Albuquerque Travel Guide
For details of what to do and see in Albuquerque check out our Albuquerque guide to car hire in Albuquerque.
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The largest city in New Mexico, Albuquerque has a reputation for being a pleasant and interesting place to visit boasting plenty of history going on, and having enough going on to keep you occupied for the duration of a short stay.
Lying on the famous Rio Grande, Albuquerque occupies one of the most stunning locations of any American city, and although the city itself, with its many native American style adobe buildings may not have that much to attract visitors beyond a few museums and galleries where the focus is on modern art rather than old masters, Albuquerque has enough to see in the area surrounding it to keep you going for several weeks.
Certainly not an attraction that would appeal to the squeamish, or ophidiphobics for that matter, according to their own website, the most exciting tourist experience in Albuquerque can be had at the "magnificent" Rattlesnake museum where you can see a huge variety of scaly reptiles and even have them crawl on you should you want them to (not rattlesnakes fortunately, they are a little too dangerous). The research station part of the facility develops anti-venoms that save literally several lives every year.
The main attraction for many visitors arriving into Albuquerque's airport is the mountain resort town of Santa Fe, which lies about an hour's drive away, and which is extremely popular with many of America's biggest celebrities as a place to get away from it all, and where there are plenty of excellent quality hotels to choose from.
Albuquerque has some interesting attractions including the National Atomic Museum, where there are replicas of various bombs, and missiles, but in Santa Fe, you can visit dozens of galleries, several fascinating museums and enjoy a nightlife that is every bit as cosmopolitan as you would find in New York.
In summer, the Sandia Mountains around Santa Fe offer great opportunities to hike and trek. In autumn, the same mountains attract artists from all over the world, to paint landscape pictures of the displays of colour as the leaves on the aspen trees burnish the hillsides in glorious golden hues.
You can get cheap deals on flights and accommodation to Albuquerque throughout the year, and once there, good value car hire is available to make the city the ideal point from which to begin your self drive holiday exploring the beautiful countryside and fascinating towns of new Mexico.
