The Puye Cliff Dwellings, about 15 kilometres west of Española in the Santa Clara Canyon, are one of the most impressive archaeological sites in northern New Mexico. The site consists of two main sections: cliff dwellings carved directly into the volcanic tuff of the mesa, and a separate mesa-top pueblo complex. At the height of occupation, around 1400 CE, the community here may have housed up to 1,500 people.
Tours are run exclusively by Santa Clara Pueblo members, which makes the experience notably different from visiting a National Park unit. Your guide has a personal and cultural connection to the site that no interpretive panel can replicate. The tours include the cliff-face dwellings accessible via ladders and carved footholds, as well as the mesa-top ruins with long views across the Rio Grande Valley to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The drive up to the site through Santa Clara Canyon is scenic in its own right, following a narrow road past cottonwood-lined creek beds.