A tiny town with a big tourist market, Taos has thousands of rooms in hotels, motels, condominiums, and bed-and-breakfasts. Many new properties have recently opened, turning this into a buyer's market. In the slower seasons, in January through early February and April through early May, when competition for travelers is steep, you may even want to try bargaining your room rate down. Most of the hotels and motels are on Paseo del Pueblo Sur and Norte, with a few scattered just east of the town center, along Kit Carson Road. The condos and bed-and-breakfasts are generally scattered throughout Taos's back streets.
During peak seasons, visitors without reservations may have difficulty finding vacant rooms. Taos Chamber of Commerce, 1139 Paseo del Pueblo Sur (tel. 505/758-3873), might be able to help. If you're looking to hook up to the Internet in this town, head for the plaza, which offers wireless access anywhere you sit.
Fifteen hundred or so of Taos County's beds are in condominiums and lodges at or near Taos Ski Valley. The Taos Valley Resort Association, P.O. Box 85, Taos Ski Valley, NM 87525 (tel. 800/776-1111 or 505/776-2233; fax 505/776-8842; www.visitnewmexico.com), can book these, as well as rooms in Taos and all the rest of northern New Mexico, and it can book private home rentals.
Reservations of Taos, 1033-A Paseo del Pueblo Sur, Taos, NM 87571 (tel. 505/751-1292), will help you find accommodations from bed-and-breakfasts to home rentals, hotels, RV parks, and cabins throughout Taos and the rest of northern New Mexico. It'll also help you arrange package prices for outdoor activities such as white-water rafting, horseback riding, hot-air ballooning, snowmobiling, fishing, and skiing.
There are two high seasons in Taos: winter (the Christmas-to-Easter ski season, except for Jan, which is notoriously slow) and summer. Spring and fall are shoulder seasons, often with lower rates. The period between Easter and Memorial Day is also slow in the tourist industry here, and many proprietors of restaurants and other businesses take their annual vacations at this time. Book well ahead for ski holiday periods (especially Christmas) and for the annual arts festivals (late May to mid-June and late Sept to early Oct).
