The creative offspring of a love affair between an architect and interior designer, Rancho de San Juan inspires romance without disruption. Steal away to this remote hideaway, where your only obligations are sipping chardonnay under the stars, listening to hummingbirds whiz by, and hiking to ancient petroglyphs and sandstone shrines.

Tucked into 225 acres of high desert, about 40 miles from Santa Fe, guests can truly experience the allure of the mystical area. The inn sits in the

The creative offspring of a love affair between an architect and interior designer, Rancho de San Juan inspires romance without disruption. Steal away to this remote hideaway, where your only obligations are sipping chardonnay under the stars, listening to hummingbirds whiz by, and hiking to ancient petroglyphs and sandstone shrines.

Tucked into 225 acres of high desert, about 40 miles from Santa Fe, guests can truly experience the allure of the mystical area. The inn sits in the Chama River Valley, where the Ojo Caliente River flows into the Rio Grande. Early morning dramas include sunrises over sedimentary rock, hawks soaring high above cottonwoods, and ponderosa pines and willows stirring with the breeze. And for the adventurous, the healing hot springs of Ojo Caliente village are a short drive away.

Yet, guests trek to Rancho de San Juan to escape the world, not necessarily to explore it. At the Southwest's only Relais & Châteaux property, you can expect first-rate service and accommodations from arrival to departure. The inn, designed to blend into nature and barely interrupt the skyline, features 12 elegant adobe-style rooms or casitas.

At the three standard rooms, which hug a wisteria-trellised courtyard, you'll be rewarded with a private latilla-covered patio. The five superior rooms and five casitas offer ideal hideaways for honeymooners as they dot the surrounding hillside. If it weren't for the fine staff catering to your every need, you'd almost feel alone in the wilderness (in a refined and coddled way, of course).

Within the rooms and casitas every detail maximizes your sensory pleasures—from granite countertops, tiled floors, and marble showers to wood-burning fireplaces, original art, and a lack of televisions. A divine king-size bed with Frette linens and cloudlike pillows becomes the centerpiece of the rooms. Coming in a close second? The two-person jet tubs. Consider springing for the Kiva Room (a circular space with a kiva fireplace and skylight) or Casa Valdita (with 12-foot-high ceilings and unsurpassed views of Black Mesa Mountain). Note that all casitas boast a kitchen, so you never have to leave you room unless you want to.

But even nesters will want to explore the region's rich cultural and natural history. In addition to the owners' art collection, don't miss strolling the grounds and exploring nearby ancient petroglyphs and a dramatic sandstone altar. Afterwards, get a couples' massage on your private patio and fall asleep to the reinvigorating sound of silence.

Kim Grant has been writing about the best places to stay in North America since the day after graduating college in 1984. Since then she has written over 35 guidebooks and for countless websites and print publications. She is also the editorial director of a forthcoming website on the best places to stay and the travel acquisitions editor for Countryman Press.