Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. The elevation of Santa Fe is nearly 7,000 feet (2,132 meters) above sea level compared with approximately 5,352 ft (1,631 m) for nearby Albuquerque. That makes Santa Fe the United States highest state capital in elevation.

The city is well-known as a center for arts that reflect the multi-cultural character of the city. The town and the surrounding areas have a high concentration of artists. They have come over the decades to capture on canvas and in other media the natural beauty of the landscape, the flora and the fauna. One of the most well-known New Mexico-based artists was Georgia O'Keeffe, who lived for a time in Santa Fe but primarily in Abiquiu, a small village about 50 miles away. The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe is named after her, and it is devoted to exhibitions of her work and associated artists or related themes. As of March 2006, it holds over one thousand of her works in all media.

Canyon Road, east of the Plaza, has the highest concentration of art galleries in the city, and is a major destination for tourists and locals. Santa Fe's art market is the third largest in the United States, after New York and Los Angeles, and the Canyon Road galleries showcase a wide array of contemporary Southwestern, indigenous American, and experimental art, in addition to older Russian, Taos Masters, and Native American pieces.

Another notable gallery is the Chuck Jones Gallery in downtown Santa Fe near the plaza. It contains several posters, stills, and animation cells from Jones' Looney Tunes career.

After State government, tourism is a major aspect of the Santa Fe economy, with visitors attracted year-round by the climate and related outdoor activities (such as skiing in years of adequate snowfall; hiking in other seasons) plus cultural activities of the city and the region.

Most tourist activity takes place in the historic downtown, especially on and around the Plaza, a one-block square adjacent to the Palace of the Governors, the original seat of New Mexico's territorial government since the time of Spanish colonization. Other areas include “Museum Hill”, the site of the major art museums of the city, and the Canyon Road arts area with its galleries.

Some visitors find Santa Fe particularly attractive around the second week of September when the aspens in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains turn yellow and the skies are clear and blue. This is also the time of the annual Fiestas de Santa Fe, celebrating the "reconquering" of Santa Fe by Don Diego de Vargas, a highlight of which is the burning Zozobra, a fifty-foot marionette also called "Old Man Gloom".

Within easy striking distance for day-trips is the town of Taos, about 70 miles North and the historic Bandelier National Monument about 30 miles away. Santa Fe's ski area, Ski Santa Fe, is about 16 miles north of the city.
 

Information courtesy of wikipedia.org