Just a comment from someone who
doesn't live in Albuquerque. I visited ABQ for a day and a half in November, and I thought it seemed like a great place to live! Of course, each of us looks for different things in a city, but I know I would be very happy there. The city is smaller than Chicago or DFW, so it's easier to get around, no huge traffic jams, etc. I didn't price homes, but I suspect real estate is reasonably priced, unlike in Santa Fe (just my impression).
The restaurant scene is very active. This is a recent development. Santa Fe is 60 miles away and has had a great restaurant scene for many years, so ABQ residents looking for more unusual and upscale dining options tended to go there, but that's no longer necessary. I went to
Artichoke Cafe and folks there were talking about how many more restaurant options there are in ABQ now. They mentioned a couple of places we didn't get to go to, but Artichoke Cafe, near downtown, was excellent for a nice dinner. We also went to
Prairie Star in Bernalillo, a bit north of town, for New Mexican food, and it was outstanding, too. (As far as I could tell, most of the places in ABQ that call themselves "New Mexican" serve conventional Mexican food. Prairie Star was an exception.)
We went to the Old Town section of town, west of downtown. You can see their guide to Old Town
here. It's primarily a shopping/entertainment area for tourists/visitors, but it had some things that would appeal to residents too, notably many restaurants and also a very nice bakery called Rolling in Dough, where we got biscocitos, fennel-cinnamon cookies that are a local specialty. Nearby there's also a wine tasting/selling and bistro restaurant associated with the
St. Clair Winery, where we bought some nice wine to bring home. (We were driving, not flying.) You may not be aware of it, but New Mexico has quite a few very nice wines, and wineries you can visit. Click
here for more information.
In Old Town, we also went to a store called the Dawg House, which carries items for dogs. There, we picked up a listing of the dog parks in ABQ, and there are quite a few of them (go to
this website for ABQ dog-related resources and click on "places"). Since we had one of our dogs with us, we went to one of them, located next to the VA hospital just north of the airport, and it was very nice, with a lot of two- and four-legged local residents. One more sign that ABQ is a very livable city.
We also went to the Nob Hill section of town, just east of downtown, which had some arts/crafts type shopping but is much more geared towards local residents. They had a nice natural foods co-op supermarket there.
We didn't get a chance to do some other things we would have liked. For example, we didn't get a chance to go to the zoo, aquarium, or botanic garden, and we didn't get to take the tram to the top of Sandia Peak. It was the wrong time of year for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, which is in October (may coincide with NSXPO). But we managed to cover a lot of ground and enjoy ourselves.
Again, we thought it seemed like a nice place to live, not just to visit. I'm sure you'll love it - best of luck!
I just had sticker shock on insurance there though, I currently pay 120 a month for both for 100/300/100 for my car and 02 F150, I just got quoted from my Farmers insurance 205 for the truck and 305 for the car. And that is with no tickets, accidents and multiline discount. I like to had a heart attack to go from 120 a month to 510!!
Why are things so high out there? I figured it would be much cheaper coming from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.
Insurance rates tend to correspond with the expenses that insurance companies pay to support their policies. Remember, liability coverage is usually the biggest cost item in a policy. States whose laws and courts make it easier for claimants to sue and recover damages have higher liability rates than those that don't.
