New Mexico is famous for its deserts, mesas, soaring plateaus and peculiarly shaped hoodoos, but don’t expect searing temperatures in every corner of the state. Many people don’t realize that four-fifths of the 47th state sits above 4000ft (1200m), rising to a breathless 13,000ft (4013m) at the summit of Wheeler Peak.

With this raised elevation comes cooler temperatures, so there’s always somewhere to escape the heat in the scorching summer months. Even when it’s too hot to roam out in the lowlands, the verdant pine forests in the hills are deliciously cool, and it gets cold enough to ski in winter.

In fact, it’s quite possible to experience four seasons in one day in New Mexico, depending on where you find yourself in the state. Average temperatures can be misleading; summer highs can soar to 120°F (48°C) but winter lows can plummet to −50°F (−46°C).

If you plan on traveling around the state, embrace New Mexico’s diverse climate and pack for all eventualities. Bring shorts and a sun hat, rain gear, and warm layers (fleeces, base layers), in case the temperature dips.

Whether you’re here for desert adventures or winter skiing, here are the best times to visit New Mexico.

June to September is the time for festivals, high-altitude hiking and star gazing

The peak season months from June to September see the biggest crowds, and the highest prices for accommodation, but this is by far the best time to experience New Mexico’s vibrant festivals. A mass celebration of food and music takes place at the Santa Fe Railyard during the International Folk Art Market in July, and the city’s Wine & Chile Fiesta sees more than 60 restaurants and 90 wineries show off their best food and drink for five days in September. The New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque and the White Sands Balloon and Music Festival near Alamogordo also draw crowds in September. 

Be sure to fuel your summer adventures with some of the local chiles. Green chile is part of New Mexico’s identity, slathered on everything from burgers and burritos to pizzas and even ice cream. Fall is the harvesting and roasting season and there’s no better place to try this spicy delicacy than the small town of Hatch, the capital of chile production in the state. The Hatch Chile Festival takes place in late August or early September, with punchy chile loaded into every dish and treat.

Although some areas are scorching hot in the middle of the day, particularly at lower elevations, nights are perfect for camping and stargazing, with clear skies and mild temperatures from dusk through till morning. The Cosmic Campground off US Route 180 is a designated International Dark Sky Sanctuary, with the Milky Way visible almost every night.

Fort Union National Monument is another Dark Sky Preserve – great for evening walks and night sky talks. Star parties are also held at the base of the cinder cone at Capulin Volcano National Monument from April to September, with park rangers pointing out stars and constellations and explaining more about what lies beyond our solar system.

Don’t miss the opportunity to jump in the Santa Rosa Blue Hole during the summer months. Around 24m deep, this stunning natural pool, formed up to 300,000 years ago by erosion, is an unexpected dive site, with visibility up to 100ft in cool, clear waters that hover at around 62°F (17°C) year-round. Water surges into the chasm at high pressure from underground aquifers, renewing the water in the pool every six hours.

Winter is best for skiing and desert hiking

Winter is the best time for an off-season bargain when it comes to flights and accommodation costs, but that’s not the only lure. Skiing is possible close to all of New Mexico’s biggest cities from December to late February.

Beginners and intermediate skiiers love the slopes of the Sandia Peak Ski Area near Albuquerque, while the retro vibe of Taos Ski Valley attracts a serious ski crowd with out-of-this-world powder (300in of snow can fall in an average year).

The smaller Ski Santa Fe area attracts both families and experts, with a base elevation of 10,350ft and tons of powder between the aspen trees. Smaller resorts include Angel Fire, with mostly green and blue runs, and the Pajarito Mountain Ski Area, which offers a unique opportunity to ski down the side of a volcano.

The cooler weather also makes hiking a joy at lower elevations. Non-skiers can walk all day on the shifting sand dunes at White Sands National Park. Many travelers visit in summer and find it’s way too hot to hit the trails, but during the winter months, temperatures are mild, and there are no crowds.

Nearby, the 32-mile-long Carlsbad Caverns are another superb place to spend a winter’s day. The area has a semi-arid climate and inside the cavern, the temperature is about 56ºF (13ºC) year-round, so it doesn’t matter when you visit to admire skyscraper-sized stalactites and stalagmites hidden 1000ft (313m) below the ground.

Museum-hopping is another great winter activity in New Mexico. The state is famous for its reputed UFO encounters, space exploration and indigenous cultures, and there are museums covering all of these themes. Head over to Roswell for detailed accounts of unexplained encounters at the International UFO Museum & Research Center. 

Alternatively, if you prefer science fact to science fiction, visit the New Mexico Museum of Space History near Alamogordo to learn about the birthplace of America’s space program. You can see how astronauts live and work in space and view the largest rocket ever launched from New Mexico. For something even more trippy, visit Meow Wolf, an immersive, multimedia experience in Santa Fe, where visitors are catapulted into kaleidoscopic fantasy realms.

The shoulder seasons are the best time to visit Native American pueblos

The two shoulder seasons, from March to April and October to November, see fewer crowds across the state. This is the best time of year to delve into New Mexico’s rich Indigenous history. Kick off by viewing thousands of Native American petroglyphs at Petroglyph National Monument near Albuquerque. 

It’s also worth checking out the numerous ancient cave dwellings in the state, including those at Bandelier National Monument, with structures constructed between 1150 BCE and 1600. It’s possible to climb in and out of some of the caverns and there are original kivas (large, circular underground rooms) to explore.

Visitors can also tour the state’s fascinating pueblos, a term that the Spanish used to describe the villages of the varied Indigenous communities they encountered along the Rio Grande in the 16th century. Zuni Pueblo is a fascinating example of a thriving modern pueblo community; local guides offer tours exploring the settlement’s history and migration story.

Alternatively, visit the Acoma Pueblo – also known as Sky City – which sits atop a 330ft-tall mesa. Visitors can tour the adobe structures in the village and learn more about the people living here today. Held near Albuquerque in April, the Gathering of Nations festival attracts members of more than 500 tribal communities from all over America, and all visitors are welcome to join in this celebration of tribal music, dancing and crafts.

New Mexico’s three congressional representatives urged leaders of both parties in the U.S. House of Representatives to act before the end of the year on six tribal water rights settlements that have stretched on in some cases for decades.

The settlements propose $3.7 billion in federal money to develop drinking water systems, restore habitats and traditional farming practices and establish collaborative management of the water, as tribes give up valuable older water rights across four New Mexico river basins.

“The settlements provide water infrastructure projects for Tribal communities in exchange for their agreement to forgo aspects of their priority water claims, which benefits non-Tribal communities dependent on scarce water resources during times of shortage,” Democratic Reps. Melanie Stansbury, Gabe Vasquez and Teresa Leger Fernández said in a letter dated Tuesday.

The deals, which have required years and sometimes decades of costly negotiations, would settle tribal rights for the rios San José, Jemez, Chama and the Zuni River. Additional bills would correct technical errors in previous settlements and add time and money to the Navajo-Gallup water project.

Details on the U.S. House proposals to resolve tribal water rights settlements in NM

As part of the settlements, New Mexico agreed to pay between $190 million to $234 million in state funding for some of the local projects for neighboring acequias, water infrastructure for counties and cities.

But some advocates are worried New Mexico lawmakers aren’t preparing enough to pay in full in the upcoming session.

In 2024, the New Mexico Legislature allocated $20 million for the settlements, and the office of the state engineer is requesting another $40.5 million in the 2025 session.

If granted, the state would still be tens of millions of dollars short of the full amount, said Nina Carranco, with the nonprofit Water Foundation.

Tribes, Pueblos and Native American nations have some of the oldest priority rights in water administration, Carranco said, and understanding how much water is allocated allows for better decision-making.

“Tribal water settlements are a key component to addressing the water crisis in New Mexico,” she said. “These settlements not only honor the seniority of tribal water rights, but also provide certainty for other water users in the system.”

She said it was a possibility that one or more of the settlements could be ratified during the lame-duck period before January swearing in of a new Congress.

If all the measures pass, the state will need to eventually pay, Carranco said.

“We can keep waiting, but if we’re going to honor tribal water rights, if we’re going to actually get this money into our communities the way the state has negotiated for a long time with these partners, we’re going to need the $200 million,” she said in a press call Monday.

The federal office overseeing compensation for New Mexico’s biggest-ever wildfire has finally released numbers showing it has made final payment offers to about a third of people who lost their homes in the blaze more than two years ago.

New Mexico’s congressional delegation had been pressing the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire claims office for that number and other information, asking what was taking so long.

The claims office – overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency – is tasked with paying out nearly $4 billion in compensation for the fire, caused by botched prescribed burns in early 2022. According to the latest figures, it’s paid out about $1.5 billion of that, including for lost business revenue, reforestation and homes lost in the fire.

As of Nov. 20, the office had received 272 claims for total losses of homes in the wildfire, according to responses the federal  office gave to questions members of the delegation sent earlier this month. 

Of those, 174 claimants received at least partial payments for their losses, and 98 of them received a final payment offer, according to the response letter shared with the delegation early last week and provided Wednesday to Source New Mexico.

It’s not clear from the response letter how much has been paid to those who lost their homes, or how many of the homeowners accepted the final payment offer, which is known as a “letter of determination.” Claimants who are unhappy with the amount the office offered can appeal. 

The status of those who lost their homes in the fire has been an open question for months. A group of protesters gathered in front of the office’s Santa Fe headquarters in late October, calling on the office to prioritize compensation for those who lost their homes over more-trivial losses like smoke damage. 

The office had paid about $400 million for smoke damage to about 4,200 claimants in a 2,200-square-mile area as of Sept. 25, using an internal map and a standardized calculator to quickly distribute payments averaging $94,500 each. 

Internal FEMA smoke map shows large area where northern NM residents need little to prove losses

U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, as well as U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, all New Mexico Democrats, sent a letter Nov. 1 to the office’s leadership, saying “many New Mexicans continue to wait for the relief and compensation they are owed.” The letter asked 13 questions on a range of topics. 

Heinrich also questioned FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell about the issue during a hearing two weeks later. Heinrich told Criswell it seemed to him that those who lost everything in the fire were at the back of the line and asked her what the claims office was doing to address it.

Criswell responded that total-loss claims are more complicated and take more time, but the office has increased staff this year to handle the deluge of claims. The deadline to file an initial claim for losses incurred in the fire and ensuing floods, known as a “notice of loss,” is Dec. 20.

The claims office response letter also says officials created a “reconstruction team” that is entirely focused on compensating those who suffered a total loss of their primary or secondary homes. 

The back-and-forth over delays in compensation occurs as an additional $1.5 billion in compensation hangs in the balance. President Joe Biden carved out the extra funding for wildfire survivors in a nearly $100 billion disaster response package he’s hoping Congress will approve by the end of the year. 

If approved, that would bring the total awarded for compensation $5.45 billion for the state’s biggest-ever wildfire, one that destroyed several hundred homes and burned through a 534-square mile area. 

Spokespersons for Heinrich and Luján did not respond to requests for comment on the office’s response letter. 

The delegation is hopeful legislation will extend the deadline from the rapidly approaching Dec. 20 deadline, but they urged those who suffered losses to apply right away, given the uncertainty with a new Congress and a narrow timeframe. 

Office defends food loss policy

One of the 13 questions the delegation asked related to how the office pays people for food lost in the fire. Across the burn scar, many families in rural areas kept stores of food in extra freezers, which were either destroyed or stopped working amid widespread power outages during the fire. 

FEMA’s claims office pays people for lost food based on the gender and age of the claimant, based off another federal agency’s guidance. A man aged 19 to 50 receives $104.70 for a week’s worth of lost food. A woman in the same age range gets $93.

The policy is based on the United States Department of Agriculture’s food plans, which the agency says have been created since 1894 to “illustrate how a healthy diet can be achieved at various costs.”

Claims office pays men more than women for food lost in state’s biggest wildfire

The delegation’s Nov. 1 letter asked the claims office how it was “ensuring equity in food loss payments,” and, if it were to change its policy to make it more equitable, how it could make up the difference to those who had previously been shortchanged.

The office’s response letter says leaders have no intention of changing the food loss policy, however. It did a “thorough review” of the process after consulting with Heinrich’s office and the USDA. 

“Our review concluded that our current standardized rates for food loss are consistent with the methodology used in the creation of the USDA Food Plan tables,” the letter reads. 

Some wildfire survivors told Source New Mexico they thought the process was unnecessarily complicated and unfair. The office has previously said it cannot calculate how much money has been paid to date for food losses, including how much more men have been paid than women. 

The office, in its response, also doubled down on its practice of paying different hourly wages based on the county in which do-it-yourself repairs were done. The same work would be reimbursed at $18.97 an hour in Mora County, for example, versus $29.49 an hour in Santa Fe County. 

It said the hourly wages were calculated based on analyses of Census and federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data, which considered the costs of goods and services that are typically higher in urban areas than rural areas.