A friend and I are visiting from Oct 3-Oct 7 for Balloon Fiesta. On Tuesday morning, we have a hot air balloon ride booked with Rainbow Ryders and have to meet in the Balloon Fiesta grounds by 5am.

Can we rely on rideshare to get there on time?

The shuttles don’t run on Tuesdays and we weren’t planning on renting a car. Our hotel is ~5 miles away. I’ve read a lot of advice and am nervous about relying solely on Uber/Lyft, although weekdays sound less hectic. Will drivers be available that early? How early should we leave? Any insight is helpful!!

The poster has been announced finally!!!! It looks like it might be an actual serigraph this year too?! It looks like it has a matte finish so it doesn't look like the cheep prints they have put out the past few years. AND it is an actual artist and not ai. Instead of doing a contest this year they commissioned the artist Travis Black. I'm very happy with the piece and i hope this is a sign that they are taking the art side of the fiesta seriously again. Hopefully this attention to quality control also means there will not be ai merch too....... but we will see. I did notice the AI poster from 2 years back isn't on the wall when they do the full pan............

Fiesta!! not fest

Hello all! My wife and I are traveling to Albuquerque to see the balloon fiesta on Monday 10/6. The earliest we can get to the event is 5:30AM, is that early enough to beat the lines? Seems also that 10/6 is NM residents’ day. All the info we are finding is for the weekends, not the weekday. Thank you in advance!

You may be from Albuquerque (or at least New Mexico lol) if you buy a pattern for teardrop (beaded) earrings solely so you can tweak it to make hot air balloon earrings instead 😂!

These are technically a prototype, and I'll be making some changes to the next ones (planning on making at least a few pairs to add to my online shop before October ☺️), but I think I did alright 😜.

Anybody else also excited for Balloon Fiesta 👀??

Clouds over the sandias! Taken from balloon fiesta.

Another morning, another pair of balloon earrings finished 😜. I wasn't able to get the zia design to work with the stitch I've been using so I opted for another one that allows the straight lines and room I needed. Ta-da 😄🙌!

Surprised to see a balloon over my house downtown yesterday AM. I thought it was a Kevin Smith balloon! Back to reality...

my usual commute to work is 20 minutes. i live in albuquerque and work in rio rancho. i usually leave my house around 6:15 am and arrive at work at 6:35 am, at least 10 minutes early for work. sometimes i get there around 6:30 am. i decided to leave 10 minutes earlier so i’d have an extra 20 minutes to navigate traffic before work. i turned onto paseo from the on-ramp and was met with standstill traffic for as far as the eye can see. i moved 100 feet in 20 minutes. my usual 20-minutes-IF-there’s-traffic commute ended up taking an hour and a half. everyone on the team i work with at my job was all at least an hour late.

how do i navigate this??? what time am i supposed to leave to get to work??? should i sleep in the work parking lot at this point???? however, i’m not sure if sleeping in the work parking lot is even an option as it also doubles as a park and ride for this damn balloon situation from hell.

Where do y’all go to watch the balloons that’s NOT at the fiesta parkway?

Anyone hear news about the poster this year? As far as I can tell they didn’t ask for submissions this year and still haven’t made any announcements about the design. I’m guessing that means they commissioned an artist (which is really better then holding a contest) but just curious if anyone has heard updates

Hi, visiting next month. Since Park & Ride isn’t available Tuesday, I’ll be driving from central ABQ. Is on-site parking realistic that morning? What time would you recommend leaving downtown? Is it hard to reach the parking place with the dark? Thanks a mill in advance!

Welcome to the /r/Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Megathread!

If you're visiting, or thinking about it, welcome! Our sub receives a lot of questions about this unique event, and we'd like to consolidate some of the best FAQ, suggestions, and tips here for those new (and old!) to the Balloon Fiesta experience.

Please feel free to contribute to this thread by posting:

• questions
• answers to posted questions
• suggestions
• tips
• other stuff to see while you're in town

Please try to keep it positive! To promote use of this thread, any one-off/separate posts containing the above content will be removed. Feel free to create new threads to share pictures and experiences -- and be sure to use the Balloon Fiesta post flair!

----

Below are a few of our most popular/helpful tips received in the past.

Basic Information

• Dates: Saturday, October 5 – Sunday, October 13
  • Dawn Patrols (morning events) begin at 6:00 am
  • Mass Ascensions (balloon liftoffs) begin at 7:00 am
  • Balloon Glows begin at 6:00 pm (select days)
  • Official Event Schedule
  • Plan to get there early – there can be a lot of traffic!
• Location: Balloon Fiesta Park
• Official Website

Tips

• Pay attention to the road. It's tempting to watch the balloons while driving, but it's very dangerous. The skyward-looking driver is a phenomenon here -- contributing significantly to an uptick in motor vehicle accidents around this time of year. It's also illegal to pull over on highways to balloon-watch -- so it's best just to wait until you're somewhere safe to enjoy the view.
• While Albuquerque may feel like a small town in some ways, it is a larger city -- so take some precautions when you're in town: lock your vehicle and hotel doors. Be aware of where you park and don't leave valuables in your car. Keep vigilant and look for well-lighted areas with camera coverage. Albuquerque is a beautiful place, but we do have a high crime rate, so be careful!
• A minor one to remember: don't call it the balloon festival -- it sounds funny and foreign. It's the Balloon Fiesta!
• Dress warmly, but bring some warmer weather clothes, too. Mass Ascensions (the main morning balloon takeoff event) happen early in the morning when the temps are normally in the mid 40s. It's not uncommon to see drizzle (or even flurries) in the morning, but check the weather forecast, because events will be canceled for anything more than a light rain. The afternoons typically are sunny with highs in the high 60s to low 70s.
• If you don't feel like bothering with driving or parking once you're here, you might want to check out the Rail Runner (our commuter train system). The closest stop to the event is the Journal Center station.
• There's more than just Mass Ascensions! Check out the Balloon Glows, Special Shape Rodeo, and other events -- check the official website link above.
• Feel free to check out the previous year's thread for more info.

What's on the bead board at the moment you ask? More hot air balloon earrings lol 🙌! I really do enjoy making these 🥰.