Experience is life, and any of these will enrich yours for no cost. Here are some of Santa Fe's most popular (and a few lesser-known) ways to have fun for free.
Santa Fe Bandstand
Live music pours out into the Plaza all summer long through this free concert series that showcases rock, reggae, Latin music, surf, opera apprentices, jazz and pretty much any genre you can imagine. The schedule includes 75 performances between July 5 and Aug. 25—find out more at santafebandstand.org.
First Free Sundays at Local Museums
If you're a New Mexico resident, you can get into many museums at no cost on the first Sunday of every month. Museums include New Mexico History Museum (113 Lincoln Ave., 476-5200) New Mexico Museum of Art (107 W Palace Ave., 476-5072), the Museum of International Folk Art (706 Camino Lejo, 476-1200) and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (710 Camino Lejo, 476-1269).
Friday Night Art Openings
The warmer it gets, the more frequent the art openings. Up and down Canyon Road, at the Railyard and on the Plaza, little parties celebrate the debut of exhibits of work by local, international and emerging artists with snacks and sometimes wine. Check our weekly culture calendar for listings of what's premiering where.
Santa Fe Farmers Market
1607 Paseo de Peralta, 983-4098, santafefarmersmarket.com
All the goodness you'd expect at a farmers market, including local and organic produce vendors offering flowers, fruit, lettuce, kale, tomatoes, breads, and chile mustard—red or green. Plus performances by local musicians and buskers. Get a fresh flower crown and an apple cider snow cone and love your life. Year-round it's held from 8 am-1 pm on Saturdays, but summer brings extended hours and additional markets on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Art at the Roundhouse
490 Old Santa Fe Trail, 986-4589, nmcapitolart.org
One of the state's best art collections is housed an unlikely place: the state Capitol Building, known as the Roundhouse. Although the Roundhouse only really hums with activity during the winter legislative sessions, free tours through its corridors are available all year long, weekdays 8 am-5 pm and on weekends in the summer. You can preview the Capitol Art Collection online.
Shidoni
1508 Bishops Lodge Road, Tesuque, 988-8001, shidoni.com
Picturesque whether there are red and orange leaves, powder-white snow or pillowy grass covering the grounds of this sculpture garden in the lush Tesuque valley. The works are mostly contemporary and give the whole place a wonderland vibe. The gardens are open to the public during daylight hours year-round. But don't head out expecting a tour of the foundry, which closed because of financial woes in early spring. Visit the website for specific information.
Bird Walks at the Randall Davey Audubon Center
1800 Upper Canyon Road, 983-4609, randalldavey.audubon.org
Local experts lead free bird walks every Saturday at 8:30 am, featuring the 200 species of birds that inhabit the 135-acre sanctuary. You can also visit on your own, 8 am-4 pm Monday-Saturday.
St. John's College Dean's Lecture and Concert Series
1160 Camino de Cruz Blanca, 984-6000, sjc.edu/santa-fe/events
Enrich your intellect with lectures from renowned scholars and academics, and satiate your classical music cravings with piano and cello concerts from internationally acclaimed musicians in this series. It's in the Great Hall in the Peterson Student Center at 7:30 pm select Fridays.
La Fonda Art & History Tours
100 E. San Francisco St., 995-2300, lafondasantafe.com
The hotel started giving these free, hour-long tours a few years ago and they are surprisingly fun and interesting. Spend an hour learning about the history of the "oldest hotel corner in America," its role as a Harvey House and the art that lines the walls. Offered Wednesday-Saturday at 10:30 am. Sign up through the concierge. Attendance is limited and offerings change by the seasons, so please check ahead.
TGIF Concerts
First Presbyterian Church, 208 Grant Ave., 982-8544, fpcsantafe.org/music-art/concerts
Musicians from home and around the world come to perform solo or with choirs filling the church sanctuary with classical, jazz, pop, hymns and more on a variety of instruments. Whew! Let the work week wash away at 5:30 pm Fridays.
