Check out what the NY Times has to say about their 36 hours in the Duke City:
FREE association with “Albuquerque” used to yield “Bugs Bunny” and “that airport you go through to get to Santa Fe.” But New Mexico’s biggest city has come into its own in recent years. Thanks to tax breaks and great scenery, the TV and film industry is booming: Joss Whedon’s mega-budget “Avengers” wrapped here this summer, and next year, “Breaking Bad” starts shooting its fifth season withAlbuquerque as a backdrop. For visitors, the sprawl can seem daunting, but it is tempered by new bike paths. On the main drag, Central Avenue, neon signs from Route 66’s heyday glow over revitalized, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods. And along the banks of the Rio Grande, lush farmland provides a quiet oasis, not to mention heirloom beans, corn and more to feed the city’s vibrant organic movement.
Friday
3 p.m.
1. MOTHER ROAD
At night, for better or worse, Albuquerque’s revived downtown can be a bleary seven-block bar crawl. By day, though, you can appreciate the ornate buildings financed by the railroad boom, like the exuberant Pueblo Deco style of the KiMo Theater (423 Central Avenue Northwest; 505-768-3522; cabq.gov/kimo), which opened as a movie palace in 1927 and is now the city’s public arts center. Enter through the business office to admire cow skull wall sconces and pueblo drum chandeliers. Another daytime attraction: classic shops like Maisel’s (510 Central Avenue Southwest; 505-242-6526; skip-maisels.com), an emporium of American Indian crafts that’s just the place to pick up a turquoise-and-silver bolo tie. Look for the ’30s murals above the display windows, by artists from surrounding pueblos. Across the street, is the old-timey Man’s Hat Shop (511 Central Avenue Northwest; 505-247-9605; manshatshop.com) stacked to the ceiling with ten-gallons, fedoras and more.
6 p.m.
2. HEALING POTIONS
Go early to get a seat along the edge of the roof deck at Albuquerque’s newest hotel, the Parq Central, a renovated 1926 hospital for railroad employees, tuberculosis invalids and mental patients. The menu at its Apothecary Lounge (806 Central Avenue Southeast; 505-242-0040;hotelparqcentral.com) notes the place is “not a licensed pharmacy.” Instead, it prescribes a dreamy margarita made with prickly-pear juice and elderflower liqueur ($11). As the sun sets, watch the east-side Sandia (“Watermelon”) Mountains turn a luscious shade of pink.
8 p.m.
3. HOME GROWN
For a taste of old-school Albuquerque, head to Golden Crown Panaderia (1103 Mountain Road Northwest; 505-243-2424; goldencrown.biz), for empanadas, Mexican-style bolillos and pizza with blue corn or green chili crust ($6). Salads ($9) are tossed with greens snipped from a tangled indoor garden. For dessert, get a classic anise-laced biscochito cookie (35 cents, if the hospitable owner Pratt Morales didn’t hand you one as you walked in) and a double-shot espresso milkshake ($6.05).
10 p.m.
4. BEER RUN
The drinking wing of Marble Brewery is called Marble Pub (111 Marble Street Northwest; 505-243-2739;marblebrewery.com), and it is a consummate New Mexican bar: benches, banjo players or salsa drummers, and lots of dogs. Rehydrate, after dancing, with a goblet of barrel-aged ale ($7). Over in the Nob Hill district, east of the University of New Mexico, the longer-established brewpub Kellys (3222 Central Avenue Southeast; 505-262-2739; kellysbrewpub.com) is set in a 1939 Ford service station. Find a seat outside, weather permitting, by the vintage gas pumps and watch the fashion parade: flip-flops, graying ponytails, lavish tattoos.
Saturday
9 a.m.
5. LUCKY STRIKE
In many cities, a bowling alley location, farm-to-table produce and a chef-owner with Chez Panisse credentials would add up to hipster overload. But in Albuquerque, Ezra’s Place (6132 Fourth Street Northwest; 505-344-1917) is just another family restaurant, one of three run by Dennis Apodaca and his clan. A fluorescent-lighted room overlooking Lucky 66 Lanes, Ezra’s offers lacy blueberry pancakes with pine-nut butter ($10), and eclectic Mexican dishes (duck enchiladas with tomatillo-serrano salsa, $13). Sophia’s Place (6313 Fourth Street Northwest; 505-345-3935) has a similar menu, and better lighting. And new this year, Jo’s Place (6100-B Fourth Street Northwest; 505-341-4500) serves towering burgers and red chili-dusted fries.
10:30 a.m.
6. ROLLING ON THE RIVER
Sixteen paved miles of biking bliss, the Paseo del Bosque trail hugs the Rio Grande, the city’s lowlands. Pick up your wheels at Stevie’s Happy Bikes (4583 Corrales Road; 505-897-7900; corralesbikeshop.com, from $25 a day) — perhaps a retro three-speed tandem? Stevie can suggest a route, zigzagging along the tree-lined irrigation channels of Corrales, a village within the city, to reach the trail. One destination is Los Poblanos Farm Shop (4803 Rio Grande Boulevard Northwest; 505-938-2192), which stocks lavender soaps and salves.
3 p.m.
7. CLANG, CLANG, CLANG
Even if a faux-trolley tour bus doesn’t normally appeal to you, hop aboard the adobe-look ABQ Trolley (303 Romero Street Northwest; 505-240-8000; abqtrolley.com). The two owner-operators (one talks and the other drives and rings the bell) return happy waves from locals and blast Chuck Berry as they cruise Route 66. The tour features locations for “Breaking Bad” and tales of a young Bill Gates, who co-founded Microsoft here with Paul Allen before he moved back to Seattle. Special outings share Albuquerque lore in the form of talks on public art, ghost stories around Halloween, and tours to see holiday luminarias, the paper-bag lanterns that cast a glow on winter nights.
Read more http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/travel/36-hours-in-albuquerque.html
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