Whether you’ve done it a million times or keep thinking you’ll get to it, these places to explore, and these events to attend, are what make our state so great.

Year Round Things to Do… and weather independent

• Abq Biopark – roar
• Explora – food for your brain
• Golf / Ski – in the same day!
• Indian Pueblo Cultural Center – Native American culture
• Pueblo Feast Days – Native American culture on location
• La Luz Trail – bring some water (and maybe some ibuprofen)
• Meow Wolf – what!?!
• Old Town – historic
• Open Space – over 29,000 acres of it
• Petroglyph National Monument – humans did this?
• Sandia Peak Tramway – take time to get away, 10,679 ft above sea level
• Tent Rocks – old awe, like 6 to 7 million years old awe
• Youth Connect – citywide activities for your kiddos of all ages

And since Fall is the time of year that is just chalk filled with events, we’ll begin there…

Fall Time

• Pie Town Festival – pie
• New Mexico State Fair – try the zipline?
• South Valley Chile Fiesta – it’s what New Mexicans are made of
• Globalquerque – vibes
• UNM Red Rally – go, fight, win
• Corrales Harvest Festival – get out of the city and enjoy some village charm
• Balloon Fiesta – a parade in the air, for 9 days
• Greek Festival – opha!
• Dragon Lights Festival – no puffin’ around, it’s illuminating
• Corn Maze – an outdoor escape room experience
• Trinity Test Site Tour (October) – atomic
• Duke City Marathon – it’s high altitude running
• Rio Grande Arts and Crafts Festival – need a Christmas gift?
• Gem & Mineral Show – shiney
• Marigold Dia de los Muertos Parade – remember the dead
• Festival of the Cranes – soar
• UNM’s Hanging of the Greens – free cookies & luminarias
• Twinkle Light Parade – twinkle, twinkle, little car,…
• Winter Spanish Market – artwork by New Mexico artists
• Winter Indian Market – artwork by Native American artists

Winter Time

• Gildan New Mexico Bowl – bowl trophy made by Zia Pueblo artists
• Mistletoe Walk Nob Hill – love during the holidays
• Luminaria Tour – sold out? head to Ridgecrest
• Skiing – got snow?
• New Mexico State Legislature – really, go visit the Round House in session

Spring – or otherwise known as Spring Winds

• Fiery Food Show – go on, try that ghost pepper
• Southwest Chocolate & Coffee Festival – chocolate, good, coffee, good
• Great New Mexico Food Truck & Craft Beer Festival – a festival with the bites & the brews
• New Mexico International Auto Show – take a ride with a test drive
• Pilgrimage to Santuario de Chimayó – historic, sacred
• Gathering of Nations – “powwow fever”
• Trinity Test Site Tour (April) – more atomic
• Girls Night Out – get a sitter, it’s your night
• Indian Arts Festival – native treasures

Summer Time

• ABQ Pride Parade – hours of dedicated color and floats
• Summerfest – 6 hrs of things to do, in one day
• Pork & Brew – ’nuff said
• Festival Flamenco Albuquerque – cante, baile, toque
• Balloon Fiesta Freedom 4th – lounge, listen, with local libations  
• Roswell UFO Festival – another world event
• Lavender Festival – intoxicate your senses, the natural way
• Santa Fe International Folk Art Market – traditionally crafted treasures, folk style
• Tax Free Weekend – don’t forget slippers!
• Santa Fe Indian Market – largest juried Native arts show, no pressure
• Traditional Spanish Market – art, over 400 years in the making
• National Night Out – it’s like NextDoor, only in person
• Zozobra – a group of torch-bearing locals burn a 50ft marionette to save the town from gloom and despair, for real