☰El Santuario de Chimayó

Sometimes called the "Lourdes of America", this small 1816 adobe church in the mountain village of Chimayó draws hundreds of thousands of pilgrims every year — some on foot from as far as Albuquerque — in search of the tierra bendita, the "blessed dirt" from a hole in the floor of a side room that is said to cure the sick. The walls are hung with abandoned crutches, letters, and photographs left by the cured. It is one of the most powerful religious sites in the United States, and genuinely moving even for the non-devout. Roughly 40 minutes north of Santa Fe, on the High Road to Taos via Española.