedicated to the history, heritage and culture of 18th and 19th century New Mexico. Guides are dressed in period clothing and demonstrate weaving, hide tanning, milling, blacksmithing and the planting of crops. In addition to normal hours of operation there are ten annual festivals at El Rancho de las Golondrinas. Its acequia system (irrigation ditch complex) is on the Register of Historic Places for New Mexico.

El Rancho de las Golondrinas has been seen in numerous Western films. Some movies filmed here include Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979), Wild Times (1980) the CBS miniseries Comanche Moon (2008), and the Better Call Saul episodes "The Guy for This" and "Dedicado a Max".