Santa Fe is gorgeous...plus there is a fantastic spa/hotel there called the Eldorado Hotel & Spa...went there for a girlie weekend with a friend and we loved it.
Santa Fe is nice - I visited it on a day trip back in January (although it was freezing then)
, but it can be quite expensive compared to Albuquerque and other towns nearby. If you decide to visit the area, I would also recommend going to Taos too (about 2 hours north of Santa Fe) - it's a lovely little town
.
Santa Fe is also close to a few other nice places, cool historic sights (American Indian) and an easy drive from Albuquerque (a small city I do like and have family in).
I just moved back to the UK from Albuquerque last week and I'm not sure I'd call it a small city anymore - the metro population is now close to 1 million (when I lived there for a while about 4-5 years ago, I was told the population was only about 600,000, so I was very surprised to find out it had grown so much in such a short amount of time)
! I guess it depends what you're comparing it to though - if you're in London, it's a small city in comparison, but I'm from Bristol, which is less than half the size of Albuquerque in population
.