Back in May I celebrated a friend’s milestone birthday at Ojo Caliente, a hot springs in New Mexico about an hour outside of Santa Fe. I stayed three nights in one of the spa’s refurbished vintage trailers. This write up is about my experience staying in the trailer and what you should know before booking one.
About Ojo Caliente
Ojo Caliente in the early morning when there are few people. The pools open to overnight guests at 7:30 a.m. before opening to day pass holders at 10 a.m.
Ojo Caliente bills itself as one of the oldest natural springs in the U.S. with a history going back more than 700 years. Different native peoples used the hot springs before the Spanish arrived. In 1534, a Spanish colonizer visited the springs and named them Ojo Caliente, but the original name is Posi or P’oseuinge, which translates to something like “village at the place of the green bubbling hot springs,” according to this article about its history. In 1868 (or 1880 by other accounts), Antonio Joseph and his wife opened a health spa and resort at the site.
My friend has visited Ojo Caliente numerous times over two decades and says it used to be a rustic, no frills kind of experience. These days, it has transformed into a more upscale resort with the construction of new luxury accommodations.
Lodging Options
When it comes to accommodations, there are many options with room rates ranging from about $250 to nearly $600. The most affordable rooms are in the historic hotel, which dates back to 1917. These rooms have a toilet and sink, but no showers, as the idea is that you’d shower in the bathhouse. (This is what guests did for more than 100 years.)
The resort also offers more modern hotel rooms with their own bathrooms; cottages with kitchenettes (these are not standalone; but have shared walls with the adjacent cottage); and more recently-built suites with plentiful square footage, fireplaces, and private soaking tubs. You can even rent an entire house.
There’s also a campground, offering a co-ed shower facility, potable water, and electrical hookups for RVs. And then there are the vintage trailers, five of them.
About Ojo Caliente’s Vintage Trailers
There are five vintage trailers at Ojo Caliente. This is trailer number 4 aka T4.
With their shiny metal exteriors, Ojo Caliente’s vintage Spartan trailers look like they were originally made in the 1960s. While each of the five Space Age trailers is unique and different inside, they all feature a covered patio with a hammock, a kitchenette with a microwave and mini fridge, and an ensuite bathroom with a shower. There’s also an air conditioning unit, tower fan, and TV. Each trailer is about 160 square feet.
The hammock was very comfortable. I easily took a nap in it.
I had trailer number four or T4. I unlocked it to find a sitting area with a loveseat and coffee table facing the kitchenette.
What I saw when I opened the trailer door.
The kitchenette was stocked with mugs, glasses, wine glasses, dishes, utensils, a coffee maker, a Fellow Stagg electric kettle, dish-cleaning supplies (a small sponge and mini bottle of dish detergent), plus some coffee and tea.
The kitchenette is stocked with some basics.
Behind the kitchenette was the bathroom, which was small but had most everything I needed, including a hair dryer. The one thing that was missing was a hook or bar to hang up a bath towel.
Not shown in this photo: a skylight in the bathroom.
The shower area was bigger than some in apartments I’ve lived in. There was an area to sit down in the shower.
The shower was stocked with Ojo bath products, which are made in New Mexico and feature essential oils and wild botanicals.
And at the other end of the trailer, past the bathroom, was the queen bed. A stack of towels and robes was neatly folded on it.
The queen bed, with room to walk on each side, plus outlets in the wall above.
While there was no closet, there were hooks on one wall where you could hang up clothes. (In this regard, the vintage trailer won over the room I stayed in during a vacation to Jekyll Island.) An ironing board hung from one of the hooks, and there was an iron as well in one of the bathroom cabinet drawers.
My Experience Staying in the Vintage Trailer
I found the vintage trailer utterly charming and enjoyed my stay in it. In general, I like seeing how small spaces can be made efficient, so for me it was delightful. I also liked that it was a bit removed from other guests and that I didn’t share any walls with anyone. It was quiet; I didn’t hear my neighbors at all. (Though I guess that depends mostly on how the neighbors behave. No one in the other trailers was a partier while I was there.)
I found the vintage trailer utterly charming and enjoyed my stay in it.
The trailer, while small inside, had a nice delineation of spaces. I liked that the bed was at one end of the trailer while there was a separate space to sit in and eat at the other. I ended up having to do some work one day, and while there wasn’t a desk, I was able to sit on the couch and work on my laptop. (Yes, there is wifi, and I had no issues with it.) The patio was also great for reading — and taking a nap in the hammock.
And the kitchenette was so useful. To save money (and because I didn’t want to eat every meal from the one onsite restaurant), I picked up some groceries on my way to Ojo Caliente. I made my own breakfast (microwave scrambled eggs, yogurt with blueberries), and brought snacks, fruit, and pre-made lunches.
The area with the vintage trailers at Ojo Caliente.
What You Should Know Before Booking a Vintage Trailer
- When I went in May 2025, the rate for a vintage trailer was $259 a night, making it one of the more affordable options on the property. But you can’t book the trailers online. You need to call.
- The trailers are located on the way to the campground and RV parking area. So it’s a little further out than some of the other accommodations. To get there, you walk past the North Cottages, and then on a dirt road, so the trailers wouldn’t be a good choice for someone with mobility issues.
- While I found the trailer comfortable and cozy, I am a petite person. Someone who is big or tall might find the space too cramped and the furnishings too small.
- If you like to sleep in, note that the window coverings are not black out. The trailers (or at least T4) also has skylights, including one in the bedroom.
The Pools at Ojo Caliente
The Lithia Pool is named after the depression-relieving mineral.
Much as been written about the different soaking pools at Ojo Caliente so I’ll keep this section brief, but of course they are the main attraction of the resort. The pools feature different minerals like iron, arsentic, and lithia. There’s also a seasonal mud pool. Ojo Caliente advertises their hot springs as “legendary healing waters.” I don’t know if they are healing per se, but I’m a fan of soaking in water and I found the pools to be calming and relaxing at the very least.
No talking is allowed in the Soda Pool.
There’s also a large circular pool, the Large Pool, which is the coolest pool. And while their website doesn’t mention this, I found it big enough and cool enough to swim in. (Though as a lap swimmer, I would have preferred the temperature to be even lower.)
The Large Pool at Ojo Caliente is its coolest cool, temperature-wise.
The resort must be in demand, as it has been expanding and building new soaking pools cliffside. The soaking area below was new to my friend.
A newer soaking pool at Ojo Caliente.
You can also book private pools, which are clothing-optional.
Getting There
Airports: I flew into Santa Fe because my friend did, and we spent a day there. But in the future I’d consider flying into Albuquerque instead even though it’s further away. Why? Because the Albuquerque airport is much larger.
The Santa Fe airport is tiny, with just two gates, so if you experience a delay (and I did on my way out) there are not a lot of options for alternate plans. There are no direct flights from NYC to Santa Fe, so when my first flight was delayed, it caused me to miss my connecting flight at DFW. I had to rebook that second leg to a different and less convenient NYC-area airport. The initial delay cascaded into nine hours of delays! That quickly undid any relaxation I gained at Ojo Caliente.
Car: Driving is the most convenient way to get to Ojo Caliente. If you’re flying in, strongly consider renting a car. But if you don’t drive or don’t want to, it is possible to take an Uber. My friend and I shared an Uber from Santa Fe to Ojo Caliente, which didn’t seem too unreasonably priced (it was about $100). But when I needed a morning ride back to the Santa Fe airport (which is 20 minutes from downtown Santa Fe), Ubers were about $150 before tip. I asked the front desk about transit, and they recommended a local car service to me that was a little cheaper than an Uber.
Closing Thoughts
My trip to Ojo Caliente gave me a much-needed break to recharge (minus the part with the flight delays, no thanks to American Airlines). Would I visit again? Yes. And if I did, I wouldn’t hesitate to book a vintage trailer again. Not only is it one of the more economical lodging options, but the retro vibes and glamping experience makes it fun — a win-win.
