Glossary
The words you’ll hear around Albuquerque — places, history, weather and local ways, explained
No term matches that — try another word.
Coast & Weather
- Monsoon
- The late-summer rainy season that brings most of Albuquerque’s rain.
Events
- Albuquerque box
- The wind pattern that lets balloons fly out over the city and come back to the launch field.
- Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta
- A nine-day October festival where more than 500 hot-air balloons launch from Balloon Fiesta Park.
- Festival Flamenco Alburquerque
- A nine-day June festival of flamenco dance and music, billed as the largest flamenco festival outside Spain.
- Gathering of Nations
- The largest pow-wow in North America, held for decades in Albuquerque in late April; the 2026 gathering was announced as the last.
- Luminaria and farolito
- The paper-bag lanterns of a New Mexican Christmas Eve; what to call them is a long-running argument.
- New Mexico State Fair
- The annual September fair at Expo New Mexico, held since 1881.
- River of Lights
- The BioPark Botanic Garden’s walk-through holiday light show, November to December.
History & People
- Albuquerque
- New Mexico’s largest city, founded in 1706 as La Villa de Alburquerque and named for a Spanish duke; nicknamed ABQ, Burque and the Duke City.
- Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
- The Royal Road of the Interior, the Spanish trade route from Mexico City to northern New Mexico that ran past Albuquerque.
- Central Avenue and Route 66
- The city’s main street; U.S. Route 66 ran along it from 1937 to 1985.
- Isleta Pueblo
- A Southern Tiwa pueblo about 13 miles south of the city on the Rio Grande.
- Sandia Pueblo
- A Tiwa pueblo on the city’s northern edge, one of New Mexico’s 19 pueblos.
Local Life & Customs
- Acequia
- A community irrigation ditch, brought by Spanish settlers and still used in the valley neighbourhoods.
- Biscochito
- A crisp anise-and-cinnamon butter cookie, the traditional New Mexican Christmas cookie.
- Burqueño
- What a resident of Albuquerque is called, from the local short form “Burque”.
- Duke City
- Albuquerque’s nickname, from the Spanish title of the duke the town was named for.
- Quadrants (NE, NW, SE, SW)
- The four parts of the city that are written into every Albuquerque address.
- Red or green? Christmas
- New Mexico’s State Question about chile; “Christmas” means both.
- Sopaipilla
- A puffed, deep-fried pastry served in New Mexican restaurants.
Nature & Wildlife
- Bosque
- The cottonwood forest along the Rio Grande, Spanish for “forest”, with trails through the middle of the city.
- Sandia Mountains
- The range rising just east of the city, topped by Sandia Crest at 10,678 feet; sandía is Spanish for watermelon.
Places
- ABQ BioPark
- The city’s zoo, aquarium, botanic garden and Tingley Beach, run together as one environmental museum.
- Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum
- The balloon museum beside the Fiesta field, named for two Albuquerque balloonists who crossed the Atlantic.
- Barelas
- A neighbourhood just south of Downtown, the oldest in the city and home of the National Hispanic Cultural Center.
- Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
- A museum and cultural center owned by the 19 Indian Pueblos of New Mexico, with dances, art and a restaurant.
- KiMo Theatre
- The 1927 Pueblo Deco movie palace on Central Avenue; its name, chosen in a contest, means mountain lion.
- National Hispanic Cultural Center
- A 20-acre campus in Barelas for Hispanic culture, arts and humanities, with theatres, an art museum and a giant fresco.
- Nob Hill
- The Route 66 shopping and dining district along Central Avenue just east of the University of New Mexico.
- Old Town
- The original Spanish plaza of Albuquerque, about ten blocks of adobe buildings around San Felipe de Neri Church.
- Petroglyph National Monument
- A 17-mile stretch of volcanic escarpment on the West Mesa with about 24,000 carved images.
- Rio Grande Nature Center
- A 38-acre state-park wildlife preserve in the bosque, with ponds, blinds and a visitor center designed by Antoine Predock.
- San Felipe de Neri Church
- The adobe church on the north side of Old Town Plaza, built in 1793 and still a working parish.
- Sandia Peak Tramway
- The aerial tram from the city’s northeast edge to the top of the Sandias, the longest in the Americas.
- Sunport
- Albuquerque International Sunport, the city’s airport, in a low Pueblo Revival terminal.