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Albuquerque offers many historic and interesting places to visit, including Petroglyph National Monument, Sandia Lakes Recreational Area, Turquoise Trail, Rio Grande Zoo, American International Rattlesnake Museum, and New Mexico Museum of National History and Science. The historic downtown is Spanish with shops and restaurants. The museum has a prehistoric focus, while the Rattlesnake Museum has the largest rattlesnake collection. The Rio Grande Zoo has over 1200 animals, and Sandia Lakes is known for hiking and bird watching. Petroglyph National Monument preserves nearly 20,000 ancient rock carvings.
Albuquerque has many historic and interesting places to explore. You probably won’t run out of fun things to see and do here! Petroglyph National Monument Sandia Lakes Recreational Area and Turquoise Trail, Rio Grande Zoo, American International Rattlesnake Museum, New Mexico Museum of National History and Science, and Historic Old Town offer many excellent Albuquerque activities for both visitors and residents.
The historic downtown is important to Albuquerque’s heritage, as the first Spanish families began living here in 1706. The village is traditionally Spanish with a plaza in the center of town and churches, homes, and other buildings around it. Some of the original houses have been converted into retail shops and you can find beautiful handcrafted items such as turquoise jewellery. There is a western general store and popular restaurants. The historic center is a fun place to spend an afternoon, and there’s plenty to do here.
The New Mexico Museum of National History and Science is located in historic downtown Albuquerque and is easily recognized by the large Pentaceratops dinosaur sculptures at the museum’s exterior entrance. The Pentaceratops dinosaur is native only to New Mexico. The museum’s prehistoric focus includes an Ice Age cave exhibit and a volcano exhibit, as well as a planetarium that houses the LodeStar Astronomy Center.
The American International Rattlesnake Museum is located inside a gift boutique in historic downtown Albuquerque. The Museum has the largest rattlesnake collection in the world and features over 100 live rattlesnakes safely behind glass. You can buy rattlesnake themed gifts in the shop.
The Rio Grande Zoo is located near historic downtown Albuquerque and the Rio Grande River. The zoo has more than 1200 animals of around 300 species including seals, giraffes, elephants, gorillas and jaguars. The habitats are natural and feature native and global species. The Rio Grande Zoo also has a children’s zoo.
Sandia Lakes Recreation Area is known for hiking, bird watching, fishing and picnicking. It sits right next to the Rio Grande River with its old poplar trees. The Turquoise Trail leads to the top of the Sandia Mountains and offers breathtaking views of central New Mexico. The Turquoise Trail Scenic Byway is a byway that runs between Albuquerque and Santa Fe and the area is known for its deposits of turquoise. It traces the path taken by the Spanish conquistadors and Native Americans and includes villages and rock formations in the scenery.
Petroglyph National Monument was created in 1990 as a collaboration between the City of Albuquerque Open Space Division and the National Park Service to preserve the nearly 20,000 petroglyphs in the area. Petroglyphs, which are ancient carvings in rock, include interesting designs such as animals, people, and abstract symbols. The Monument area is usually open year-round and features trails that lead to petroglyphs and five extinct volcanoes.
