Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

For over five decades Albuquerque, New Mexico has been the host of the Balloon Fiesta which has grown to a 9-day international event and the largest hot air balloon event on earth. The annual Fiesta takes place at Balloon Fiesta Park, a 365-acre facility with a 78 acre launch field where over 500 balloons take center stage. I guess you could consider this the Superbowl or World Cup of ballooning.

We’ve had this on our list for many years, it just hadn’t been in the cards until the 2024 Fiesta which worked in perfectly with our travel plans. We met some good friends at the Fiesta for the last weekend of the event. They stayed at an area hotel while we got very fortunate and scored tickets in the President’s Compound RV Park. These tickets (actually any in the park) are hard to come by and you must be online when they come available in January for the upcoming event which takes place annually during the first week of October.

What’s great about the President’s Compound is that you are up on a hill adjacent to the launch field and have the best vantage point to see all of the activities without actually being in the crowd. Most days there are two “sessions” per day, one starting early in the morning and one in the evening. The morning session kicks off at 5:45 am with an incredible drone light show. Following this is a small liftoff by the Dawn Patrol at 6:00 am. The Dawn Patrol lifts off in the dark to check the wind conditions. Then at 7:00 am, with the sun coming up, the Mass Ascension takes place where up to 500 balloons launch into the morning sky.

There’s a weather phenomenon in this area called the “Albuquerque box” which lends itself to the balloon event. When the box winds are present, as the balloons take off, they will move to the south. As they gain altitude the wind currents change and they will turn and move to the north. This creates a sea of balloons in the sky all moving in different directions and altitudes. Simply magnificent!

The evening sessions kick off at 5:00 pm with impressive skydivers dropping down onto the launch field. As the sky begins to darken the night balloon glow starts at 6:30pm. Imagine hundreds of balloons inflated and glowing all together in this field. You would think that was magnificent enough to end the evening on but not quite yet. Next is night-time skydiving, followed by another (different) drone light show and then at 8:00 pm a pretty impressive fireworks show. Now that’s a full day!

During the middle of the day between the sessions it gets pretty quiet around the park and this is a good time to relax by the campsite or check out some of the other activities around Albuquerque. However, there are other popular activities such as chainsaw carving and a concert on the last Saturday along with many vendors at the Fiesta.

Although the private vantage point of the President’s Compound is the best seat in the house, it still is a great experience to get down on the field where you can walk right through all the balloons and be in the center of the action during the glows or Ascensions. Our friends took a balloon ride with one of the sanctioned tour companies at the festival and it was fun being part of that with them on the ground.

Just past the far end of the park is the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum, a museum dedicated to the worldwide history, science, and art of all types of ballooning and lighter-than-air flight. This was highly recommended to us by many people and we have to agree it was well worth the time to visit. Since it’s not actually part of the Fiesta, there is a small fee to enter the museum.

It was an amazing, well overdue experience and we were glad to share it with our friends who we have been planning this with for years. The President’s Compound made it even more enjoyable and eliminated the crowds and typical traffic challenges of getting in and out of the park. I think our biggest challenge was keeping the beer iced down. Solution: drink faster!

Be sure to check out all of our amazing pictures from the Balloon Fiesta.