Albuquerque and Santa Fe?

dedmiston wrote:
We stayed at the KOA just east of Albuquerque off I-40 earlier this year. The place was immaculate and they were working hard on improvements. The main gate closed en the evening and you had to check in with the dude in the golf cart to get into the park. Not that Al Qaeda couldn't have penetrated the perimeter, but we felt very safe there. The park staff couldn't have been nicer too. I would definitely return there.

Stayed there last October with no problems. Came back one night about 10 and guy waiting at gate to open it for us.

Stay at Isleta Lakes in Q and take the train to Santa Fe. It picks you up in front of the campground and takes you downtown. Cost is less than 10 bucks....Dennis

rocmoc wrote:
We like the Cochiti Lake Campgrounds located nearly halfway between Abq & SF.

We've stayed here a few times as well and always felt safe. There are electric/water sites and a couple of dump stations. You are a bit closer to Santa Fe than Abq but but in my opinion, Santa Fe is a nicer town to visit anyway.

Make sure and try some New Mexican style green chile dishes for some fantastic flavor and spice.

About 1 1/2 hours drive north from the Cochiti Lake campground is the Bandelier National Monument (https://www.nps.gov/band/index.htm) where you can walk up, and is some cases, into the dwellings, cliff dwellings. It is not a full day of exploring the area but is worth seeing it if you've never seen dwellings like this.

rocmoc wrote:
We like the Cochiti Lake Campgrounds located nearly halfway between Abq & SF.

We stayed here in March, worked out well, hookups may be hard to get, not a lot of site with them. Don't recall if any had sewer.

We stayed at the KOA just east of Albuquerque off I-40 earlier this year. The place was immaculate and they were working hard on improvements. The main gate closed en the evening and you had to check in with the dude in the golf cart to get into the park. Not that Al Qaeda couldn't have penetrated the perimeter, but we felt very safe there. The park staff couldn't have been nicer too. I would definitely return there.

Kentucky _Jo wrote:
We would like to visit both. Better to stay in one area, then move to other area? I saw a cg on Turquoise Trail that said only 15 miles to Albuquerque and wondered if we could base camp here to both places instead of relocating. Also, read lots of reviews stating safety concerns in cgs near Albuquerque. Is it safer east or west of Albuquerque? 0

It has been a number of years, but we enjoyed our stay at the Turquoise Trail Campground. We enjoyed the drive (about 55 miles) to Santa Fe on NM-14 stopping in Madrid (where the movie Wild Hogs was made) and Cerillos.


We have stayed at Cochiti Lake COE a number of times. It is 35 miles from Santa Fe and 50 miles from Albuquerque. The electric sites will be pretty full continuously from 2 weeks before until 2 weeks after the Balloon Fiesta. There have always been dry camping sites available when we were there. The Tetilla Peaks Campground on the East side of the lake is more likely to have electric sites available. I believe it usually closes right after the Balloon Fiesta.


If you are just looking for a place to spend the night while touring during the day, the Casino in San Felipe has sites with electric. Water and a dump station is available.

To visit Santa Fe, stay at Santa Fe Skies RV. As for Albuquerque, there are several places to choose from. A couple of the Indian Casinos have RV parks. Isleta Casino south of town has a RV park and is close to the railroad where you could catch a commuter train to Santa Fe and Route 66 Casino has a new RV Park just west of town, looks pretty good.

Ignore all the political and racial commentary as you can find that stuff anywhere.

Keith

New Mexico is a very interesting place to visit. I worked for a company with an office there and visited frequently. I once tried to move there.

Alb is a big town now and has some racial issues. Santa Fe is the tourist and art mecca with a lot to see, but it has become an odd town.

NM struggles with clashes between Native Americans, people of Mexican ancestry and people with Spanish ancestry. Then you have the rich urbanites from far away that come for the art. There is the heroin connection up in Espanola. We did not move there because of the racial tension. It is hard to read people when you are out in the boonies.

I mean no offense to native NM people. I love the state and plan on visiting again. It is a place that requires vigilance and high levels of situational awareness. Do not boondock camp up in the NW corner for instance if you are Anglo.

My next trip I will be visiting places like Las Vegas, NM and other historic towns off the tourist trail of SF/Alb.

We like the Cochiti Lake Campgrounds located nearly halfway between Abq & SF. We were not impress by the Turquoise Trail. Also it is longer time wise getting to SF on the Turq Trail. Fun area to visit and lots to see!

rocmoc n AZ