You can probably imagine the Albuquerque airport isn’t very large. If you aren’t checking any luggage, you can be off the plane, out the door, and on a shuttle to pick up your rental car in about 15 minutes.
Old Town is the city’s most popular spot to explore, especially if you want to see artifacts many of which come from Mexico.
We only spent a few hours in Albuquerque before continuing our trip to Santa Fe for a one-night stay. Santa Fe gave me a warm, welcoming vibe that was impossible to ignore. They don’t call it the “Land of Enchantment” for nothing!
WHAT TO SEE
Take a leisurely stroll through Old Town and be sure to pop into the offbeat shop, Guerilla Graphix. It’s a fantastic place to score unique souvenirs, knickknacks, and even some quirky items that call to mind your favorite scenes from Breaking Bad.
New Mexico’s architecture is truly impressive. The Pueblo Revival style uses adobe (sun-dried mudbrick), and the buildings are often painted in natural, earthy hues. Whenever we travel, we love to check out historical churches. We made our way to San Felipe de Neri Parish, Albuquerque’s oldest church. The original building actually collapsed after heavy rainfall in 1792, and the structure you see today was built the following year.
WHERE TO EAT
We heard from a local about a new hot spot called Restaurant Row, but we chose to stick with some of Albuquerque’s classic favorites and visited The Frontier for old-fashioned Mexican fare. This place opened back in 1971, and it seems like the owners want to maintain that vintage feel. Everything is well looked after, and the restrooms were nice and clean my mom always said the condition of a restaurant’s restroom is a good indicator of how they run the kitchen. The Frontier is a laid-back spot: you order at the counter, wait for your number to be called, and pick up your food. It’s a large restaurant, the meals are inexpensive, and it was packed when we went. Even so, grabbing our food to go only took about 15 minutes.
BREAKING BAD DETOUR
Our next highlight was a bit out there: many Breaking Bad fans drive by the house featured in the show. An older couple lives there now and deals with countless cars stopping for photos every day. They’ve put up an iron fence and a sign instructing visitors to take pictures from the other side of the street. When we arrived, the couple was sitting outside, watching us and the others who had parked their cars for a glimpse. They were clearly irritated, but we snapped our photos quickly and moved on.
I’m sure Albuquerque has more to offer, but we wrapped it up and made our way toward Santa Fe.
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