Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

What: The largest bal­loon fes­ti­val in the world, the Albu­querque Inter­na­tion­al Bal­loon Fies­ta see’s more than a mil­lion peo­ple come and watch 600 hot air bal­loons ascend into the ear­ly morn­ing crisp autumn New Mex­i­co sky­line, against the back drop of the Rio Grande.

Last­ing nine days, the fes­ti­val also fea­tures local music artists and demon­stra­tions of cul­tur­al top­ics of New Mex­i­co – includ­ing the ever pop­u­lar chain­saw demon­stra­tion – and each night is con­clud­ed with both a fire­work dis­play and an ‘evening bal­loon glow’ in which each of the ground­ed 600 hot air bal­loons lit their burn­ers – cre­ate a twi­light glow across the fields of New Mex­i­co, which com­bined with the main event of the morn­ing mass ascen­sion of hit air bal­loons makes the Albu­querque Inter­na­tion­al Bal­loon Fies­ta a spec­tac­u­lar site and a fes­ti­val not to be missed.

When: The Albu­querque Inter­na­tion­al Bal­loon Fies­ta takes place for 9 days begin­ning on the first week­end of Octo­ber.

Where: The fes­ti­val takes place in the “Hot Air Bal­loon Cap­i­tal of the World” in in Albu­querque, New Mexico’s Bal­loon Fies­ta Park.

Dura­tion: The fes­ti­val lasts for nine days, with the must see mass ascen­sion tak­ing place on week­ends only offi­cial­ly begin­ning at 6:00am – although it’s encour­aged to arrive at 5am if not trav­el­ling by Car or at 4am if trav­el­ling by Car owing to the mass dash for lim­it­ed park­ing spaces across mil­lions of peo­ple – with the evening glow begin­ning at dusk at 6pm and the fire­work finale kick­ing off at 8pm each week­end evening.

While there are var­i­ous activ­i­ties through­out the day, it’s rec­om­mend­ed to attend at a week­end to wit­ness the mass ascen­sion and evening glow. A full list of the sched­ule of events is avail­able at: [https://balloonfiesta.com/Event-Schedule]

Tick­ets: Tick­ets for the Albu­querque Inter­na­tion­al Bal­loon Fies­ta can be eas­i­ly pur­chased either online at [ https://balloonfiesta.com/Purchase-Tickets] with tick­ets to the Bal­loon Fies­ta cost­ing $10 a piece for Adults of $22 includ­ing park and ride or a bun­dle of five gen­er­al admis­sion tick­ets for $45.

While tick­ets can be pur­chased on the day it’s high­ly rec­om­mend­ed to buy in advance to avoid dis­ap­point­ment and to save mon­ey.

Need to Know: As the fes­ti­val takes place in the ear­ly morn­ing of New Mexico’s Autumn, it’s high­ly rec­om­mend­ed despite the mul­ti­ple burn­ers in the Air Bal­loons to dress in lay­ers and giv­en the ear­ly start time to bring your own break­fast with you to the event.

Addi­tion­al­ly if mak­ing your own way to the New Mex­i­co Bal­loon Fies­ta Park to wit­ness the mass ascen­sion and trav­el­ling by Car – it’s rec­om­mend­ed to arrive at least a few hours in advance owing to the lim­it­ed park­ing spaces and com­pe­ti­tion for park­ing spaces.

More Infor­ma­tion: For the sched­ule, park­ing infor­ma­tion and to pur­chase tick­ets vis­it the offi­cial Albu­querque Inter­na­tion­al Bal­loon Fies­ta at [https://balloonfiesta.com]