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10-Nights Southwest Native Trails End Albuquerque from $4,046
Trafalgar
OFFER ID 1506038
Southwest Native Trails End Albuquerque
This immersive Native American Cultural Heritage tour will delight anyone who wants to delve deeper into the captivating culture and traditions of the Southwest. From Chaco Canyon’s Pueblo structures to Hovenweep National Monument’s villages through local historians, you’ll embrace history of the Ancestral Puebloans as well as current thriving Native American cultures of the Southwest.
Dining Summary
- 10 Breakfast (B)
- 2 Lunch (L)
- 2 Dinner (D)
- 1 Welcome Reception (WR)
- Santa Fe: Visit Nambé Pueblo, a Native American community in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains famous for its public ceremonies and traditions, strong agriculture, traditional textiles and world-renowned pottery. Once the primary cultural and religious center for the northern New Mexican pueblo communities, Nambé Pueblo has existed at this site since the 14th century. Take in the sprawling land of nearly 20,000 acres of towering cottonwoods, junipers, scrub oak and an occasional outcropping of sandstone on your cultural visit including lunch with the community elders.
- : Visit Trujillo's weaving shop and admire the New Mexico weaving tradition that dates back to Spanish Colonial times. Learn about the Trujillo family, whose members have been weavers in the Chimayo tradition for eight generations.
- Albuquerque: Home to one of the largest petroglyph sites in North America, featuring designs and symbols carved onto volcanic rocks by Native Americans and Spanish settlers 400 to 700 years ago. These images are a valuable record of cultural expression and hold profound spiritual significance for contemporary Native Americans and for the descendants of the early Spanish settlers.
- Albuquerque: Visit the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, gateway to the 19 Pueblos. Learn about the pueblo from ancient times to modern day through the museum and art galleries.
- : See the graceful red sandstone arch geological formation for which the capital is named Tségháhoodzání (Window Rock). The small Memorial Tribal Park is not only home to Window Rock, but also to the Veterans Memorial, built to honor the many Navajo people who served in the U.S. military.
- Canyon De Chelly National Monument: See an ancient community built into a sandstone cliff as you peer over the edge of the White House Overlook to see the mastery of Ancient Puebloan construction. Watch nature defy gravity when you encounter Spider Rock and hear the legend of the mythical Spider Woman who is said to live in this towering stone spire.
- Bluff: Visit Hovenweep National Monument, one of the most intriguing pre-historic settlements in the Southwest, known for its six major villages and more than 300 additional sites within the National Monument.
- Taos: Experience Taos Plaza, a Historical Landmark and artist colony in the heart of the Taos Historic District, home of 65 galleries, shops, restaurants, and 21 landmarks.
- Taos: Explore Taos Pueblo with Local Specialists who call Taos Pueblo home. Gain insight into the history of the pueblo and what it is like to live there today.
- : Cross the Rio Grande Bridge, a steel deck arch bridge, roughly 600 ft above the Rio Grande and one of the highest bridges in the United States.
- Taos: Journey through arid landscapes as you travel along High Road, a cultural and geographical feast for the eyes. Arrive in Santa Fe, the 'City Different' and one of UNESCO's Creative Cities Network, as City of Design and City of Crafts and Folk Art.
- Chaco Canyon National Historic Park: Stop at the Chaco Culture National Historical Park Visitor Center, and enjoy a picnic lunch with a Local Specialist.
- Canyon De Chelly National Monument: Meet a Navajo Local Specialist and take 6X6 vehicles to the bottom of Canyon De Chelly for the most incredible natural sites.
- Monument Valley: Immerse yourself in the landscape of the Navajo people journeying through the desert to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park accessing roads, places, sites that are closed to the general public. Get a feel for the land and its people climbing aboard an open-air, all-terrain vehicle to explore the valley with your Navajo guide as you pass its towering sandstone buttes and mesas, many of which have been featured in prominent Western films including John Wayne’s ‘Stagecoach’. Your exclusive Navajo Tribal Park tour with a Navajo guide helps preserve the integrity of the land and culture. Your visit directly supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reducing Inequalities.
- Durango: Visit the Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center and Museum, Southwest Colorado's leading archaeological museum, displaying exhibits on archaeology, local history and Native American cultures.
- Santa Fe: Meet Emigdio Ballon the agricultural director at the Tesuque Pueblo Community Farm. Learn about this Indigenous community and their efforts to achieve food sovereighty by preserving heirloom seeds and by growing their own food.
- Explore Pueblo Bonito "Great House" and the North Rim scenic drive with a Local Specialist
- Visit Petroglyph National Monument, Chaco Canyon National Historical Park, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, Hovenweep National Monument, Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Monument Valley Tribal Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Durango, Taos Pueblo, Santa Fe, Tesuque Pueblo, Bandelier National Monument
- View Square Tower Unit at Hovenweep, Chaco Canyon's White House, Bandelier National Monument
- Scenic Drive along Colorado's Trail of the Ancients National Scenic Byway
- : Visit the Georgia O'Keeffe Mus
10 nights from $4,046 per person
Trafalgar Tours: Southwest Native Trails End Albuquerque
Day 1 - Arrive in Albuquerque
Start your cultural encounter with New Mexico in its warm heart - Albuquerque. Join your Travel Director and fellow travelers this evening for a Welcome Reception.
Accommodations: Sheraton Albuquerque Uptown
Meals: Welcome Reception
Day 2 - Uncover the History of the Ancestral Puebloans
Trace centuries-old stories etched in stone by Ancestral Puebloan peoples and early Spanish settlers at the Petroglyph National Monument. Marvel at the designs and symbols carved onto volcanic rocks 400 to 700 years ago, a valuable record of cultural expression and of profound spiritual significance for Native Americans and the descendants of the early Spanish settlers. Continue to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center as you appreciate insights into the pueblo from ancient times to modern day through the museum and art galleries. The rest of the day is yours to enjoy at leisure. Perhaps join an optional visit to Sandia Peak Tramway to ascend one of America’s most stunning urban peaks where an 11,000 square mile panoramic view awaits.
Accommodations: Sheraton Albuquerque Uptown
Meals: Breakfast
Day 3 - Explore Chaco Canyon Stays With Stories Make Travel Matter
You’ll love this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience along your Southwest Journey as you visit the Chaco Canyon inside Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Head on a field trip with your Local Specialist to Pueblo Bonito, an important “Great House” in modern day culture (should weather conditions render the dirt road to Chaco Canyon unsafe, your Travel Director will arrange visits to more accessible destinations of historical and cultural significance). Tonight, your Stays With Stories is historic El Rancho Hotel, home to many starlets in the 'Westerns' genre during the 1930s-40s.
Accommodations: El Rancho Hotel
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 4 - Delve Into the Legacy of the Navajo Make Travel Matter
This morning, stop at Window Rock, the capital of the Navajo Nation, where you'll see the Window Rock geologic formation and the World War II Navajo Code Talkers' Memorial and learn how Navajos helped the United States win WWII. Take a step back in time and visit the Hubbell Trading Post National Historical Site, and learn how the Navajo and settlers once traded. Delve into the story of Lorenzo Hubbell, who had a major influence on Navajo rug weaving and silversmithing. After a visit to the Canyon de Chelly Visitor Center, meet your certified Navajo Local Specialist and board your 6X6 vehicle to marvel at the stunning scenery with sandstone cliffs, canyons, and beautiful artwork in the forms of pictographs, petroglyphs and ruins in this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience.
Accommodations: Holiday Inn Canyon de Chelly
Meals: Breakfast
Day 5 - Marvel at Canyon de Chelly National Monument Make Travel Matter
See an ancient community built into a sandstone cliff as you peer over the edge of the White House Overlook to see the mastery of Ancient Puebloan construction. Watch nature defy gravity when you encounter Spider Rock and hear the legend of the mythical Spider Woman who is said to live in this towering stone spire. Enter Monument Valley National Tribal Park, a symbol of the American West with its iconic landscape of enormous rock features, including mesas, cliffs, and buttes made famous as the location for dozens of films stretching back almost a century. Meet your Navajo Local Specialist for a private guided excursion of Monument Valley in this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience. Continue deeper into the valley while experiencing the sights of Monument Valley through the eyes of your Navajo guide. Travel along backroads and trails unavailable to the public while learning the history and local culture of the Dineh people.
Accommodations: Goulding's Lodge
Meals: Breakfast
Day 6 - Time Hop to Prehistoric Settlements in the Southwest Stays With Stories Make Travel Matter
Head to Hovenweep National Monument, an intriguing prehistoric settlement. As you travel through the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, stop at Southwest Colorado's leading archeological museum at the Canyon of the Ancients Visitor Center for a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience. Then have an insightful viewing of the Ancestral Puebloan archaeological sites at Mesa Verde National Park. From the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum, you can see the park's third largest cliff dwelling, Spruce Tree House. This evening your Stays With Stories is at the historic Strater Hotel in Durango.
Accommodations: Strater Hotel
Meals: Breakfast
Day 7 - Dive into Durango
Spend your day at leisure exploring the historic town of Durango. Choose to go farther afield taking an optional scenic drive on Colorado’s Million Dollar Highway (U.S. Route 550), from the town of Ouray, known as the Switzerland of America, to the historic mining town of Silverton. Enjoy the panoramic views of one of the most scenic drives in the U.S. as you reach the summit at Red Mountain Pass at over 11,000 ft. Take time to explore and have lunch in Silverton before heading back to Durango. You can even choose to book a ride back onboard the historic Silverton narrow gauge steam train, an unforgettable step back in time aboard a coal-fired, steam-powered train. Chug along rails originally laid at the end of the 19th century winding through a spectacular wilderness (dependent on availability and season). If you are feeling more adventurous, opt for a white water rafting trip on the Animas River.
Accommodations: Strater Hotel
Meals: Breakfast
Day 8 - Discover Taos Pueblo Dive Into Culture Connect with Locals
Make your way through the mountains and into New Mexico, arriving at the Rio Grande Gorge, a geological feature where the watercourse of the Rio Grande follows a tectonic chasm. Cross the Taos Landmark Site of the Rio Grande Bridge, a steel arch bridge that stands roughly 600 feet above the Rio Grande. This afternoon, Dive Into Culture in charming Taos beginning at Taos Plaza, a Historical Landmark and artist colony in the heart of the Taos Historic District, home of 65 galleries, shops, restaurants and 21 landmarks. Join a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience when you tour Taos Pueblo, a World Heritage Center and National Historic Landmark, with a Local Specialist. Connect with Locals who call the Pueblo home and learn about these iconic, multi-storied adobe buildings, built roughly 1,000 years ago. A piece of the past in the present, about 150 Puebloans still live within the pueblo today. Gain insight into life in the pueblo and leave with stories one can only hear from locals.
Accommodations: Don Fernando De Taos, Tapestry Collection by Hilton
Meals: Breakfast
Day 9 - Uncover the High Road from Taos to Santa Fe
Start the day taking the High Road from Taos to Santa Fe and visit Trujillo's weaving shop. Dive Into Culture learning first-hand how these eighth-generation weavers use one of a kind handwoven techniques. Visit Nambe Village, an active indigenous community at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains along the Rio Grande River, for a traditional feast day meal prepared by elders at the Pojoaque Pueblo Seniors Center. During this Be My Guest experience, learn more about Nambe culture over lunch and conversation. Continue to Bandelier National Monument and delve into the history of the people that inhabited this area 1,000 years ago. These fascinating cliff dwellings have been designated as one of UNESCO's Creative Cities Network, City of Design and City of Crafts and Folk Art.
Accommodations: Hilton Santa Fe Historic Plaza
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 10 - Savor the Culture of Santa Fe Make Travel Matter
This morning, we head to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum where you will explore the complex and inspiring world of an American modernist painter. This afternoon you’ll love the eye-opening MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience where you'll meet Emigdio Ballon, the agricultural director at the Tesuque Pueblo Community Farm. Learn about this Indigenous community and their efforts to achieve food sovereignty by preserving heirloom seeds and growing their own food.
Accommodations: Hilton Santa Fe Historic Plaza
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 11 - Depart Albuquerque
Our journey through the desert landscape at its end, you will bid farewell and make your way to Albuquerque Airport.
Meals: Breakfast
Vacation Details
* This departure has been designated a guaranteed departure by the operator, meaning that the minimum number of guests has been met, although still subject to weather and other conditions.
Fine dining, on-site bars or lounges and room service with extended hours are characteristic of deluxe establishments. Guest services usually include valet parking, concierge services, baggage assistance and laundry services. Other on-site facilities often include shops and boutiques, full service spas, full fitness facilities with pools and tennis courts. Business amenities may include available up-to-date technology and support staffs available for services. Attention to detail is apparent in the guestrooms which typically have stylish furnishings, quality bedding and bath products and often provide an evening turn down service.
All fares are quoted in US Dollars.
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Donchka Travel
(310) 927-9616
(800) 927-9616