Bishops Lodge, Auberge Collection Review: Santa Fe, New Mexico

I was on a business trip to Santa Fe and stayed at the Bishop’s Lodge resort for three nights. Since this was a work trip, I didn’t get to try many of the activities and experiences the resort is known for — the horseback riding, guided hikes, and the spa. But I did get to experience the resort itself: the room, the grounds, the food, and the service.

The trip was in early May, so it wasn’t prime season for Santa Fe, and it got very cool in the evenings, but it was still a great experience checking out an Auberge Collection property that I had been thinking about for quite some time.

Location

Bishop’s Lodge is about 10 minutes north of downtown Santa Fe, up Bishops Lodge Road in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The surrounding area is residential and quiet. Santa Fe Regional Airport (SAF) is about 15-20 minutes away, though most people (including myself) fly into Albuquerque, which is roughly 70 miles and about an hour to 75 minutes by interstate. One thing worth knowing: the resort sits at 7,250 feet, slightly higher than Santa Fe, which sits at 7,199 feet. If you’re coming from sea level, give yourself a day to adjust and be prepared to get a little winded when walking around the grounds.

The property is 317 acres bordering the Santa Fe National Forest, and that’s a big part of what makes it work. There’s no city noise and no other development around it. The buildings are adobe-style and spread out across the grounds rather than stacked into one big hotel block, so the whole thing feels more like a small village than a resort. Check-in and the concierge are in their own building at the entrance, and the restaurants are in a separate building altogether.

The grounds are worth walking even if you don’t do any of the organized activities. There’s a chapel on site from the late 1800s, built by Archbishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy, and you can see its steeple over the trees from most of the property. Fire pits are scattered around, which came in handy given how cold it got at night in early May.

Lobby

Bishop’s Lodge doesn’t have a traditional hotel lobby. Check-in and the concierge desk are in their own building at the entrance to the property, separate from everything else. The restaurants are in a different building entirely, so you’re not passing through reception on your way to dinner the way you would at a normal hotel.

Rooms and Suites

The rooms aren’t in one big hotel building. They’re spread across the property in separate low-rise adobe buildings, which fits with how the rest of the resort is laid out. That means a walk to get anywhere, but it also means you’re not sharing a hallway with a hundred other guests. Every room has a private terrace and a kiva fireplace.

There are four types of accommodations. Guestrooms run 395 to 550 square feet with either a king or two queens, and views of either the grove or the resort. Suites start at 585 square feet and go up to 1,660, ranging from junior suites to two-bedroom layouts with resort, valley, or chapel views. The Kiva Suites are the standouts — free-standing buildings on a ridge, adults only at 21 and up, with indoor and outdoor kiva fireplaces, a private terrace with firepits, and a plunge pool. Then there are the three-bedroom Casitas down by the trout stream, which have full kitchens, living and dining rooms, and a washer and dryer. Those can also be booked as two-bedroom residences.

There is also a Bunkhouse, which is a separate thing entirely. It’s a 12-bedroom building made from reclaimed barn wood, just under 10,000 square feet, with a great room and a two-story stone fireplace. It sleeps 24 adults and up to 12 kids, and you book the whole thing. Not relevant for a solo business trip, but worth knowing if you’re planning a family trip or a group.

I stayed in a Resort View King, which is one of the standard guestrooms. It was very large. King bed, kiva fireplace, and a private terrace. The decor is Southwestern without being over the top about it — adobe walls, warm colors, wood, and local textiles and artwork. It fits the property and the region rather than looking like a generic hotel room. The one thing worth mentioning for anyone working: there isn’t a real desk. What they give you is more of a table with two chairs. It worked fine for getting some work done, but it isn’t optimal if you’re planning to spend a full day on a laptop.

Restaurants and Bars

The main restaurant is SkyFire, and it’s the center of the food and drink operation. Southwestern cooking built around a wood-fired grill, with an indoor dining room, a terrace overlooking the Tesuque Valley, and an attached bar and lounge with its own fireplace. We had drinks there each night. It’s open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily, with a jazz brunch on weekends. There are also two private dining rooms if you’re doing something more formal.

The small market and coffee shop is Two Dogs Cafe. It’s a separate casual spot with pastries, sandwiches, salads, coffee, and cold-pressed juices, plus a little retail section selling work from local artisans. It opens early, which makes it the easy option if you need coffee before anything else is open.

Down by the pool, there’s a food truck called The Prickly Pear, serving margaritas, local beer, ceviche, bison burgers, and tacos. It runs daily from 11 to 5. Outside those hours, you order from the pool through in-room dining.

Amenities

This is where the business trip caught up with me. Bishop’s Lodge is built around its experiences, and I didn’t get to use most of them. Worth listing anyway, because it’s a big part of what you’re paying for. There’s a spa called Stream Dance with four casita-style treatment rooms, an outdoor sauna, a fireside lounge, and a terrace with hammocks. There are private stables and horseback riding, an Orvis-endorsed fly-fishing outpost, and hiking trails across the 317 acres. There’s a pool and hot tub, a fitness center, and a weekly activity calendar.

A few things are included at no extra charge: transportation downtown and around the property, valet and self-parking, twice-daily housekeeping, Wi-Fi, a welcome drink at arrival, and a Mercedes-Benz drive program.

None of that gets tested on a three-night work trip, so I can’t tell you whether the spa is any good or whether the horseback riding is worth the money. What I can say is that the volume of programming here is unusual, and if you’re coming for a real vacation, you’d want more than three nights to make use of it.

Final Thoughts

The one thing I’d tell anyone going is to take the altitude seriously. Bishop’s Lodge sits at 7,250 feet, a little higher than Santa Fe itself. You feel it. Walking the property takes more out of you than you’d expect, and it affects your sleep and how you handle a drink at dinner. Give yourself a day to adjust if you’re coming from sea level, and drink more water than you think you need.

Overall, I’d stay here again. The room was large and comfortable, the property is beautiful, and having drinks at SkyFire each night after work was a good way to end the day. Even on a work trip where I couldn’t take advantage of much, Bishop’s Lodge was worth the stay. It’s a very different feel from a downtown Santa Fe hotel — quiet, spread out, and up in the hills — and that suited me fine. I’d like to come back when I have the time to actually use the place.