Chama, NM

Chama's top-rated restaurant, a family-run diner on Highway 17 serving hearty New Mexican and American breakfasts and lunches — green-chile-smothered burritos, skillets, and eggs done right for a high-country morning. The locals' daily anchor and the most-praised spot in a village with few options.

A historic 1880s hotel, restaurant, and saloon by the river, one of the oldest businesses in town, serving hearty American plates and reputedly home to a ghost or two. As much a piece of Chama history as a meal.

A homey local cafe doing American and New Mexican comfort plates, the unfussy everyday spot where Chama residents eat. Generous, cheap, and friendly.

A small modern-farmhouse bakery and espresso bar on the south end of town turning out scratch pastries, croissants, and quiches alongside espresso pulled with Santa Fe's Iconik Coffee Roasters beans. The morning destination for serious coffee and baking in a village that doesn't have many.

A Terrace Avenue cafe that has expanded from organic, fair-trade espresso and scratch pastries into a full kitchen with wood-fired flatbreads, ribeye, and seafood, plus a wine bar and live music. The most ambitious all-day spot in Chama.

A Terrace Avenue kitchen blending Asian and New Mexican flavours — lumpia, green-chile burgers, fish and chips — by an ACF-certified chef who takes the small-town setting seriously. The most creative and unexpected cooking in Chama, open weekends from late morning.

An easy, flat path along the Rio Chama through the edge of the village behind the train depot, shaded by cottonwoods and good for a relaxed stretch of the legs between train and meals. The simplest walk in town, with the river and the mountains as backdrop.

A moderate trail from Heron Lake State Park down along the Rio Chama gorge, crossing a swinging suspension bridge over the river toward El Vado, through pinon and ponderosa with canyon views. The area's signature day-hike, on a sailing-only 'quiet lake.'

A high-alpine stretch of the Continental Divide Trail starting near 10,000-foot Cumbres Pass at the Colorado line, climbing through spruce, aspen, and wildflower meadows with huge views and the chance to watch the steam train pass below. The serious high-country hike.

A 1880s coal-fired narrow-gauge steam train, the longest and highest in the country, climbing from Chama over 10,015-foot Cumbres Pass to Antonito, Colorado, through aspen, gorges, and the Toltec tunnel. The reason Chama is on the map and one of the great train rides anywhere.

A 'quiet waters' (no-wake) reservoir southwest of town ringed by ponderosa, prized for sailing, kayaking, fishing, and bald-eagle watching in winter. The serene lake escape, free of roaring motorboats.

A vast state wildlife area in the mountains just north of the village, with meadows and aspen that draw one of the region's biggest elk herds, plus trails and fishing on the Rio Chama's headwaters. Prime, accessible wildlife-watching right at the edge of town.

A historic weaving cooperative in the village of Los Ojos near Tierra Amarilla, where weavers produce Rio Grande-style blankets and rugs from local churro wool on traditional looms. A living piece of northern New Mexico's centuries-old weaving and land-grant culture.

A few blocks of weathered wood-and-tin storefronts along Terrace Avenue, a genuine high-country railroad village that hasn't been gentrified, with the steam-train depot and yard at its heart. Small, unpolished, and authentic, the whole point of Chama.

A historic Hispano village south of Chama, the Rio Arriba county seat, with adobe homes, an old courthouse, and the nearby weaving village of Los Ojos, all rooted in centuries-old land-grant culture. A quiet, atmospheric drive into northern New Mexico's deep Hispanic heritage.

A roadside overlook on the highway east of town framing the Brazos Cliffs, a sheer 2,000-foot granite escarpment rising above the Brazos valley, with a seasonal waterfall that runs during spring snowmelt. One of the most dramatic views in northern New Mexico.