I’m an adventurer at heart.  And when you have friends in cool places, you go!  I’d love to share how to see the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta with kids aaaaannnnd not so much stress!

The best way to see the balloons in Albuquerque!

 

Living a life that allows you to have a change of scene every once in a while is a life we’ve had to create.  It doesn’t come easy and it doesn’t come natural. But it does beCOME an addiction.

 

Once we had kids that didn’t really change.  Some may say, traveling with kids is too hard.  We say, traveling with kids is different. We’ve learned that travel with a family is like most things, the more you do it the easier it gets (and the more you learn).

 

So, the first few times, your tendency to stress and get overwhelmed may be high but it also helps a ton to go into the situation with the correct expectations…and a little research.

 

Make sure you grab my travel guide I created just for young families to help set the stage for success.

 

Now, onto our tips and tricks for how to see the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta with kids!

 

The Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM could have the sound of stress if you add onto the end WITH KIDS!  But we for sure found the simplest, and most fun ways to see the balloons without going too crazy.

 

Where we stayed:

We technically stayed with friends but the area of town we were in was great!  It was near the Sandia Tram, lots of yummy food and easy access to the Balloon Museum and lots more!  It was North East Albuquerque near i25 and Paseo Del Norte!

Where we ate:

The best spots we found were:

Church Street Cafe in Old town

Flying Star Cafe for breakfast (but get their EARLY, it’s super tasty and popular!)

 

The best way to see the balloon fiesta with kids:

We paid a little extra and went VIP through the Balloon Fiesta Museum.  This was worth every penny and not as expensive as I thought it would be.  We had breakfast and balloons plus a little (actually a lot) of hot cocoa!

 

Extra Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta tips: 

The reason this happens in October is because the weather is amazing.  But also a good idea to dress in layers and get there eeeeeearly! Like before the sun comes up early.  Pack a light breakfast to go, stick the kids in their seats and get ready for traffic!

We were up at 3:45 AM and still hit traffic but it was not terrible.  Also remember it can get COLD and it can get colder as the day goes on so layer up!

We enjoyed taking the kids to the Albuquerque Zoo too!  It was easy and so much fun!

We tried to go up the Sandia Peak Tramway but it was a 2 hour wait when we arrived right as it opened.  Soooo we went on a short hike nearby instead.  The guy at the ticket counter said to get there closer to 8:00 AM to avoid so much wait time.

Believe it or not this was the view from our backyard!  The balloons can be seen from just about anywhere!