We decided to do a roadtrip to Alburqueue. There are two sessions daily at the Balloon Fiesta, which are divided into morning events and evening events. There are no ballooning activities between the morning and evening sessions. Most of the things I read recommended to go to the Fiesta for at least 3 days to make sure you’re able to see at least one morning event and one evening event. Hot air balloons are highly weather dependent and will not go up if conditions related to the wind, clouds, rain, or visibility are not right. (The weekend before we went, flights were canceled due to fog.) I downloaded the Balloon Fiesta app which sent updates on the flight schedule based on the weather. Because the weather can be unpredictable, you may have to be flexible with your schedule.
We were lucky that we were able to see both our planned morning session and afternoon session and nothing was canceled. We had room in our schedule to make other sessions if we had to change plans.
RESERVATIONS
When we first decided we wanted to go to the Balloon Fiesta, we wanted to cut costs by camping. When I looked up campgrounds in Albuquerque and the surrounding areas, everything was booked — in July! Since camping was out, we turned to AirBnB. While their were still options, the website said that 70% of the accommodations in Albuquerque were already booked and we could tell they had been picked through. We ended up booking a private room (which was actually two rooms) for the 3 of us going and it turned out to be a really sweet spot! The hosts could not have been more accommodating and we ended up loving our choice. I picked it because it was close to the Coronado Center where we would be taking the bus to the park. We also booked a studio apartment for Santa Fe and were very happy with it.
General Parking vs Park & Ride
If you’re not close enough to walk or ride your bike to the park or your hotel doesn’t have a shuttle to the park, you have two choices — general parking or Park & Ride. General Parking is where you park your car outside of the park and it costs $15 per session you attend. Parking spots are limited and lots can fill up around 7am on the weekends. Park & Ride tickets are $15 per person which includes your general admission ticket. There are 4 locations to park your car across Albuquerque and you are taken in buses to and from Fiesta Park. Park & Ride is only available at the end of the week (Thursday-Sunday) because that’s when a majority of the crowds come. Since we were going on the last weekend of the Fiesta, we opted for the Park & Ride tickets from the Coronado Center. I purchased those before we left. We were able to get straight on the buses for the evening session on Friday, but we had to wait in a fairly long line to get on the buses the next morning and to get back on the buses from the park. If you want the flexibility of a car (if you have kids or a lot of stuff), I would recommend using general parking. If you prefer to not mess with the headache of driving in traffic and finding a parking spot (and don’t mind waiting in a line), Park & Ride is a great option. We bought our tickets a few months out, but I think you could probably buy them the week before and be fine.
