Las Cruces punches above its size for a city of 100,000 people. The Organ Mountains form a constant backdrop, Old Mesilla is one of the better-preserved Spanish colonial plazas in the Southwest, and the surrounding landscape — desert, chile fields, and pecan orchards — is genuinely beautiful. The city's biggest asset is that most visitors skip it in favour of Santa Fe and Albuquerque, which means the genuine highlights are refreshingly uncrowded.