Southwest

There are plenty of alternative and niche yoga schools to try in Santa Fe, but when we're longing for a more familiar, Bikram-style class, we head to Thrive (which doubles as a spin studio), where you're all but guaranteed to meet friendly locals happy to share recommendations on the area's many health and wellness resources.

Voyce Durling-Jones Sensei was the first foreigner to pass national HoShin examinations and become certified to practice bee venom therapy in Japan, where the practice originated. She was also the first to bring the art, which uses bee venom to stimulate the immune system around areas of stress and illness, to the United States. Combining HoShin with her training as a reiki master, she takes on everything from tough cases of hard-to-treat conditions like Lyme to post-op inflammation treatment. If you can't get an appointment with Voyce Sensei herself, she has several qualified and highly trained practitioners on staff, all of whom have been through her rigorous apprenticeship program.

The old aphorism goes that Santa Fe has more acupuncturists per capita than any other city in the world, so to say that Eden Kark stands out from the pack isn't for nothing. He's a practitioner of many forms of Chinese medicine and a Ph.D. candidate in Integral and Transpersonal Psychology, which brings an entirely different perspective to his treatment methods.

Dr. Skurla is one of the area's best osteopaths, with experience handling all kinds of hard-to-treat conditions from Lyme disease to autism.

Chef/owner Noela Figueroa just opened Bodega Prime after moving back from a stint in Colorado, and it's fast become a local favorite. The brunch and lunch menus change weekly depending on what Figueroa's farming partners have on hand, but she really specializes in old-school sandwiches with quirky tweaks, like a sharp grilled cheddar cheese with kimchi, miso-marinated steak with kaffir aioli, and saffron-brined chicken with romesco and fennel relish. All day (and, blessedly, after the kitchen closes at 3pm), you can pick up sandwiches and other prepared foods to go from their deli case. The little retail section at the entry also has a cute buy of handmade home goods like beautiful cutting boards and aprons.

This sweet little French bakery and café right outside downtown has a breakfast menu that's blessedly pared down to a few egg dishes, crêpes, and waffles. If you don't have time to sit down for a full meal, there's a case in the front with excellent croissants and other baked goods; it's the perfect place to stop for snacks and coffee if you're on your way out of town for a day trip or hike.

Chef Paulraj Karuppasamy and his wife Nellie Tischler had been serving Indian food at private parties and pop-ups for a year when popular demand convinced them to open a brick-and-mortar of their own. Though the only Indian restaurant in town, Paper Dosa's cuisine certainly holds up against what you'd find in bigger cities. We hear the regulars order white truffle masala dosa and the chicken curry. They only take reservations for parties of six or more, so come early if you're with a small group.

Soma Franks and Fiona Wong opened Sweetwater in 2012, in a warm, high-ceilinged, barn-like building; here, Edison bulbs are suspended from the ceiling, and diners gather round a long community table with a planter in the center. Like the warm modernism of the space, their menu offers creative takes on veggie-based comfort foods (like eggs baked in a scalloped, cross-wise slice of acorn squash, or rainbow paleo plates with every color represented). Sweetwater only served breakfast and lunch until this summer, when Franks and Wong partnered with Kimnath ("Nath") Nou, a Colorado chef who recently moved to Santa Fe, to serve healthy, fresh Thai cuisine four nights a week. Considering how busy those nights have been, locals are hoping the new partnership sticks around. Note: Reservations are available for Thai nights and Sunday brunch, but weekday and Saturday breakfast and lunch are first-come-first-serve.