Albuquerque is a cosmopolitan, large metropolis located in the heart of New Mexico. It is by far the state’s biggest city, serving as the state’s media, educational, and economic hub, as well as the location of the state’s sole international airport, the Albuquerque International Sunport. Albuquerque, despite this, is often eclipsed as a tourist destination by Santa Fe, 60 miles (97 kilometers) to the north.
However, any vacation to New Mexico would be completed without seeing Albuquerque, the state’s sole major city, which has lovely landscape, a vibrant history, and a plethora of outstanding attractions in and of itself. Here, in a location made famous by the television series Breaking Bad, you’ll discover several outstanding museums, vibrant neon signs along historic Route 66, the wild beauty of the Rio Grande and the Sandia Mountains, and a fantastic autumn hot-air balloon festival.
Albuquerque is located in the high desert [35.11N 106.64W (Elevation 4989 ft/1521 m)] and has a mild, arid climate with four distinct seasons. Spring is bright and breezy, however nighttime temperatures may be unseasonably chilly. Summers are hot (average highs of 90–95°F/34°C, with temperatures as high as 100°F/38°C not uncommon), but monsoonal conditions arise in July or August, producing violent though brief thunderstorms. Keep rainwear on hand throughout the summer, even though you won’t need it on most days.
Autumn is a pleasant season, with pleasant temperatures and a return to typically dry circumstances. Winters may be breezy, with nightly lows around freezing, although temperatures below zero are uncommon. One winter weather difficulty for travelers: although snow is uncommon and brief, it does occur, and its relative rarity means that local drivers are unprepared to cope with it. If you chance to be in town during a snowfall, prepare for traffic havoc proportionate to the quantity of snow falling.
Albuquerque has a total area of 189.5 square miles (490.9 km2), of which 187.7 square miles (486.2 km2) is land and 1.8 square miles (4.7 km2) is water, or 0.96 percent.
Albuquerque is located near the northern, upper boundary of the Chihuahuan Desert ecoregion, as determined by long-term climatic trends, plant and fauna relationships, and landforms, including drainage patterns. Located in central New Mexico, the city is additionally influenced by the surrounding Colorado Plateau semi-desert, Arizona–New Mexico Mountains, and Southwest plateaus and plains steppe ecoregions. Albuquerque’s primary geographic link is to southern New Mexico, but culturally, it is a crossroads for the majority of New Mexico.
Albuquerque is the highest large city in the United States, albeit the impacts are substantially mitigated by its southwesterly continental location. The city’s elevation varies from 4,900 feet (1,490 meters) above sea level near the Rio Grande (in the Valley) to nearly 6,700 feet (1,950 meters) in the Sandia Heights and Glenwood Hills foothill districts. The airport is located at a height of 5,352 feet (1,631 m) above sea level.
The Rio Grande, like the Nile, is categorized as a “exotic” river due to its course through a desert. The Rio Grande Rift Valley in New Mexico is bounded by a labyrinth of faults, including those that raised the surrounding Sandia and Manzano Mountains while reducing the region through which the life-sustaining Rio Grande presently flows.
Albuquerque is located in the heart of the New Mexico Technology Corridor, a stretch of the Rio Grande that is densely packed with high-tech business firms and government institutions. Numerous larger organizations employ thousands of people, including Sandia National Laboratories, Kirtland Air Force Base, and the associated contracting industries that bring highly educated professionals to a somewhat secluded location. Intel runs a sizable semiconductor plant, or “fab,” in suburban Rio Rancho, Sandoval County, with the associated huge capital expenditure. Northrop Grumman is situated in northeast Albuquerque along I-25, while Tempur-Pedic sits on the West Mesa next to I-40.
Steve Baer, a pioneer in solar energy and architectural design, established his company, Zomeworks, in the late 1960s; and Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory collaborate here in an enterprise that dates all the way back to the Manhattan Project. Tempur-Pedic established an 800,000-square-foot (74,000-square-meter) mattress manufacturing in northwest Albuquerque in January 2007. In January 2008, SCHOTT Solar, Inc. announced the opening of a 200,000-square-foot (19,000-square-meter) factory to manufacture receivers for concentrated solar thermal power plants (CSP) and 64MW of photovoltaic (PV) modules. The plant ceased operations in 2012.
Albuquerque was ranked the greatest city in America for business and professions by Forbes magazine in 2006 and the 13th best (out of 200 metro areas) in 2008. Forbes magazine ranked the city sixth among America’s Engineering Capitals in 2014. Albuquerque was listed among the Top 10 Greatest Cities to Live in 2009 by US News & World Report and was named the fourth best family-friendly city by the TLC network. National Geographic Adventure magazine named it one of the Top Best Cities for Jobs in 2007 and one of the Top 50 Best Places to Live and Play in 2008.
The city’s area code is 505.
Each branch of the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library System has free wifi; they also have laptops accessible for a $3 fee. Downtown, at 501 Copper NW, +1 505 768-5141, is the 2 Main Library. Additionally, the city provides a number of free Wi-Fi hotspots, mostly near Civic Plaza in Downtown, the Sunport, and the Old Town Plaza. Additionally, connecting to the UNM campus’s visitor wifi is free. While the city does not have a large number of wifi cafés, there is a significant concentration in the UNM/Nob Hill region. Customers may use free wifi internet at the nearby Flying Star Cafe and Satellite Coffee outlets.
