Day Trippin' › New Mexico › From Grants
From Grants, Bluewater Lake and the Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano are about half an hour away, Acoma Sky City about 40 minutes, El Malpais and El Morro under 50, and Albuquerque's Old Town about an hour. The best day trips from Grants, by drive time.
68 places within a 3-hour drive, by real roads.
Pueblo · 42 min southeast
A centuries-old pueblo village built on top of a sheer mesa, visited on guided tours from the Sky City Cultural Center and Haak'u Museum.
National monument · 48 min west
A sandstone bluff where travelers carved names and messages for centuries, with a longer trail over the top.
Town · 54 min northwest
A Route 66 town in red-rock country known for Native American trading posts, art and summer Indigenous dances.
Cave · 32 min southwest
A family-run site on the Continental Divide with a short walk to a cinder cone crater and another to a lava-tube cave holding year-round ice.
Lake · 32 min northwest
A lake in pinon and juniper hills below the Zuni Mountains, known for tiger muskie fishing and boating.
National monument · 47 min southwest
Vast black lava flows, cinder cones and lava tube caves south of Grants, with sandstone bluffs overlooking the lava.
Trail · 52 min northwest
A climb in Red Rock Park east of Gallup to a summit view over red cliffs, about three miles round trip.
Town · 1 hr 6 min east
The city's 1706 birthplace, a walkable plaza ringed by adobe shops, restaurants and the San Felipe de Neri church dating to 1793.
National monument · 1 hr 36 min east
Thousands of images pecked into dark volcanic boulders on Albuquerque's West Mesa, reached by several short canyon trails plus a volcano day-use area.
National park · 1 hr 55 min west
Fallen logs turned to rainbow stone, Painted Desert views and old petroglyphs along a 28-mile park road.
Town · 1 hr 59 min east
The state capital, with adobe streets around the historic Plaza, galleries, museums and Northern New Mexico food.
Viewpoint · 1 hr 24 min east
A 2.7-mile aerial tram that lifts you from Albuquerque's foothills to the 10,378-foot summit of the Sandias, with a restaurant at the top.
Family fun · 1 hr 57 min east
A walk-through, hands-on art installation where a Victorian house opens into strange glowing worlds, near the Santa Fe Railyard.
Museum · 1 hr 6 min east
A family museum in Old Town with dinosaur fossils, a planetarium and exhibits from volcanoes to space.
Bike trail · 1 hr 9 min east
A 16-mile paved path through the cottonwood forest along the Rio Grande, with no road crossings.
National monument · 2 hr 5 min northeast
Cone-shaped tent rocks of volcanic ash on Cochiti Pueblo land, with a slot canyon trail that climbs to a mesa-top view.
National monument · 2 hr 49 min northeast
A canyon of cliff dwellings and village ruins carved into soft volcanic tuff, with ladders up to alcove rooms along the Pueblo Loop Trail in Frijoles Canyon.
National park · 2 hr 50 min northeast
A huge volcanic caldera of open grass valleys ringed by forested domes, where elk herds graze and trails head out from the Cabin District.
National park · 2 hr 55 min north
Massive stone great houses of the Ancestral Puebloans in a remote desert canyon, seen from a loop drive and short trails.
Scenic drive · 2 hr 17 min northeast
A 105-mile mountain route between Santa Fe and Taos through Spanish land-grant villages like Chimayo, Truchas and Las Trampas.
Hot spring · 2 hr 59 min northeast
A historic hot springs resort with a dozen mineral pools of different minerals, between Santa Fe and Taos.
Museum · 2 hr 1 min east
Galleries in downtown Santa Fe devoted to the paintings and life of Georgia O'Keeffe.
Wildlife refuge · 2 hr 15 min southeast
A Rio Grande refuge where thousands of sandhill cranes, geese and ducks spend the winter, seen from a 12-mile gravel scenic drive.
Drive times are by road on a typical day from ZIP 87020 (OpenStreetMap data with the OSRM route planner). Facts checked against official sites; passes and hours change, so check before you go.