I never thought I’d say this when we set off on our 50 state road trip in 2018, but Albuquerque, NM is now one of my favorite cities in the US.
While the city isn’t as vibrant as places like New York City and Chicago, there’s a lot to love about it. There’s fantastic hiking, the Sandia Mountains are beautiful to look at, there’s a lot of history, there’s fantastic food, wineries and more, plus it’s close to places like Los Alamos and Santa Fe that have their own selling points.
I therefore wasn’t sad to return to Albuquerque for another three weeks recently. Our main reason for being there was to attend the International Balloon Fiesta, but we added some days on at the beginning and end so we’d have time to do some other activities too.
You can check out everything else we’ve done in Albuquerque in the past here, but here’s what we did during our most recent visit.
Where We Stayed
Hyatt Regency Albuquerque
For the first five nights we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Albuquerque. We did this because we could book a premium suite with only 10,000 World of Hyatt points per night. When booking that we knew that we’d get either a VIP Suite or Presidential Suite, but didn’t know which one we’d get.
What was awesome was that we ended up with the Presidential Suite for all five nights which was fun. This was an enormous suite – about twice the size of the apartment we lived in before setting off on the road trip.
The hotel had only just reopened after COVID, but despite that the staff were all fantastic. I was surprised as I’d assumed everyone would be new seeing as it had been closed for about 1.5 years, but even if they were new they were definitely Hyatt quality.
Here’s a full review of our stay.
Hyatt Place Albuquerque/Uptown
After that we moved about 10-15 minutes east to the Hyatt Place Albuquerque/Uptown. The reason we booked that was because it was in a better location for the International Balloon Fiesta if we wanted to use their Park & Ride service.
We ended up just parking at Balloon Fiesta Park as it was more convenient and the same price considering there’d be four of us in the car most times, so moving hotels wasn’t really necessary after all. It was still a decent stay though – here’s my full review.
What We Did
Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta
As mentioned earlier, our main reason for visiting Albuquerque was to attend the International Balloon Fiesta. It was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID but made a return in 2021 and this was something we really wanted to experience.
It was a lot of fun, with a state fair-type vibe. One of the main differences between the Balloon Fiesta and state fairs is that state fairs run throughout the day. The Balloon Fiesta has two main events each day – the Dawn Patrol/Mass Ascension in the morning and the Night Glow in the evening, with not much else happening between 10am and 4pm. That’s no bad thing because it means you can head back to your hotel during the day to take a nap which is much-needed if you’ve gotten up super-early for the Dawn Patrol.
Be sure to check out our post about the International Balloon Fiesta which has photos of some of the most fun hot air balloons along with some videos from both the Mass Ascension and Night Glow.
Hot Air Balloon Ride
Seeing as we were at the Balloon Fiesta, we didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to take a hot air balloon flight during that time. We therefore went up in a balloon with Shae’s mom and stepdad which was our first time ever going up in a balloon.
It was so cool! The flight was incredibly smooth – something I wasn’t expecting. I was picturing the gondola (the basket) swaying about, but that wasn’t the case at all. Check out this post for more about the flight including a video Shae put together of the whole experience.
Bandelier National Monument
When we stayed in Los Alamos earlier this year we visited Bandelier National Monument (see this post for more about that). It was a beautiful and interesting place with Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings, so we took Shae’s mom and stepdad there so they could experience it.
While Shae gave them a tour, I went to check out one of the other hiking trails at the site. I took the Falls Trail as it had some good reviews online and I thought it’d be nice seeing some waterfalls.
Unfortunately in early October the Falls Trail is more like ‘Trail’ because there’s no water and thus no falls. It was a pretty hike through the canyon, but after about 1.5 miles I realized that there weren’t any falls and so turned back to meet up with the others.
La Luz Trail
One hike that I did complete – and more! – was the La Luz trail. This takes you up the Sandia Mountains to the Sandia Peak Tramway where you can either hike back down or take the tramway down.
I took the tramway down, only to discover that it was another four miles back to our car having already hiked 8 miles uphill! That extra distance was a killer and meant I got back to the car well after sunset. It’s a fantastic hike though, so it was well worth the challenge – here’s more about the La Luz trail.
Santa Fe
Shae’s mom and stepdad joined us for the first few days of the International Balloon Fiesta and her dad and stepmom joined us for the last few days of it. We took both couples up to Santa Fe seeing as it’s such a cute city, especially their plaza.
Sandia Peak Tramway
Shae and I rode the Sandia Peak Tramway earlier this year and liked the views so much we took both sets of parents up there too. While up there we learned of an overlook that not many people seem to know about, so that made the experience even better.
Where We Ate & Drank
Twisters
The previous couple of times we’d visited Albuquerque I’d seen several Twisters fast food restaurants – a local chain. I was curious what they’d be like, so we picked up dinner from there one night. Shae got enchiladas while I ordered their Twister Burrito – your choice of meat with beans and smothered in Twister fries, red and/or green chile and topped with lettuce, tomatoes and cheese (although I got mine without cheese).
It might not look like much, but it was very tasty. The portion size was enormous though; I probably should’ve only eaten half of it and saved the rest, but I managed to finish most of it that night.
D.H. Lescombes Winery & Bistro
Shae and I visited the actual D.H. Lescombes Winery in Deming, NM earlier this year and loved their wine. They also have a tasting room and bistro featuring their wine in Albuquerque, so we took Shae’s mom and stepdad there, then we returned to meet up with one of Shae’s former work colleagues and her friends who were in town for the Balloon Fiesta too.
We weren’t disappointed on either visit. They have a cute pet-friendly courtyard out back where we had drinks and snacks both times with all of it being very tasty.
Hannah & Nate’s
After our balloon flight, we were all ready for brunch. Close to where we’d met for the balloon flight was a restaurant called Hannah & Nate’s, so we decided to check it out.
It was a superb choice. I got a sausage patty, hash browns and a couple of fried eggs with both red and green chile. While it might not look like a masterpiece, it tasted ridiculously amazing thanks to all the chile on it. I would happily go back here for breakfast the next time we’re in Albuquerque.
Ten 3 Restaurant
At the top of Sandia Peak when you hike up or ride the tramway is Ten 3 Restaurant. We ate there twice during our recent visit seeing as we took both sets of parents up there. Both times Shae and I shared a Brisket Sammie and The Bird:
We’d had the Brisket Sammie on our first visit to Albuquerque and enjoyed it which is why we’d ordered that again. However, The Bird had also sounded good with its spiced grilled chicken, buttermilk fried jalapeno and cilantro avocado crema. The jalapenos made it even spicier than we’d anticipated as there were a lot of them in the sandwich, but it tasted great nonetheless.
El Modelo
We’d received a recommendation from one of Shae’s friends to get dinner from El Modelo, so that was somewhere else we went for dinner one night. I’d been snacking earlier that afternoon and wasn’t very hungry so I just ordered a burrito which was very good.
I’m glad I only ordered that because the portion size Shae received for her meal was enormous. I forget exactly what it was she ordered, but there was easily enough for 2-3 dinners there. I tried a little of hers and it was tasty too.
Sawmill Market
When staying at the Hyatt Regency Albuquerque, they gave us some gift cards for Sawmill Market because the hotel wasn’t offering breakfast on Mondays and Tuesdays at the time.
We didn’t end up using them until our final night in Albuquerque and didn’t even know how much we had on each card. It turns out each card was loaded with $20 of value, so we had $80 to spend. Shae and I started off by getting dinner from Tulipani and Kulantro respectively and we both loved our meals.
Those only used two of our four $20 gift cards, so with our other two gift cards we bought desserts for that night and salads for the next day from Mercantile Cafe which were also very good.
Final Thoughts
We had a great time in Albuquerque during our most recent visit, but there’s still so much to see and do in and around the city that I’d love to get back there in the future.
Stephen, did you guys feel safe in Albuquerque? We’re planning a stop there and some of the crime warnings are disconcerting.
Yep, we never felt at all unsafe. We’ve now stayed at 4 different hotels there (maybe 5) and it’s always been OK. I’ve taken Truffles out for a walk late at night many times and felt fine, but I imagine that you wouldn’t want to do that in some parts of the city – much like any city.
I’ve seen that it has bad crime problems, but we never encountered anything disconcerting, so perhaps it depends on the neighborhood and we got lucky.