Albuquerque Travel Guide
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Hotel Andaluz: The Hidden Gem of Albuquerque
New Mexico is often called the “Land of Enchantment.” What’s so enchanting? We think its Albuquerque’s best kept secret is Hotel Andaluz.
This is a historic, tastefully lavish, charming boutique hotel located in downtown Albuquerque. Originally built in 1939 as the Albuquerque Hotel (then the tallest building in the state and with AC), it was the fourth Conrad Hilton ever built. Now privately owned, it's the hidden gem of Albuquerque. We were tickled silly to experience the beauty of this spot with its subtle flare, eco-friendly features and fun-filled history.
Take a look a look-see at our photo gallery!
HotelChatter Reviews / Albuquerque Hotel Reviews / Free WiFi / → All Tags
Inside the Hotel Parq Central in Albuquerque
We headed out to Albuquerque and just missed out on the state's biggest festival, the International Balloon Fiesta. Luckily, we found plenty to keep us busy, including checking out the newest hotel in the city, Hotel Parq Central. The hotel will have its official opening in November, but we decided to get a sneak peek. We already told you about the rooftop bar and its delish housemade chips, but we'll give you the scoop on the rest of the hotel.
Check-In: We arrived a little before check-in time, but we were able to get a room. When we inquired about the gym, a staff member offered to give us a tour of the property. She told us that the hotel used to be a hospital and showed us around.
Hotel Bars / Rooftop Bars / Albuquerque Hotels / New Mexico Hotels / → All Tags
Get Free Lime-Pepper Chips with Your Drink at Hotel Parq Central's Lounge
We love sidling up to the bar with a cocktail and munching on some nibbles—especially when they are free. But forget peanuts or some other trifling snack. We're digging the complimentary spicy housemade potato chips at the new Hotel Parq Central's Apothecary Lounge in Albuquerque.
We visited the fourth-floor rooftop lounge on its first day of food service and couldn't put down the thick-cut chips. Our favorite of the addictive snacks were the lime-pepper chips. The chips are very peppery with a punch and would pair well with a margarita.
Hotel Openings / Boutique Hotels / Albuquerque Hotels / → All Tags
Albuquerque's Hotel Parq Central Will Open September 23
Yesterday we turned to luggage tags to get our minds off all the hotel delays that were bumming us out. Today, we're continuing the optimistic outlook by looking at some of the unexpected gems opening up in places that are not New York (where it's all drama, drama, drama...)
First port of call: Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the delightful looking Hotel Parq Central is set to open on September 23.
Radisson Hotels / Indoor Water Parks / New Mexico Hotels / Kid-Friendly Hotels / → All Tags
Indoor Water Parks Are Somehow Still En Vogue as Radisson Albuquerque Opens 'Splashtastic'
If you don't have kids or consider "fun parks" the least fun thing on the planet, you'll want to file this news under "Another place to avoid when traveling." But if you have rugrats you need to occupy, or you're a big, waterslide-lovin' kid yourself, rejoice! The Radisson Hotel Albuquerque has a new waterpark, opening on March 12, just in time for spring break.
If you're not familiar with the waterpark concept, firstly: commiserations. Waterslide collisions are the stuff childhood is made of. The Radisson's set up includes all the waterpark staples: indoor and outdoor slides, an activity pool, wading pool, hot tub, lazy river, tipping bucket, and the most unfortunately named thing we've heard of since the iPad, the FlowRider.
Hotel Renovations / Sheraton Hotels / Business Travel Hotels / Albuquerque Hotels / → All Tags
The Sheraton Albuquerque Uptown Gets a Tech-Savvy Upgrade
In keeping up with our ongoing series about Hotel Renovations, we've got word on the recent changes to the The Sheraton Albuquerque Uptown Hotel. The $20 million renovations were spent on redesigning the 295 guestrooms and suites and public spaces. The rooms were taken out of the mid-1990s and refreshed with a new millenium look with white sheets on the Sheraton Sweet Sleeper beds (no patchwork comforters here), 37-inch LCD TVs, and roomy work spaces with ergonomical desk chairs.
In fact, while we're on the topic of business travel hotels this place is the ideal hotel for a biz traveler in Albuquerque.
Anti-View / New Mexico Hotels / Embassy Suites Hotels / → All Tags
Room With an Anti-View: Don't Look Outside the Embassy Suites Albuquerque
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
According to previous guest bk1bennett, the Embassy Suites Hotel in Albuquerque is a place that knows about its anti-view :
Because of the landscaping along the road, you can't see the slums from the car. I walked on the sidewalk and was amazed by the living arrangements. The hotel very cleverly constructed its grounds to keep this out of sight.
This is the view across the street from the hotel, but a lot of guests wouldn't even see it, which we suspect is a pretty good thing. The hotel website explains its location as being "in the heart of the downtown business district", which is, well, not that far away, judging by this photograph.
But despite all that, people like it. TripAdvisor reviews have calculated it the #2 hotel in Albuquerque, out of well over a hundred choices; although several did suggest the area was not the kind you'd want to walk through alone at night. Average room rates of $182 make it relatively reasonable but many suggest you should stay inside the hotel and forget the surroundings completely.
[Photo: bk1bennett]
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Indoor Water Parks Migrate West
Indoor water parks are no longer for the Midwestern family weekend getaways. Now, a hotel in Albuquerque is getting in on the action.
Even though you could probably swim outside in a real pool here, the owner of the Park Plaza Hotel & Conference Center has decided an indoor water park is just what the town needs.
True, the peeps of Albuquerque can't go surfing so the planned Surfrider feature of the water park might be a big draw, despite how much we detest these hotel-waterpark hybrids. Also included in the park rides are:
a 34-foot-high, 325-foot-long water tube ride; a 275-foot-long water slide; a lazy river feature that turns to rapids at night and a bucket that dumps 700 gallons of water onto eager patrons.
There's also fluorescent glow-in-the-dark water slides, music videos that will be projected on sheets of water and an arcade and pizza parlour. (How 80s!)
The cost of admission for the public would be $28 but for guests we assume its complimentary. And once the water park is completed the place will no longer be known as the Park Plaza. Instead, after $6 million in upgrades, the place will turn into the Radisson Resort & Waterpark expected to open in Fall 2007.
Is the St. Regis Resort and Action Funland not too far behind?
Related Stories:
· Hotel plans to add water park offering indoor surfing, slides [Albuquerque Tribune]
· Indoor Water Parks [HotelChatter]
