A Well-Born Guide

We took the Combination Santa Fe + Jewish History three-​hour tour. The value for money was very good.
This is a walking & listening/​talking tour. Stefanie has impressive educational and professional accomplishments all of which inform her tours.
We started in the Plaza. She presented information from many historical periods and perspectives. Santa Fe’s role as a remote outpost in the Spanish empire was made evident. We talked about the evolving relations between the indigenous peoples and the interloping Spanish. Stefanie also gave a helpful introduction to the regional geology, a few local environmental issues, some local politics, and some regional national parkland news.
On the porch of the St Francis hotel, Stefanie presented a well-​researched introduction to the history of the Jews of Santa Fe. Much of the information centered on Governor Oñate. But, she distinguished well the various Jewish in-​migrations, and changing nature of Jewish identity and observance in the region, up through the present day.
Stefanie is very comfortable taking and answering questions, as well as listening to ideas/​comments from us.
Total distance walked about 1 mile. Pacing of the trip was very good for our needs, and sit-​down stops were included.
Overall, hard to imagine a better tour in a walking/​talking format. We are glad we took this tour.

Stefanie’s tour was an excellent peek into Santa Fe history through walking the city on foot. She started with what was to be expected in the tour so we understood that we would be walking a good distance, what we would pay, tips are appreciated, that we would be stopping in any bars we wanted and some general history. She was polite and well spoken through out. Stefanie’s humor was on point and appreciated.
We stopped and talked about 7 – 10 bars and we learned about Santa Fe history throughout. By far our favorite part of the tour were the excellent and creepy ghost stories. Stefanie is good at spinning a tale and left us perfectly questioning the existence of the spirit world.
Stefanie’s tour is not for someone who wants to go into each bar and drink and party. This tour is really about the history that made Santa Fe what it is today. If you are interested in a well organized, informative and interesting history tour you won’t be disappointed.
Stefanie went over our tour time by a half hour because she was so caring about giving us such a complete picture of Santa Fe. I would love to learn more about this fascinating city and would book her again in the future.
Wear comfy walking shoes and be ready to learn.

Wow! Stefani, the owner and guide of the Bars and Brothels tour we went on while staying in Santa Fe did not do a good job. We thought the tour sounded promising and enriching, it was neither.
Tour guide met us on plaza as promised but since other group «cancelled» she raised our price and solicited for tips before we even began. This is a grown historian who claims to have her PHd and owns her own business, I guess no one ever told her not to Ask for tips.
Our guide has been in Santa Fe since 1975. She told us the history of quite a few bars we walked past but unfortunately it was only the history since 1975. BORING!
The tour also promised stories of brothels. Most of her stories were hearsay not too many facts and not nearly as bawdy or salacious as we hoped for.
At our request we stopped at one bar on the tour where we were promptly charged TWENTY dollars each for a bourbon and coke!!! Crazy!
We walked through plenty of dark alleys that had no history therefore no one was talking. At one point she tried to take us through a locked gate in a deserted parking lot. Many of the bars we were supposed to visit were closed and our guide commented she was «glad they were closed.» Bizarre since it was a bar tour. Stefani talked a lot about town politics and which bars were not successful etc. again, boring. End of tour we did tip her and ended up spending $ 120.00 total for something we could have done on our own, at our own pace and a lot cheaper. Would not recommend Well-​Born Guide now or ever.