Albuquerque Travel Guide - Stunning Places to explore, commute options, optimal route & some awesome travel hacks
We have been sharing about various places to explore in Albuquerque town of New Mexico state in America. This posts focusses on providing details around main places to visit & explore in Albuquerque, how to commute within Albuquerque & reach these places of interest, some of the most popular places to eat in Albuquerque city and lot of pocket friendly tips to explore this place at your convenience. Please feel free to drop your questions/suggestions though comments section below.
Let's check out some of the most popular places to be explored in Albuquerque :
The place in Albuquerque which I liked the most is Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is dedicated to the preservation and perpetuation of Pueblo Indian Culture, History and Art in Albuquerque city of New Mexico state in USA. This center also includes a small, changing exhibit that highlights the work of living traditional and contemporary artists. Traditional Indian dances and artist demonstrations are open to the public on Saturday and Sunday. More than 200,000 people visit the center each year.
How to reach Indian Pueblo Cultural Center from different parts of Albuquerque ?
Lyft & Uber operates in Albuquerque city of New Mexico but the city also has pretty good bus service. I used Buses to commute between places in Albuquerque and took help from Google maps app. One bus ride costs you $1 and for $2 you get day pass & can use bus throughout the day without any max limit of rides. $2 day pass in Albuquerque city makes lot of sense.
Be aware that buses may not be on time all the time, so refreshing google app to know new time is worth. It saves you time by replanning. You may need to walk for a few minutes in case a particular route bus is delayed.
Please keep in mind that you may need to walk a bit if you chose bus and otherwise prefer Uber/Lyft.
Entry Fees for Indian Pueblo Cultural Center : $8.40 for non-residents of New Mexico
Adults - $8.40
Seniors (62 & over) - $6.40
Military (Active & Retired) - $6.40
New Mexico Residents - $6.40
Students/Children (ages 5-17) - $5.40
Children under 5 - Free
Groups (15 or more) - $5.40
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center timings :
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is open from Monday till Sunday and regular timings are 9:00 am-5:00 pm. Apart from that more events happen in the evening but most of them are for members of the Cultural Center.
What to expect at Indian Pueblo Cultural Center ?
The best thing I liked is the dance performance which happens only during weekends. Every Saturday & Sunday dance performance happens at 11am and 2 pm. This performance showcases Pueblo culture and it's brilliant performance by kids of different age groups with support of 2 curators who beat the drums and sing.
Pueblo communities have celebrated seasonal cycles through prayer, song, and dance. These dances connect the community to ancestors, community, and traditions while honoring gifts as well as make visitors aware about the culture.
The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is the only place in North America to offer traditional Native American dances every week year-round, showcasing dance groups from the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico, as well as Plains Style, Navajo, Apache, and Hopi dancers.
Apart from the dance performance, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center has various museum galleries. It's awesome to walk through each of them and enjoy audio-visual content. While checking out Indian Pueblo Cultural Center museum I realised there are lot of commonalities how old houses used to be built in India with mud, grass pieces and natural material. For New Mexico, the resources quality may vary but practices were almost the same. That encouraged me to read more and check out various audio/video presentations in Indian Pueblo Cultural Center museum.
The best thing I liked is the dance performance which happens only during weekends. Every Saturday & Sunday dance performance happens at 11am and 2 pm. This performance showcases Pueblo culture and it's brilliant performance by kids of different age groups with support of 2 curators who beat the drums and sing.
Pueblo communities have celebrated seasonal cycles through prayer, song, and dance. These dances connect the community to ancestors, community, and traditions while honoring gifts as well as make visitors aware about the culture.
The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is the only place in North America to offer traditional Native American dances every week year-round, showcasing dance groups from the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico, as well as Plains Style, Navajo, Apache, and Hopi dancers.
Apart from the dance performance, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center has various museum galleries. It's awesome to walk through each of them and enjoy audio-visual content. While checking out Indian Pueblo Cultural Center museum I realised there are lot of commonalities how old houses used to be built in India with mud, grass pieces and natural material. For New Mexico, the resources quality may vary but practices were almost the same. That encouraged me to read more and check out various audio/video presentations in Indian Pueblo Cultural Center museum.
Best time/day to visit Indian Pueblo Cultural Center :
Because of above reason about dance performance, it's better to be there at Indian Pueblo Cultural Center by 11am. That gives you plenty of time to enjoy the dance performance and walking around the galleries of the museum.
Because of above reason about dance performance, it's better to be there at Indian Pueblo Cultural Center by 11am. That gives you plenty of time to enjoy the dance performance and walking around the galleries of the museum.
Activities not to miss at Indian Pueblo Cultural Center :
Apart from regular exhibitions, artists kiosks, Gifts shop, Restaurant, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center keeps organizing different activities and events. It's highly recommended to check below link before going there. You may want to optimise on your timings to visit the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center accordingly. This is even more important if you are planning a visit with Kids. There are quite a few activities for kids throughout the year.
https://www.indianpueblo.org/events/
Apart from regular exhibitions, artists kiosks, Gifts shop, Restaurant, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center keeps organizing different activities and events. It's highly recommended to check below link before going there. You may want to optimise on your timings to visit the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center accordingly. This is even more important if you are planning a visit with Kids. There are quite a few activities for kids throughout the year.
https://www.indianpueblo.org/events/
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Museum !
The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center has various galleries and some of them have rotating exhibitions by artists from New Mexico and at times outside of the state. Indian Pueblo Cultural Center museum has good number of galleries about permanent exhibits, "We Are of This Place: The Pueblo Story." Through this particular exhibit Indian Pueblo Cultural Center shares the Pueblo people's legacy of resilience, telling the Pueblo story in the words and voices of Pueblo people. The exhibit's design is inspired by traditions that have been passed down for generations, and its displays honor our land and all living things.
Following link shares about Exhibitions going on or happened in the past - https://www.indianpueblo.org/museum/museum-exhibitions/ . This is a good place to check before planning your visit because there may be interesting exhibitions at a particular time which you may not want to miss out.
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Gift shop :
There is a gift shop close to the Pueblo Harvest and it has variety of pottery stuff which is very beautiful & elegant. Pueblo culture has huge importance of pottery and it's unique. Apart from that one can buy New Mexican jewellery
in this gift shop apart from various other kinds of gifts, fridge magnets, cloths etc.
When I was visiting Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, an artist was doing a demonstration of how she makes pottery art from different kinds of soil/sand available in New Mexico. It was wondering to hear how she creates brushes, colors and material organically. In fact, in some of the pottery arts she also produces preservative material from natural material available. It was incredible experience hear her and better appreciate the patience needed to make master-pieces out of natural resources available canyons of New Mexico state of USA.
Shopping at Indian Pueblo Cultural Center :
Shumakolowa Native Arts brings manages the gift shop at Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and offers collection of original, handcrafted works of Native American art. It's certainly great place to discover traditional and contemporary arts from award‐winning, internationally renowned artists as well as emerging talents, and shop art that is valuable for its beauty, craftsmanship and connection to tradition. I found it expensive for myself but I enjoyed appreciating art-pieces places in the gift shop.
Albuquerque has much better public transportation system in comparison to San Francisco Bay Area. That's how I planned my day in Albuquerque town of New Mexico.
Related Blogpost - Indian Pueblo Cultural Center - Must visit place in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Old Town is the historic original town site of Albuquerque in New Mexico State of USA. This old town was laid out by Spanish colonists in the 1700s and it's preserved pretty well. Albuquerque Old Town has couple of historic adobe buildings surrounding Old Town Plaza. On the plaza's north side stands San Felipe de Neri Church, which is a Spanish colonial church with a very old architectural style.
Old Town is a popular tourist destination with a large number of restaurants, shops, galleries, walking alleys, green surroundings and lot more. Albuquerque Old Town is also a home to the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History. The New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science and the Explora science center are located at a walkable distance - one is close to one of the gates of Old Town and the other is across the road from there.
San Felipe de Neri Church is a historic Catholic church located in Old Town Plaza of Albuquerque, New Mexico. This Church is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the city and the only building in Old Town proven to date to the Spanish colonial period. When I learned that, it was very interesting fact for my brain to register and appreciate. The church is listed on the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties and certainly makes lot of sense.
Above photograph of San Felipe de Neri Church is clicked from across the road. During the Victorian era, under the influence of Bishop Jean-Baptiste Lamy, the church was remodelled with Gothic Revival elements, including bell towers, a new pitched roof, and interior decorations, to give it a more European appearance. Over a period of time, the changes in this structure made it special and more appreciable as a piece of architecture in Albuquerque.
Just across the San Felipe de Neri Church, there is a green park area with these 2 canons placed along with a board describing importance of these canons.
Tip if you are looking to buy souvenirs in Albuquerque - Old Town shops have great collection of souvenirs in comparison to lot of other touristy places in Albuquerque and if you intend to buy in bulk you can ask for some discounts. E.g. - there is a great collection of fridge magnets & Mexican jewellery in this market, which would be hard to find in other places in Albuquerque town.
Tip about timings to visit Albuquerque Old Town : Afternoon during the weekends is a good time to visit as there is plenty of action and at times, you may find musical events happening in Central Park of the Old Town.
How to reach Albuquerque Old Town from different part of the town :
Albuquerque Public Transportation system is pretty solid although if you want to optimise on time, probably sticking to Uber/Lyft would be a better option but mis of buses and app based taxies can help you optimise on cost as well as on time. Use Google Map option to the place from where you can get bus and the app helps you walk to exact location and then get down at exact stop. I loved using Google app and roaming around the city in buses.
Time for another tip & this one is on commuting in Albuquerque - One bus ride costs $1 and the daily pass costs you $2, so the obvious choice is to go for daily pass and make best of it :).
When you read about Main places to visit and things to do in Albuquerque, Rattlesnake museum would also be listed. So if you are already in Albuquerque Old Town, this particular museum is actually inside the Old Town, so if interested go visit it. When I was roaming around, the museum was closed so I couldn't go inside and explore it.
Related Blogpost - Albuquerque Old Town - One of the best places to explore in New Mexico state of USA
Graffitis around Albuquerque Downtown :
While walking around the streets of Albuquerque, one of the noticeable things was Graffitis across the town. This blog-posts shares some of the cool graffitis I saw while I was in Albuquerque town of New Mexico. Are you interested in exploring such arts in places you visit?
Albuquerque Downtown is one of the most populated area in terms of graffiti arts across the town. Apart from that Uptown, Old Town, Walk from Downtown to Old Town, Indian Pueblo Cultural Centre etc have lot of graffitis. I could notice graffitis at random places across the town and at times noticed some of the restaurants have got done these graffitis all around their spaces.
Looking at all these graffiti, it seems Albuquerque regulations are pretty friendly for graffiti artists and the related community to like indulging in such activities, which may not be a case with cities and townships.
Related Blog-post : Popular Graffitis of Albuquerque Town in New Mexico, USA
The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History :
The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History is very close to Old Town in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
While walking from Old Town towards The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, you see many of these sculptures installed throughout. Many of them seemed metallic and a few made up through stone carving.
The Albuquerque Museum is dedicated for preserving the art of the American Southwest and the history of Albuquerque and the Middle Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico state in USA. The museum also contributes significantly to the cultural and educational programs in Albuquerque town. The museum features art of the Southwest and its global influences, as well as 400 years of Albuquerque history with permanent installations and special exhibitions of national and international origin.
Permanent exhibits of The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History are dedicated to art in New Mexico and the history of Albuquerque include early maps, armor, weavings and other artifacts of colonial life in New Mexico. The museum also hosts changing exhibits, art galleries, and maintains an outdoor sculpture garden on the grounds.
Above photograph shows a part of the sculpture garden in The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History.
While you are roaming around The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, there are more places you can visit and explore an d especially if you are walking around this place with kids with you. That doesn't mean that there are more places for kids around The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, but lot more than that. Let's check out :
1. Albuquerque Old Town
2. Tiguex Park
3. Explora
4. Lockheed Martin Dynatheatre
5. Rattlesnake Museum
6. San Felipe de Neri Church
All above mentioned places are at walkable distance. If you are wondering how are they placed and what's the idea flow of these places on map, if you intend to visit all of them - You can start with Rattlesnake Museum which is on one extreme of all these places on map, when walk around Old Town which is a beautiful place to walk around and explore. Don't miss San Felipe de Neri Church within Albuquerque Old Town.
After that, head towards The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History. You need 1-2 hrs to explore The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History and thereafter you can go across the road to Tiguex Park. There are different events, during the weekend. Even otherwise you can have some relaxing moments around this green landscape. After that, you can head towards Lockheed Martin Dynatheatre and then explora. Both these places can be very exciting for kids.
There are different exhibits and every exhibition hall has it's own charm with style.
The Albuquerque Museum Foundation is an independent nonprofit corporation that supports the Albuquerque Museum. The Foundation’s funding enables a wider audience to enjoy, learn and experience the vast array of exhibits and educational opportunities offered by the Museum. Donation of lot of folks in New Mexico and outsiders helps keep the magic of Albuquerque Museum alive.
Let's talk about timings of The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History. Museum is closed on Mondays and during rest of the days, it's open from 9am till 5pm.
Tuesday 9am–5pm
Wednesday 9am–5pm
Thursday 9am–5pm
Friday 9am–5pm
Saturday 9am–5pm
Sunday 9am–5pm
Other obvious questions when planning the visit is charges for entry ticket to The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History : It costs you $6, which includes visit to all galleries in The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History.
Before planning a visit to the museum, you may also be interested in Albuquerque museum of art and history upcoming events and the main source to know that would be official website of the museum. It's most of the times updated in comparison to other event websites popular in New Mexico or other state of USA.
The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History has different kinds of galleries and work by various new Mexican artists or artists who influenced Albuquerque history & some key events during evolution process. There are also some audio-visuals which talk about some of the key contributions of Albuquerque residents in US army as special messengers.
Mexican pottery is one of the special thing considered in Albuquerque and that's the reason that you find lot of shops with pottery and jewellery in Albuquerque.
Above photograph shows the gallery with lot of paintings by New Mexico arts on how things evolved in Albuquerque.
In The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, there is a section on Albuquerque warriors and how society built their own army for securing the space.
The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History is certainly a great place if you enjoy knowing about a place and it's history through different forms of arts - paintings, audio-video recordings, photography, sculptures, models etc.
How to reach John B. Robert Dam from different parts of Albuquerque Town?
One can get an uber or lyft to reach this place and if you get down at nearby park, you can chose to take a small hike to the dam. We did exactly the same.
It's no secret that when it comes to sunsets, Albuquerque offers one of the most brilliant, colorful and dramatic shows. The Sandia Mountains is one of the other popular places to watch Sunset in Albuquerque. "Sandia" means watermelon in Spanish and these mountains reinforce their perfectly-given namesake every evening at dusk.
While there seems to be no bad place to watch an Albuquerque sunset, there are certain spots that are better than others for witnessing the magical hues in the sky.
John B. Robert Dam is even special because it offer brilliant views of landscapes around the dam. Above photograph shows the dried slopes of the dam where you would find water when it rains.
Some of the other main places to see Albuquerque Sunset are mentioned in various articles online but I found one thing weird in those lists. Most of them enlist hotels, restaurants or pubs. I can't believe that only commercial places are good to enjoy sunset in Albuquerque town. I have intentionally not mentioned places here and certainly want to alert that many of the lists online look like promotional posts for commercial buildings.
The National Hispanic Cultural Center is an institution in Albuquerque, New Mexico which is dedicated to Hispanic culture, arts and humanities. When you search for main places to explore in Albuqerque and interesting experiences to explore, National Hispanic Cultural Center, shows up in the list.
National Hispanic Cultural Center campus spans 20 acres and is located along the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, New Mexico. NHCC has three theatres, an art museum, library, genealogy center, Spanish-language resource center, two restaurants and the largest concave fresco in North America.
Most of the Events, exhibitions and programs are presented in the areas of music, theatre, dance, visual arts, culinary arts, film, history, literary arts and cultural-significant customs, featuring local, national and international artists, scholars and entertainers. In addition to its own events, the NHCC also hosts hundreds of rental events each year - in its theatres, ballrooms and outside plaza.
What is entry fee ticket for National Hispanic Cultural Center ?
There are no charges for entry into National Hispanic Cultural Center but if there are plays going on, there is ticket fees for those shows. All those details are available on National Hispanic Cultural Center website.
When you search for Main places to visit in Albuquerque and explore, Duck Pond of New Mexico University also shows up in the list. Certainly it's not amongst top places people visit but clubbing it with a tour of New Mexico University makes it even special.
There is pretty good bus connectivity between New Mexico University and other parts of Albuquerque Town. I was in Downtown and there are multiple direct buses from Downtown to New Mexico University. The drop may be at different places within New Mexico University campus.