Los Ranchos and Corrales Scenic Byway

For a pretty drive (or bike ride) through these villages that have been all but consumed by greater Albuquerque, head north from Old Town [1] on Rio Grande Boulevard; you first reach Los Ranchos, then cross the river at Alameda to Corrales Road, and continue up the west bank.

These districts remain pockets of pastoral calm where horses graze and 18th-century acequias water organic herb gardens—a practical melding of old agricultural heritage with modern suburban bliss.

The only real sights are in central Corrales, two blocks west of the main road. The folk Gothic Old San Ysidro Church (505/897-1513, 1–4 p.m. Sat. and Sun. June–Oct.) stands where the center of the village was in 1868, when its bulging adobe piers were first constructed. Across the road is the village cemetery, a typically New Mexican camposanto, where graves are trimmed with plastic flowers and votive candles.

Next door, Casa San Ysidro (973 Old Church Rd., 505/898-3915, www.cabq.gov/museum [2], tours 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Wed.–Sat. and 2 p.m. Sun. Feb.–Nov., plus 10:30 a.m. Sat. July–Aug., $4) was owned by obsessive collectors Alan and Shirley Minge, who lived in the place for nearly 40 years, heating with firewood and squirreling away New Mexican antiques and craftwork. The Albuquerque Museum [3] gives tours several times per week—very much worth reserving if you know you’ll be coming up this way.