Acoma, NM--Sky City Casino Hotel is now offering FREE shuttle service to and from Sky City Cultural Center. Beginning November 29, 2007 the shuttle service will pick up at Sky City Casino Hotel at 8:00 am, 11:00 am and 1:30 pm and return to the casino at 10:15 am, 1:00 pm and 3:30 pm. This service will be available seven days a week, days and times are subject to change.

The 20-minute ride from the casino includes a 20-minute video about Acoma and its history. The Pueblo Tour is an hour and 15-minute, guided “Walking Tour” that takes you through the San Esteban del Rey Mission (1629) and through historic Acoma “Sky City” village. 

The pueblo covers about 75 acres atop a 357-foot high sandstone mesa overlooking the Acoma valley floor. The legendary Sky City is the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in North America (1150 A.D.)

The crown jewel is the Sky City Cultural Center and Haak’u Museum sitting in the valley below, which opened in May 2006. It replaced their previous tourist center that was felled by a devastating fire in 2000, destroying not only the building but priceless artifacts.  
 
Sky City Cultural Center is an expression of the Acoma culture. Everything has been carefully chosen and planned. The materials and colors which recall the colors of the pueblo with its whitewashed walls. Traditional designs with stone floors help to achieve a look similar to the dirt floors of their adobe homes. Doors that pivot open and closed, like the doors of the San Esteban del Rey Mission in the pueblo. The T-shaped doorways hark back to the structures of New Mexico’s
 
Chaco Canyon and Colorado’s Mesa Verde, both of which are places visited by the Acoma during the search for the place prepared for them. The designs on the walls are the symbols for clouds. The original windows of the pueblo were of Mica so the designs in the glass panels of the Museum echo that history as well.

Another way to experience Acoma culture is through a taste of it at Yaak’a Café (Corn Café), an airy eatery opening to the outside courtyard featuring a diverse menu of Acoma foods as well as traditional Native American cooking and contemporary American dishes. In other words, there’s something for everyone.

On May 6, 2007, the Pueblo of Acoma welcomed the National Trust for Historic Preservation in order to celebrate the official agreement making the Pueblo of Acoma a National Historic Trust Site. Acoma Pueblo is the first Native American community to be designated a National Trust Historic Site.

Admission for the tour is $12.00 for adults, $11.00 for seniors and $9.00 for students. Admission into the Haak’u Museum is $4.00 for adults, $3.00 for seniors and $2.00 for students. Camera permits (still photography only) is $10.00. 

Sky City Cultural Center hours of operation (October-April) is 8:00 am to 5:00 pm with the last tour at 3:00 pm. 

For more information regarding the FREE shuttle service or for group tours call 800-747-0181 or www.skycity.com.