5 Days In Gallup, NM – Here’s What We Did

After spending 10 days in Farmington, NM, Shae, Truffles and I drove a couple of hours south so that we could spend 5 days in Gallup.

We’d missed out on staying in Gallup when visiting New Mexico earlier this year and so wanted to spend a little time there as there were a few attractions that we wanted to see.

We ended up enjoying Gallup more than we thought we might as the attractions we visited were all interesting and the area was beautiful with a lot of red rock landscape. Even having a crappy experience when checking out of our hotel wasn’t enough to spoil our memories of Gallup. Here’s everything that we did there.

Where We Stayed

We stayed at the TownePlace Suites Gallup as it was good value using points. What wasn’t good value was the manager arbitrarily deciding to charge us $125 for a pet fee even though they were only supposed to charge $25 and then both her and the General Manager refusing to refund that $100.

After a lot of hassle we got that $100 back, but only after getting it escalated to the General Manager’s manager seeing as the manager and GM were both so useless and awful at customer service. Here’s more about that frustrating experience.

Things To Do In Gallup, NM

Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness

On our drive down from Farmington to Gallup, we stopped off at Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness. These are badlands that look like they’re from another planet – all kinds of interesting rock formations, hoodoos and more.

Bisti is free to visit, dog-friendly and well worth at least a couple of hours of your time. Although it’s slightly closer to Farmington than Gallup, I felt like it deserved a mention here too seeing as it’s only an hour’s drive from Gallup if you happen to be staying there. Read more about Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness here.

Ice Cave & Bandera Volcano

One of the main attractions we didn’t want to miss was the Ice Cave & Bandera Volcano in Grants, about 1.25 hours southeast of Gallup. Those two attractions are on the same site which was fun because you wouldn’t normally associate ice and lava together.

That’s what you get there though and both parts of the attraction were interesting. This too is incredibly pet-friendly as dogs are allowed in the main building along with on the trails and down to the Ice Cave. Find out more about our trip to the Ice Cave & Bandera Volcano here.

El Morro National Monument

After visiting the Ice Cave & Bandera Volcano, we stopped off at El Morro National Monument on the way back to our hotel as it was along the route. We’d gotten a bit of a late start that day, so by the time we’d visited the Ice Cave & Bandera Volcano and made our way on to El Morro, it was about 3:30pm.

That meant some of the trails had already closed for the day, but we were able to walk along the paved Inscription Rock Trail which is the main trail at the site. El Morro National Monument is free to visit and is pet-friendly.

The Inscription Rock Trail is so named because it has a long cliff wall where travelers and explorers etched their names into it over the course of several centuries, as well as New Mexico’s first governor back in 1605. There are some incredibly ornate inscriptions and even a poem has been etched into the wall.

Pyramid Rock Trail In Red Rock Park

Although we were in Gallup for five days, that included a couple of work days. That didn’t leave us much time to go and do things, but we did fit in a hike to Pyramid Rock in Red Rock Park.

The trail was only 3.4 miles each way, but it managed to take in a lot of beauty, both at the top of the mountain and along the way. Read more about our hike up the Pyramid Rock Trail here.

Gallup Dog Park

I think Truffles loved our time in Gallup even more than we did. Not only were all of the attractions we visited pet-friendly, but the city also has a very nice dog park. There are separate sections for small and large dogs; the small section was plenty big enough for her to run around, with a much more sizeable large dog section too.

El Malpais National Monument

Our five days in Gallup ended quickly, but we hit up another attraction on our way east to Albuquerque after checking out of our hotel. El Malpais National Monument covers almost 115,000 acres, so we didn’t get to see too much of it and a storm that day didn’t help matters either. Thankfully the wedding being held on a cliff top managed to finish before the rain rolled in.

We also got lucky with the weather as we had just enough time to stop for a picnic lunch at La Ventana Natural Arch – the second largest natural bridge in New Mexico.