Dog Friendly City Guide: Santa Fe, New Mexico

Follow Hyde Park Road up out of Santa Fe and the houses soon give way to the foothills, where the Dale Ball Trails begin. They carry the name of Dale Ball, the man the Santa Fe Conservation Trust credits with conceiving, designing and building them, and they now run to 24.4 miles of foothill path with views out over the wilderness and back down to the city. Dogs are welcome on a lead. Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico, a small, low-slung city of adobe walls, and the hills begin at the edge of town. Breakfast on a patio downtown, and the same morning the dog can be on a trail in the hills.

Arriving From Abroad

The United States sets its entry rules for dogs by geography: what matters, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains, is where the dog was vaccinated and which countries it has been in during the six months before arrival. A dog coming only from countries free of dog rabies, or low-risk for it, needs the CDC Dog Import Form, which costs nothing and can be completed on the day you fly, one form per dog.

The dog has to be six months or older and fitted with a microchip that any universal scanner will pick up, and it has to look well when it lands. Any port of entry will do, whether you arrive by air, by sea or overland. Dogs that have been in a country on the CDC's high-risk list face a longer process, so read it before you plan the trip. Our guide to taking your dog abroad covers the rest of the paperwork.

Where to Stay

The Inn of the Five Graces is a 25 room Relais & Châteaux inn in the Barrio de Analco, which the inn calls the oldest neighbourhood in the United States. Its suites are built into houses dating to the 1600s, finished in adobe mud plaster, and across Old Santa Fe Trail stands the San Miguel Mission, by the inn's account the oldest church in the country.

Most of its room types take dogs, up to two of medium size, and the room is ready for them: bowls, a pet bed, a crate, a toy, a bag of treats and waste bags. There is a dog menu, the staff will arrange a walk if you give them a time, and the Alameda, a lovely spot for a walk, is a block away. The fee is $100 a night for each dog, with no damage deposit. Read the Roch Dog review of The Inn of the Five Graces.

Hotel Chimayó de Santa Fe on Washington Avenue celebrates the history of the village of Chimayó and keeps 56 rooms and suites. Here a dog may come with you into the restaurant and into Low 'n Slow, the hotel's bar, and there is no weight limit. Bowls are provided. The fee is $75 for the first dog and $35 for a second, per stay, with a $250 damage deposit, and the hotel offers a chauffeured tour of downtown in its own 1964 Chevy Impala lowrider. Read the Roch Dog review of Hotel Chimayó de Santa Fe.

Hotel St. Francis on Don Gaspar Avenue calls itself the oldest hotel in Santa Fe and sits a block from the Plaza. It sets no weight limit, so a large dog is as welcome as a small one, and the front desk will send you to the nearby parks and good walks. Read the Roch Dog review of Hotel St. Francis.

Eat and Drink

Two family kitchens that have fed Santa Fe New Mexican food for decades put a dog at the table. The Shed on East Palace Avenue has been a family restaurant since 1953 and welcomes well behaved dogs on its outdoor patio in season. Its sister, La Choza on Alarid Street, has been a local favourite since 1983 and says it outright on its home page: its patios are dog friendly, and its red and green chile have won awards.

For breakfast, Counter Culture on Baca Street opens every day from 8am to 3pm, serves breakfast all day with pastries made in house, beer and wine, and tells its customers it cannot wait to see them and their dogs on the patio. Dogs stay on a lead there.

Out on Cerrillos Road, near Meow Wolf, Tortilla Flats has been family owned since 1986 and runs a covered patio where dogs are always welcome, from breakfast to dinner. Order the blue corn piñon pancakes or one of the green chile breakfasts.

Walks and Parks

The Dale Ball system has trailheads at Sierra del Norte on Hyde Park Road, at St. John's, at Dorothy Stewart and at Wilderness Gate, with access from Cerro Gordo Road and Upper Canyon Road too, and it is laid out with numbered junctions, maps and arrows so you can stitch together a loop of any length. The City of Santa Fe manages most of it, the Conservation Trust looks after the maintenance and the southeast section around Picacho Peak is managed by the county. Leads stay on throughout.

On the other side of town, the La Tierra Trails cover more than 25 miles in the city's northwest quadrant, shared by hikers, cyclists and in places horses. You reach them from Camino de los Montoyas or by the Dog Park Connector Trail, which the Conservation Trust built with the city, and dogs are welcome there on a lead too.

The Santa Fe Rail Trail starts at the Railyard and follows the railway line south out of town. Inside the city it is a paved commuter path, widened and paved in 2010, as far as Rabbit Road; beyond that it becomes a dirt trail running out to Highway 285 near Lamy, about 15 miles in all, and the trust marks it dog friendly.

For a run off the lead, the city sets aside dog areas in its parks. At Frank Ortiz Park, 160 Camino de las Crucitas, it is the ground behind the children's playground, and the city lists others at Salvador Perez Park on Alta Vista Street, Villa Linda by Santa Fe Place mall on Cerrillos Road, and Sierra del Norte at 1800 Hyde Park Road, at the foot of the Dale Ball Trails, where the dog runs free in the park area but goes back on the lead for the trail.

Good to Know

The rules on the lead are strict. The city's Animal Services summary says voice command does not count as control: off your own property a dog must be on a lead no longer than eight feet. Dogs are kept off school grounds, playgrounds and sports fields, and banned from Cathedral Park altogether. You must carry bags and pick up.

The Plaza closes to dogs on its five big days: the Fourth of July Pancake Breakfast, Spanish Market, Indian Market, the Santa Fe Fiesta Labor Day Arts and Crafts Market and the Fiesta itself, so check the dates before you plan a stroll there. In the off-lead areas each person may bring up to three dogs, which must wear a current rabies and licence tag, and you stay with your dog and carry the lead.

At the hotels, the Inn of the Five Graces keeps dogs out of its restaurant, breakfast room and bar, and a dog left in the room must be in its crate; a cleaning fee may apply if anything is damaged. Hotel Chimayó takes up to two dogs, in some of its rooms only, and your dog comes with you whenever you go out. The same goes at Hotel St. Francis, where you should pack your own bowls and bed.