If you have been in New Mexico for any amount of time, you will have heard the cruel jokes locals tell about Española. Ignore them — this is actually a pretty interesting town sitting in a beautiful valley at the confluence of the Rio Grande and Rio Chama, surrounded by some of the most historically layered landscape in the American Southwest.
Founded in 1598 by Spain as the first capital of New Mexico, Española sits in the northern Rio Grande Valley between the Jemez Mountains and the Truchas Peaks of the Sangre de Cristo range. The Spanish settled here because Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo was already established at the confluence — a site the Tewa people had occupied for centuries. That layering of Pueblo, Spanish colonial, and modern Hispanic culture is the defining characteristic of the whole valley.
Española has one cultural claim no other place disputes: it is the Low Rider Capital of the World. The custom car tradition here is a genuine expression of Chicano identity, not a theme park version, and on warm evenings along Riverside Drive you will see cars that took families years to build. The surrounding valley is equally compelling: Santa Clara Pueblo to the south controls access to the Puye Cliff Dwellings, the Church of Santa Cruz de la Cañada preserves one of the finest collections of colonial religious art in New Mexico, and the restaurants serve northern New Mexico chile cooking in its most authentic form. Nearby attractions also include Ojo Caliente hot springs and Santa Fe to the south.