26 Best Sights in Albuquerque, New Mexico

The city's foremost outdoor draw, the BioPark comprises four distinct attractions: Aquarium, Botanic Garden, Zoo, and Tingley Beach. Verdant grounds are the setting for summer performances, the River of Lights brings crowds over the winter holidays, and exhibits like River Otters, Komodo Dragons, and the Sasebo Japanese Gardens have year-round appeal. The garden and aquarium are located together, just west of Old Town (admission gets you into both facilities) while the zoo is a short drive southeast, off 10th Street SW, and Tingley Beach (and its trout-stocked ponds) lies between. An electric shuttle connects them all.

In a modern, light-filled space, the Albuquerque Museum serves up a brilliantly curated selection of contemporary art from the museum's own Southwestern artists–centric collections and world-class touring shows; it also presents illuminating shows with regionally topical themes. The must-see Common Ground galleries represent an important permanent collection of primarily 20th-century paintings, all by world-renowned artists with a New Mexico connection; a changing rotation of 19th- and 20th-century photographs from the museum's extensive local archive lines the museum's walkway halls. Other spaces dig even deeper into compelling aspects of Albuquerque and regional history.

The Sculpture Garden contains more than 50 contemporary works by an internationally known roster of artists that includes Basia Irland and Fritz Scholder; Nora Naranjo-Morse's spiral land-art piece resonates deeply in a place defined by water and land-rights issues. Visitors may pick up a self-guided Sculpture Garden map or come for the free (with admission) docent-led tours at 11 am Wednesday and Saturday (March through November); docent-led tours of the galleries, also free, are held daily at 2 pm, year-round.

Watching the Isotopes (a sparkling Triple A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies) at this sweet 13,279-seat ballpark is always great fun, and with the New Mexico United pro soccer team playing here now as well, there’s yet more opportunity to join a rousing crowd while the setting sun vividly colors the Sandias to the east. The 'Topes season runs April through September while the United play March or April through October.

A showpiece for the city, and a showcase for Hispanic culture in Albuquerque's historic Barelas neighborhood, this beautifully designed space contains a vibrant art museum, multiple performance venues, a restaurant, a fresco-lined Torreón (tower) depicting the span of Hispanic (and pre-Hispanic) history, a 10,000-volume genealogical research center and library, and an education center. Its acoustically superb Roy E. Disney Center for Performing Arts and smaller Albuquerque Journal Theatre host ballet and flamenco performances, a bilingual film series, traditional Spanish and New Mexican music, the famed world music festival ¡Globalquerque!, Opera Southwest, and more. Exhibits at its museum include works by local artists as well as internationally known names and often feature traditional and contemporary craftwork. A vintage WPA-era school contains the library and La Fonda del Bosque restaurant, which features Latin fusion fare indoors and out on the patio.

Previously known simply as the National Atomic Museum, this brilliant Smithsonian affiliate traces the history of the atomic age and how nuclear science has dramatically influenced the course of modern history. Exhibits include replicas of Little Boy and Fat Man (the bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War II), a compelling display about the difficult decision to drop atomic bombs, and a look at how atomic culture has dovetailed with pop culture. One particular highlight is the restored 1942 Plymouth that was used to transport the plutonium core of "the Gadget" (as that first weapon was known) down from Los Alamos to the Trinity Site for testing. The campus contains the nine-acre Heritage Park, which has a B-29 and other mega-airships, plus rockets, missiles, cannons, and even a nuclear sub sail. There are also children's programs and an exhibit about X-ray technology.

With the landmark 1793 San Felipe de Neri Catholic Church still presiding along the north side, tranquil Old Town Plaza is a pleasant place to sit on wrought-iron benches under a canopy of shade trees. Roughly 200 shops, restaurants, cafés, galleries, and several cultural sights in placitas (small plazas) and lanes surround the plaza. During fiestas, Old Town comes alive with mariachi bands and dancing señoritas; at Christmas it is lit with luminarias (the votive candles in paper bag lanterns known as farolitos up in Santa Fe). Mostly dating back to the late 1800s, styles from Queen Anne to Territorial and Pueblo Revival, and even Mediterranean, are apparent in the one- and two-story (almost all adobe) structures.

Sandhill cranes make their winter home here or stop for a snack en route to the Bosque del Apache, just south in Socorro. Albuquerque is right in their flyway, and the Open Space Center provides a most hospitable setting for them. The outdoor viewing station opens onto the site’s expansive field, which faces out to the Sandia Mountains; the hush—aside from the occasional flock circling above (look for them from mid-October through February)—is restorative. Complementing the experience inside are changing art and photography exhibits, an interpretative display on the adjacent 14th- to 15th-century Piedras Marcadas Pueblo ruins, and well-informed guides. A native garden interspersed with mosaics and sculptures fills the patio at the center’s entryway; the latter theme is introduced when you make the turn-off from busy Coors Boulevard—Robert Wilson’s large-scale public art installation Flyway is at the northeast corner as you approach. Ongoing family activities, occasional live music, and educational and other special programming are on tap year-round; easy walking trails heading down to the shores of the Rio Grande start just beyond the entrance.

Vibrant with growers and maker wares, the sprawling Sunday market here (May from October, 10–2) is a fine excuse to explore this wondrous, light-filled, almost cathedral-like space, said to have been the largest steam locomotive repair facility in the country in its heyday. The early-20th-century Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe buildings here, built on the Atlantic & Pacific originals from the 1880s, put you at the center of how Downtown (or New Town, as it was then known)—and modern Albuquerque—came to be. The market occupies the 1917 Blacksmith Shop. Nearby, the railyard's 1914 Storehouse building now houses the growing Wheels Museum, which captures local rail history with model train equipment and lots more ( www.wheelsmuseum.org). A spectacularly massive 1944 AT&SF Steam Locomotive (No. 2926) is currently under restoration in the Sawmill neighborhood and may be visited during limited public hours; it may eventually find its home here as well ( www.2926.us).

Along the banks of the Rio Grande, this 270-acre refuge in an especially tranquil portion of the bosque (about midway up on the Paseo del Bosque trail) is the nation's largest cottonwood forest. There are numerous walking and biking trails that wind into the 53-acre Aldo Leopold Forest and down to the river. Bird-watchers come to view all manner of migratory waterfowl, but especially the sandhill cranes that swoop in in late fall. Constructed half above ground and half below the edge of a pond, the park's interpretive Rio Grande Nature Center—a distinctive Antoine Predock design—has viewing windows and speakers that broadcast the sounds of the birds you're watching; frogs, ducks, and turtles may be seen (and heard) as well. On the Center's grounds, a native plant garden offers a nice meander under the cottonwoods. Active programs are available for adults and children, and the center's Nature Shop has a small but good selection of plush critters, books, and more.

Well over two centuries after it first welcomed worshippers, this lovely adobe structure is still active (mass is offered daily). A National Register of Historic Places site erected in 1793 (to replace Albuquerque's first Catholic church, which was founded here in 1706), its Spanish Colonial base was charmingly modified with a touch of Gothic Revival (note the spires) in the mid-19th century. Its tan stucco and fresh white trim stand out at the north end of Old Town's plaza, and while it has been expanded several times, a surprising amount of its original adobe walls (some 5 feet thick) and other features remain. Small gardens front and flank the church; the inside is a respite from the tourism bustle beyond its doorstep—the painting and iconography are simple and authentic, the atmosphere hushed. Next to it is a shop and small museum that displays relics (vestments, paintings, carvings) dating from the 17th century. Call ahead to arrange a tour. There's a hidden treasure behind the church: inside the gnarled tree is a statue that some speculate depicts the Virgin Mary.

One of the world's longest aerial tramways, here tramway cars climb nearly three miles up the steep western face of the Sandias, giving you a dazzling close-up view (whatever the season) of the imposing rock formations and wind-blown wilderness. From the observation deck at the 10,378-foot summit, you can scan some 11,000 square miles of spectacular scenery, including desert, volcanos, mountains, and more. A graceful hawk or an eagle soaring above or mountain lions roaming the cliffs below may also be spotted. An exhibit room at the top surveys the area's wildlife; a few steps away is Ten 3, where fine dining and a casual eatery and lounge await (reservations required), or you can access the Sandia Peak ski area.

It's much colder and windier at the summit than at the tram's base, so pack a jacket. Tram cars leave from the base at regular intervals for the 15-minute ride to the top. Purchase tickets (all round-trip) up to 24 hours advance online (or in-person on the day of); the parking fee is included.

A former lumber-yard building located by the one-time AT&SF Railway line in the city’s old Sawmill district has been turned into a grand food hall that resonates with a sense of history and place. Some two dozen dining, shopping, and drinks vendors offer an eclectic range of high-quality (and, yes, higher priced) wares. A carefully honed selection of mostly independent enterprises, all embrace a definitively fresh and local ethos—some by way of Santa Fe, like Dr. Field Goods (an established spot with food-truck roots), and others talented transplants from afar (Flora and Flora Taco-to-Go). Whether poké, sushi, taters, or tapas, a lush dessert, or a savory cone, the same commitment to in-state growers, makers, and suppliers is apparent. Stroll around a bit and you can’t help but appreciate the original architectural details (just gaze up at the fabulously restored wooden ceiling). Paxton’s Taproom has a seasonal rotation of New Mexico--brewed beers, as well as a steady set of the state’s best craft beers on tap (wines lean local as well as international). The cool Mobile Bar is ready to serve out on their grassy patio, where any food bought inside may be enjoyed as well.

This museum features magnificent 20th- and 21st-century prints, as well as photos and paintings that rival the finest collections throughout the Southwest. Changing exhibits cull from more than 30,000 archived pieces, which include groundbreaking works by modernist giants such as Bridget Riley, Richard Diebenkorn, and Elaine de Kooning. Photography—from the likes of Ansel Adams, Patrick Nagatani, and Beaumont Newhall—is a particular strength, and provocative shows have featured immense prints, complemented with video projections and a range of mixed-media installations. Transcendentalist master Raymond Jonson's work, as well as other landmark acquisitions he made, are displayed. The museum's vision for the future is to allow yet more of their impressive holdings—a Picasso print, an O'Keeffe painting—to be seen regularly. Lectures and symposia, gallery talks, and guided tours are often scheduled.

Included in the largest collection of different species of living rattlers in the world are such rare and unusual specimens as an albino western diamondback and a melanistic (solid black) diamondback. From the outside the museum looks like just a plain old shop—aside from the friendly crew of tortoises who are usually there to greet you—but inside, the museum's exhibits, its engaging staff, and explanatory videos supply visitors with the lowdown on these venomous creatures. Did you know that they can't hear their own rattles and that the human death rate from rattlesnake bites is less than 1%? The mission here is to educate the public on the many positive benefits of rattlesnakes, and to contribute to their conservation.

This dramatic museum celebrates the city's legacy as the hot-air ballooning capital of the world. Albuquerque's high altitude, mild climate, and a fortuitous wind pattern known as the Albuquerque Box make it an ideal destination for ballooning. The fun, massive facility is named for Maxie Anderson and Ben Abruzzo, who pioneered ballooning here and were part of a team of three aviators who made the first manned hot-air balloon crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in 1978. Filling the airy museum space are several fully inflated historic balloons, and both large- and small-scale replicas of gas balloons and zeppelins. You'll also see vintage balloon baskets, china and flatware from the ill-fated Hindenburg and an engaging display on that tragic craft, and dynamic exhibits that trace the history of the sport, dating back to the first balloon ride, in 1783. Interactive stations are set up so kids can design their own balloons.

Perhaps the most stunning of Albuquerque's wineries, Casa Rondeña was designed to resemble a Tuscan villa, with its green-tile roof and verdant grounds laced with shade trees, fountains, and of course, vineyards. Though a true patina of age has yet to develop (the winery was founded in 1995 by vintner John Calvin), this is a most pleasant place for sipping. Respect for the centuries-old heritage of wine in the state is shown through their very drinkable "1629" red blend (made from Tempranillo, Syrah, and Cabernet grapes, it's a nod to the Spaniards who carried the first vines here in that year). A vintage oak fermentation sits in the great hall where tastings are conducted.

Gruet's Albuquerque location is a brick chalet-inspired building just off Interstate 25, which isn't the most picturesque setting. However, once inside the tasting room or nestled into the garden seating area during warm months, you'll settle in to taste some of the nation's most acclaimed producers of sparkling wines. There's even a selection of caviar pairings. Famous in France since the 1950s, the Gruet (pronounced grew-ay) family began production here in 1984 (some of its vineyards—all in-state—are as close as Santa Ana Pueblo, and may be viewed along the highways, just north of Bernalillo). And while it's changed hands since, it still earns kudos for its Methode Champenoise (which employs traditional Champagne-making methods), as well as for its Pinot noirs, rosés, and Chardonnays. If visiting Santa Fe, enjoy some bubbly in the cozy tasting room inside downtown Hotel St. Francis.

Dedicated to the 19 Pueblo tribes in New Mexico, the multilevel semicircular layout of this museum was inspired by Pueblo Bonito, an astounding prehistoric ruin in Chaco Canyon, in northwestern New Mexico. Start by visiting their permanent exhibit space We Are of This Place: The Pueblo Story, which interprets the Pueblo people's legacy through carried-down traditions and remarkable pieces from their renowned holdings of fine Native American pottery, textiles, baskets, and other masterworks. Changing exhibits may feature close-ups of a particular artist, such as the colorful and gorgeously composed copper-plate prints of Santa Clara Pueblo painter Helen Hardin. Mural tours celebrating 20 large-scale painted works by Pueblo artists on display here are offered on Wednesday and Friday at 11 am and 1 pm. Ceremonial dances are performed year-round on weekends; artisans (with their handcrafted wares available for purchase) are on site Tuesday through Sunday, and there are often arts-and-crafts demonstrations as well. The museum gift shop provides a fine overview of current Pueblo arts. The menu at its Indian Pueblo Kitchen restaurant, an appealing spot (complete with a shaded patio) for breakfast or lunch, is tastily influenced by Indigenous food traditions. Note that the museum lies a bit northeast of Old Town—a five-minute drive away in the Los Duranes neighborhood.

Tapping a significant collection of Southwestern artifacts and archival photos, the Maxwell's engaging shows encompass three fascinating fields: archaeology, cultural anthropology, and evolutionary anthropology. As the first public museum in Albuquerque (established in 1932), its influence has grown over the years, but its compact space ensures that exhibits are scaled to the essentials. A viewer—whether of a permanent exhibit on peoples of the Southwest or a temporary one—will be intrigued and informed, but not overwhelmed. Of special note is their rare and substantial collection of Mimbres pottery from AD 800–1000. The museum's gift shop has a fine selection of reliably vetted Native American crafts.

The wonders at Albuquerque's most popular museum include the only Triassic exhibit in North America. Among some of the dinosaur rarities on display that were discovered right in New Mexico is the relatively youthful "Bisti Beast," a Cretaceous-period tyrannosaur found in the Four Corners area. A simulated volcano (with a river of bubbling hot lava visible through its glass floor) complements the geologic displays. Outer space gets its due here as well—changing exhibits have focused on Mars and the Perseverance lander—and the museum's planetarium is a state-of-the-art destination for dazzling constellation and other distant-space viewings, as well as the wildly popular First Friday Fractals show ($10; tickets available online only). The DynaTheater presents 3-D screenings on some stunning sea creatures and more.

Beneath the stumps of five extinct volcanoes, this park encompasses more than 25,000 ancient Native American rock drawings inscribed on the 17-mile-long West Mesa escarpment overlooking the Rio Grande Valley. For centuries, Native American hunting parties camped at the base, chipping and scribbling away. Archaeologists believe most of the petroglyphs were carved on the lava formations between 1100 and 1600, but some images at the park may date back as far as 1000 BC. Accessible in three separate (and mostly shade-free---bring water and a hat!) sections, each is a short drive from the helpful Visitor Center, where rangers will supply maps and help you determine which trail is best for the time you have. The somewhat sandy but packed flat 1½-mile (round-trip) Piedras Marcadas Canyon trail has readily visible petroglyphs all along its length; at 2.2 miles, the unpaved trail at Rinconada Canyon reveals its large concentration of petroglyphs about halfway in; and, closest to the Visitor Center is the Boca Negra Canyon loop trail, with three paved spurs that each take you up close to distinctive clusters of petroglyphs as well.

Wondering about that vibrant mosaic mural encircling the Convention Center? The towering aluminum totem at the Old Town entrance to I-40? Or the bedazzled Throne of Nyoka at the BioPark Zoo? Albuquerque's Public Art program, started in 1978, is one of the oldest in the country, and Downtown—and the rest of the city—is strewn with its wonders. Download a growing stock of self-guided brochures and apps for locating the 650-piece collection.

Sourcing his grapes from vineyards throughout the state, South Valley vintner Sean Sheehan welcomes serious local fans and visitors from afar to his Old Town tasting room—an inviting destination for those seeking the best in “old vine” wines in a convivial but intimate space. Lighter, brighter, and spicier components bring a special experience to tastings of the award-winning and notable favorites like a Cinsault Dry Rose and Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Reserve or the Riesling-based Cielo Dulce. A popular presence at festivals throughout the year, Sheehan Winery tastings here in Old Town might feature cheese board and charcuterie pairings (or you may bring your own), or simply focus on a delicious seasonal rotation of the finest reds and whites.

This world-famous institution played a major role in reviving the fine art of lithographic printing, which involves working with plates of traditional stone and modern metal. Tamarind certification is to a printer what a degree from Juilliard is to a musician. A small gallery within the modern facility exhibits prints and lithographs by well-known masters like Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Jim Dine, Judy Chicago, Kiki Smith, and Ed Ruscha, as well as up-and-comers in the craft. Guided tours (reservations essential) are conducted the first Friday of every quarter at 1:30.

Partial to wines and spirits that share a distinctive Spanish heritage, Vara announces itself rather subtly, with just a discreet sign at its main road turn-off. But stunning views along with its tap room, shop, and distillery await. Head inside or enjoy the shaded patio seating while a tasting flight of its award-winning sparkling Silverhead Brut (cava or rosado), whites (a delicious Albariño), vino tintos like their Tempranillo, or spirits like their High Desert Gin or Paso Uno Brandy, make their way to you. A full tapas menu (and sometimes paella) is available during evening dining hours; charcuterie boards are on tap for tasting flights. The new Vara tasting room in downtown Santa Fe also features wines, spirits, cocktails, and appetizers. 

This imaginatively executed science museum—its driving concept is "Ideas You Can Touch"—is right across from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. ¡Explora! bills itself as an all-ages attraction (and enthralled adults abound), but there's no question that many of the innovative hands-on exhibits such as a high-wire bicycle and a kinetic sculpture display are geared to children. They offer big fun in addition to big science (and a good dose of art as well). While its colorful Bucky dome is immediately noticeable from the street, ¡Explora! also features a playground, theater, and a freestanding staircase that appears to "float" between floors.