Girls' weekend away: round up your friends for one of these four fabulous bonding adventures

Shape, June, 2004

Where Santa Fe, N.M.

The getaway The Plaza--the heart of Santa Fe since its founding in 1610--is the place to start this shopper's delight of a weekend: You'll find more than 500 unique boutiques and galleries nearby.

Sleepover The Inn on the Alameda, a seven-minute walk from the Plaza, offers a "Best Friends Get the Best Deals" package that includes two nights' lodging, a daily continental breakfast and afternoon wine-and-cheese reception, a 50-minute massage and a disposable camera to capture all the fun (from $133 each for four guests; 888-984-2121, inn-alameda.com).

Girl power The high-desert landscape offers myriad hiking and biking opportunities along the moderate-to-challenging 36 miles of Dale Ball trails etched into the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains just 10 minutes east of town. Rent a bike from Sun Mountain Bike Co., one block from the Plaza ($26 per day includes a lock and trail map; sunmountainbikeco.com, 505-982-8986).

Chow down Santa Fe is known for its Spanish-influenced Southwestern cuisine, but beware: It can be very spicy--those chile ristras (chains of dried red peppers woven together) around town aren't just for show. Local favorites include Cafe Pasqual's huevos rancheros (made with organic eggs) for breakfast ($10; 505-983-9340, pasquals.com) and the blue-corn enchiladas at Maria's New Mexican Kitchen ($9; 505-983-7929, marias-santafe.com). Enjoy a girls' night out with live music and dancing in the company of local artists and hipsters at the city's oldest restaurant and cantina, El Farol, on Canyon Road (505-983-9912, elfarolsf.com).

R & R For the ultimate retreat--and a real mix of cultures--visit Ten Thousand Waves (505-992-5025; tenthousandwaves.com), a Japanese-style spa with outdoor and indoor soaking tubs in an adobe 20 minutes northeast of the Plaza in the mountain foothills. Rent a private hot tub (from $19 per person, per hour for a group of six; includes use of sandals and a kimono). For an excellent rubdown at a bargain rate, try the 55-minute head-to-toe massage ($73).

Sisterly advice The best (tax-free) bargains are at the Tesuque Pueblo Flea Market near the Santa Fe Opera (seven miles north of the Plaza), where you can find Southwestern jewelry by local artisans from Friday through Sunday, February through December. Other must-hit shopping stops include the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum store (505-946-1000, okeeffemuseum.org), two blocks from the Plaza on Johnson Street, for books, posters, and clothing with O'Keeffe-style patterns, or Bodhi Bazaar (505-982-3880, santafestation.com/bodhibazaar) in Sanbusco Market Center, half a mile from the Plaza, for fashion-forward designs. And if you want to bring home some local flavor, the Santa Fe School of Cooking and Market (one block from the Plaza in the Plaza Mercado building) sells cooking aids including a tortilla press, hot sauces and hard-to-find spices (505-983-4511, santafeschoolofcooking.com).--Ann Shepphird

Where Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, N.Y. (a two-hour drive from New York City and 66 miles south of Albany), a quaint historic town with views of the gently rolling Catskill Mountains