Visit the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

Is the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture worth visiting?

The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe is a must-visit, offering an exceptional view of Native American and Pueblo art, lifestyle, and beliefs. During our visit, we were captivated by the beautiful and informative pottery, woven textiles, and engaging videos. One highlight was the original teepee on display. The museum's outdoor grounds are also lovely to wander, with impressive sculptures to enjoy. Additionally, there's a restaurant and two other nearby museums, so you can easily spend the entire day exploring. The space is more extensive than it appears, with a vast collection of Ancestral Puebloan and contemporary pottery, as well as a current exhibit of Navajo textiles.

The museum is located in an area in Santa Fe that is known as Museum Hill. The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, one of four museums in the Museum Hill area. If you want to see all four museums we recommend setting aside an entire day.

The four museums in the Museum Hill area of Santa Fe are:

1. Museum of Indian Arts and Culture
2. Museum of International Folk Art
3. Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
4. Museum of Spanish Colonial Art

We visited the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture during our visit to New Mexico and Arizona during our stay in Santa Fe. It took us just a few hours to explore and was well worth a visit.

The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is a premier repository of Native art and material culture and tells the stories of the people of the Southwest from prehistory through contemporary art. We have a passion for Southwestern art and rugs, and we've even decorated our cabin in Virginia (although a bit out of place for the location) with a Southwestern theme. The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture captivated us with its impressive collection of artworks, jewelry, pottery, authentic clothing, and adornments like head dresses. One of my personal favorites was the collection of Southwest Indian rugs. While I've never woven a rug myself, I feel a deep connection to the craftsmanship, almost as if I might have been a weaver in a previous life.

Here are some of the highlights of the museum:

• Here, Now and Always: This is the museum's permanent exhibition, which opened in July 2022, it features more than six hundred objects from the museum's collection. It tells the stories of the Indigenous peoples of the American Southwest from prehistory to the present.
• Collections: The museum has a vast collection of over 80,000 archaeological, ethnographic, and fine arts objects. This includes pottery, textiles, jewelry, basketry, and paintings. The museum also houses the state repository for archaeological materials, with over 10 million artifacts from nearly 12,000 archaeological sites across New Mexi
• Doris and Arnold Roland Sculpture Garden: The sculpture garden is a great place to relax and enjoy the beautiful New Mexico weather. It features sculptures by Native American artists from all over the Southwest.

The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture also offers a variety of educational programs, including lectures, workshops, and field trips. These programs are a great way to learn more about the Southwest's Native American cultures.

Where is the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture located? The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is located at 710 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, NM 87505.

How can I get to the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture? It is an easy 2 mile drive from the heart of Santa Fe. If you don’t have a car you can probably Uber or Lyft. There is a public shuttle bus that goes from the State Capitol to Museum Hill called the Museum/Canyon Road Shuttle (you can find more information about the shuttle at this website

Where can I park at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture? There is a large parking lot in front of the museum, click here to view a Google Map for parking information.

What are the hours at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture? The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is Open every day 10am-5pm (May through October).

Where can I get tickets for the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture? We visited the museum in May and there wasn’t a crowd. We acquired tickets at the entrance. You can also visit the museum website listed in our more information section below to purchase tickets.

Nearby Attractions to the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Santa Fe is packed with things to do. In the old part of town you can walk to the New Mexico History Museum, the Palace of the Governors at New Mexico History, Santa Fe Place and the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. There is shopping galore and there are many other things to do and see in Santa Fe (see our Santa Fe page for more information about things to do and how to visit Santa Fe).

In the trip menu list below, a "dark filled circle" represents a destination where we stayed, and the "dark filled arrow" items below that circle location, represent the destinations we visited while in that city or location. A circle icon that is not filled represents a city that we visited or stayed in, but did not necessarily explore.

Click any link below to go directly to that page;

 Trip Overview Page

 Albuquerque, NM

• Sandia Peak Tramway
• Petroglyph National Monument
• Old-Town Albuquerque
• National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

 Alamogordo, NM

• McGinn's PistachioLand Farm
• White Sands National Park

 Carlsbad, NM

• Tunnel Vista Observation Site
• Trestle Depot Recreation Area
• Carlsbad Caverns National Park

 Roswell, NM

• International UFO Museum

 Santa Fe, NM

• Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, NM
• Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, NM
• Ojo Santa Fe Spa Resort, NM
• Bradbury Science Museum - Los Alamos, NM
• Los Alamos, NM
• Bandelier National Monument, NM
• Nambé Falls, NM
• Meow Wolf, NM

 Chaco Culture National Historical Park, NM

 Bisti Badlands, NM

 Monument Valley

 Grand Canyon, AZ

• Planning Your Grand Canyon Visit
• Grand Canyon South Rim Top Sites and Itineraries
• Grand Canyon El Tovar Hotel

 Sedona, AZ