Anyone Going to New Mexico for the Balloon Fest?

[Tankinbarber]

Going to plan a trip to Albuquerque for the Balloon Festival. Anyone interested in flying out and linking up?

[Tankinbarber]

sorry should mention the dates are Oct 1-9

[smwash02]

I flew in last year and it was a good time. I stayed for 3-4 days and felt I'd seen enough. I flew in to KAEG and rented a car.

Not sure if I'll make it this year, but will post back if I do. The town 'filled up' so to speak in terms of transportation and lodging pretty quickly. I took the shuttles into the event and am very glad I did. It's a madhouse.

[Tankinbarber]

2 minutes ago, smwash02 said:

I flew in last year and it was a good time. I stayed for 3-4 days and felt I'd seen enough. I flew in to KAEG and rented a car.

Not sure if I'll make it this year, but will post back if I do. The town 'filled up' so to speak in terms of transportation and lodging pretty quickly. I took the shuttles into the event and am very glad I did. It's a madhouse.

Do you think there would be a need to rent a car then? Also where did you stay? I have never been and would like any insight to plan the trip.

[smwash02]

If you're going for 8 days, unless you're really really into hot air balloons you will tire of the scene and want to explore surrounding areas. In this case, I would advise a car.

The Balloon fest fun starts at the break of dawn and last about 2 hours. After that all that's really left are a few stands with Balloon history and people selling stuff. It's truly a sight to behold watching it go down (up?).

I just checked on my itinerary -- I was there for 3 days (more like 2 when you count travel time). I grabbed an AirBnB "Downtown". Looking back on my trip, I would've probably looked for a place that was within walking distance of a shuttle pick up and used uber for getting around and probably flown into ABQ. I forget what the fees were. I ran the numbers since the transit time is negligible and AEG was a cheaper when I booked it.

There are some cool museums, cultural areas, a zoo, and nature areas that I didn't get to fully explore on my trip that you would have time for. It really depends what you're into. I enjoy all of those things, but I could've seen everything I wanted to in under 4-5 days had I planned better. I was also solo since my friend and his wife who were planning on joining ran into engine issues in Roswell and couldn't make it out.

 

 

[Mcstealth]

It is one of those events that is; "cool, glad I did that"

It is for sure something you don't see everyday, and the early morning mass lift off is impressive. The nigh time light up the sky is also impressive. Eight days, no. Two and a half days, sure.

I drove in, yes it was a long line.

Have a good time.