New Mexico is a state that’s been on my bucket list for years. I probably have to credit (blame?) Instagram influencers for that. When someone really pretty who’s really good at taking photos goes to White Sands National Park or the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, New Mexico as a destination becomes very appealing. But of course those cute pictures never paint the whole picture.
As someone who travels a lot, many times alone, and sometimes to places my parents would probably prefer I didn’t go, I hesitate to negatively talk about a place. Because reality is more nuanced than that, and I truly believe most people in the world are kind (and I’m a privileged white person who faces less challenges when traveling than others).
But I did find it kind of interesting that no one batted an eye when I said I was going to New Mexico with a friend for a girls weekend. Places like New York, India, and Mexico have certainly raised concerns (which always frustrated me), but not a peep with New Mexico. The state that is officially America’s most violent. And one local told me Albuquerque had just become America’s most violent city, although I couldn’t find data to confirm that online.
I didn’t know before visiting that New Mexico was America’s most violent state, but I was aware of how dangerous it is for Indigenous women. It has the highest number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in the U.S. despite having the fifth-largest population of Indigenous peoples.
So what was my first-hand experience and impression of America’s most violent state? And would I even recommend visiting? I’ll also share our itinerary and links to what we loved at the end!
First Impressions of New Mexico
I landed in Albuquerque which was actually quite nice because they had live music at the airport (maybe they only do this during the balloon festival weekend?) Solid start. But then I grabbed an Uber to pick up my Turo car rental, and the Uber driver said he was taking me to the worst neighborhood in the city. He was nice enough to wait for me to get into the car before leaving. But the neighborhood did not look good. The houses were run down, there were chain link fences, toys in yards that looked like they hadn’t been touched since the 90s, armed security at the gas station–that kind of vibe. And I had to unlock a steering wheel lock in the car rental–a first for me since using Turo a handful of times now. (P.S. Turo is a car rental app that’s known as the Airbnb for cars.) So yea, not a great first impression of Albuquerque, but nothing bad happened. No one shady approached me or anything like that.
On our first full day in New Mexico, we drove 4 hours to White Sands National Park with a stop in Truth or Consequences to dip in a hot spring. The drive and towns were quite bleak. I wouldn’t call it a picturesque road trip by any means. With what we had seen of Albuquerque and our drive south, I was not sure our cute girls weekend was going to happen. If I’m being honest, I was feeling a little bad for talking my friend into a weekend in New Mexico.
Overall Experience
With all that being said, we absolutely loved the hot spring we visited in Truth or Consequences, despite having higher hopes for the actual town. And White Sands National Park was stunning, as most National Parks are. We took a detour on the way back to Albuquerque from White Sands, stopping in Ruidoso. It was such a hidden gem! Where you can sometimes see wild horses around town!
In terms of Albuquerque, we were both impressed by our accommodation and their lobby bars (we stayed in 2 spots over the course of the weekend). We also found a very cute food hall that we ended up going to twice. But the highlight of Albuquerque by far was our meal at Los Poblanos. I can already say that is going to win my vote for best meal of the year. It was everything you could ever want for a cute girls night. Amazing food straight from the property’s farm (still dreaming about those sweet potato pierogis), a sommelier available to recommend the perfect bottle of wine, upscale decor, etc etc.
And then there was the Balloon Fiesta which was kind of the main reason for our visit. We both really enjoyed it! In the morning we watched over 500 balloons take flight. And in the evening we came back for a balloon glow (didn’t happen due to wind), a drone show (so cool), fireworks, and many cocktails. It’s one of those bucket list festivals to attend, and I’m so glad I was able to make it happen.
Would I Recommend Visiting New Mexico?
My overall answer is…. yes? I do think there’s enough to do for a weekend trip. White Sands was incredible, seeing hundreds of hot air balloons at the festival was very cool, and if you can snag a reservation at Los Poblanos you are in for such a special meal.
I’m not sure that I would recommend New Mexico for a trip if it wasn’t during the balloon fest though. I suppose you could spend that day checking out Santa Fe instead. It looks really cute, but the whole lesson here is you can’t take cute photos on the internet at face value, so I can’t say what it’s really like.
I would recommend adjusting your expectations ahead of time. America’s most violent state is also one that’s dealing with high poverty levels and many unhoused people. The city of Albuquerque is not… popping. We hardly saw anyone walking around, locals or tourists. We didn’t drive past anything that piqued our interest to visit outside of what we already had planned. It was empty feeling and run down.
I would have loved to check out a museum or two to help build a deeper cultural understanding of the city and state. There are so many that look interesting to visit! So I definitely recommend trying to add that to your itinerary.
But yes, overall I am so glad we got to visit New Mexico! Just because a place deals with poverty and violence doesn’t mean it has nothing to offer or that it can’t be safely visited. There were many beautiful things to explore and enjoy, and everyone we encountered was kind.
I would never recommend traveling somewhere you don’t feel safe, or like, an active war zone (duh). But the point of traveling is to put stereotypes aside and see a place for yourself. Form your own opinions through first hand experiences. Open your mind to learning new things. Challenge what you thought you knew about a person, place, culture, etc.
We’ve gotten so far away from that in the age of social media where people book trips because they saw a pretty picture online, myself included. The irony is I was able to capture some great photos from this trip which will end up on the internet. But I didn’t want that to be the whole story.
Safety Tips
I will say we didn’t have to change much from how we normally travel as women anyways. I guess I would recommend paying extra to have your Turo rental dropped off and picked up from the airport. That way you don’t have to randomly be in a “bad” neighborhood.
We didn’t find any night life that intrigued us, so being out after dark wasn’t an issue. But I would obviously be extra cautious at night. A great alternative that we utilized was our hotel bars. We were back at a decent hour every day and turned that into an excuse to get a night cap at the hotel bar. So fun and something I rarely do while traveling, since I normally feel pressured to check out something else in the city instead.
Our New Mexico Itinerary
Thursday:
- arrive and check into The Monterey Motel (LOVED!)
- explore Old Town (sadly it was more like a ghost town. no vibe at all but maybe we visited at the wrong time.)
- dinner at a restaurant near our accommodation
- drinks at the lobby bar
Friday:
- drive 2 hours south to Truth or Consequences (formerly called Hot Springs but the town changed its name to Truth or Consequences in 1950 to win a live broadcast of a radio and tv show by the same name and I guess never changed it back)
- soak in the hot springs at Riverbend Hot Springs. T or C is a popular destination for wellness tourism. We really enjoyed this but wish the weather was cooler! It was in the high 80s during our visit and the springs are over 100 degrees.
- drive another 2 hours to Alomogordo, our base for exploring White Sands. hotel check in.
- White Sands National Park for sunset!
- Taco Bell and Whole Foods wine in our hotel room for dinner. highly recommend lol.
Saturday:
- drive back to Albuquerque to drop the car rental off.
- check into The Clyde Hotel
- stop in Ruidoso for brunch at Casitas Cafe (so good) to break up the drive. We loved this little mountain town that came out of nowhere! Suddenly everything was green and beautiful. This town also has wild horses that you might be lucky enough to see.
- dinner at Campo, the restaurant at Los Poblanos. They also have a lavender farm, a historic boutique inn (staying here would be such a vibe), a farm shop, spa, and alpacas on sight!
- night cap at the hotel bar
Sunday:
- morning session at the balloon fiesta. We were on our shuttle at 4:45 am!
- We napped from about 10-12, then went to grab lunch and a drink at 505 Central Food Hall. Loved this place!
- We left at 4:45 pm for the evening session of the balloon fiesta.
- Dinner and drinks at the hotel bar. I had the best salmon of my life here randomly!
Monday: Time to head home, but we did go back to 505 Central Food Hall for coffees and breakfast 🙂
Links:
- The Monterey Motel
- Riverbend Hot Springs
- White Sands National Park
- The Clyde Hotel (frequented the 1922 Bar and Lounge)
- Los Poblanos
- Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta
- 505 Central Food Hall
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notes on social media and travel Closing things out full circle, how I’m currently feeling about the influence of social media on travel. Should we travel somewhere just because we saw a pretty picture on the internet?