Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi

There are adobe walls, wood floors, and gas burning kiva fireplaces in every room of this former Santa Fe penitentiary. The scent of pinon pine permeates the air, hand woven carpets warm your feet on the floor and bath oils impregnate your water with the smell of cedar. Funky Southwest food that even the locals consider to be the greatest in Santa Fe. At night, you’re tucked in with treats like coconut clusters and chocolate-covered strawberries. And when you’re not bathing, eating, or sleeping, the best spot to be is on the living room sofa in front of the fireplace, where, after eleven in the morning, you can linger lazily over a cocktail.

They say it’s not only the best hotel in the area, but one of the best hotels around. Better yet, Inn of the Anasazi is a hotel with a conscience. Take, for example, the decision to remodel the town prison, which was less ecologically destructive than building something new (admittedly, the Anasazi’s rooms are on the small side, but no one seems to mind). Your toilets and showers are environmentally sound, your toiletries are organic, and your Labrador is welcome, as are your children. It’s politically conscious as well. The Anasazi, which takes its name from the lost cliff-dwelling tribe, makes an effort to use local Native American talent for its furnishings, and Native American spirituality for its environment. They opened the Inn, after all, with a traditional blessing ceremony. Feel free, therefore, to pamper yourself here. You won’t be inflicting any global misery in doing so.

A note: hours are civilized at the Anasazi. The bar, and room service, closes at twelve. There are cold cuts specially prepared for night owls, but, like the rest of downtown Santa Fe, you’re not expected to be up past midnight. (There are plenty of galleries and bookstores during the day, but no night life to speak of.) Therefore the Anasazi may not be for everyone. If you eat your dinner at midnight and go to bed at dawn, you may want to give it a miss. Ditto, if you are allergic to happy, eco-friendly PC. Anasazi is only perfect for the scrupulous-yet-self-indulgent palate. The Anasazi belongs to the mature traveler—in tastes, if not in years—whose idea of a perfect twenty-four hours is art-collecting by day and the fireside by night, and whose idea of a perfect activity is listening to the still, still desert air.

How to get there: Inn of the Anasazi is 60 miles from Albuquerque International Airport and 8 miles from Santa Fe Airport. Car rentals, shuttles, private towncar service and taxis are available from the Albuquerque airport. Airport shuttles run every hour on the hour for $21-23 USD per person each way.