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Photo: en:User:Camerafiend, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Next door to the Aquarium, this expansive botanical garden is one of Albuquerque's real gems. The place is an oasis with a variety of gardens to explore, with an emphasis on high desert plants but also with many highlight exhibits that are great for children: an indoor conservatory with lush Mediterranean plants, an insectarium with plenty of creepy-crawlies, an indoor butterfly pavilion that's open in the summer, a large Japanese garden with a koi pond and a waterfall, a recreation of an early 20th-century farm with a barnyard petting zoo, a model railroad, and a fantastic children's "Fantasy Garden" made to look as if you've shrunk down to a bug's size, with giant pretend vegetables, garden tools and bugs.
The ABQ Biopark Botanic Garden is a 36-acre (15 ha) botanical garden located at 2601 Central Avenue NW in Albuquerque, New Mexico, beside the Rio Grande. The garden showcases plants of the Southwest and other arid climates, and includes a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) conservatory. One wing of the glass conservatory houses plants native to the Mediterranean climates zones of Spain, Portugal, Turkey, South Africa, Australia, Chile and California.
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Albuquerque's small but pleasant aquarium is well-curated, with exhibits designed to simulate the Rio Grande and the saltwater marshes of the Gulf of Mexico before moving on to ocean species. Among the sea creatures on display are jellyfish, seahorses, eels, and plenty of colorful reef fish, with the highlight being a huge tank at the end with sharks, sea turtles, and rays. Divers enter the big tank every day from 2–3PM to feed the fish.
While the location isn't ideal (in a strip mall near Old Town, rather than in the historic district), this small gift shop and museum has some interesting exhibits about turquoise and its manufacture, history, and mythology. Reservations required.
This great little museum's claim to fame is the largest collection of different species of live rattlesnakes in the world. There's lots of snakes (and various other reptiles) and snake-related memorabilia, such as artwork and films, and the gift shop is not to be missed.
Hosting local performances throughout the year.
A facility of the Albuquerque Biological Park, this park along the Rio Grande has fishing ponds for adults and children, a model boating pond, a cafe, and a gift shop where you can buy fishing licenses, fishing gear, or rent a pedal boat for a ride on the central pond. Trails lead into the bosque to the edge of the river and to a pair of restored wetland ponds. A narrow-gauge train links Tingley Beach to the Albuquerque Aquarium/Botanical Gardens and the Rio Grande Zoo (listed above under See).
Guided walking tours of Old Town start here. An excellent example of a city-specific museum, with a large permanent collection of Southwestern art, changing art exhibitions, artifacts from the history of colonial New Mexico and Albuquerque through the years (with some pretty neat items, like conquistador armor and antique cars), and an outdoor sculpture garden. The Albuquerque Museum also operates tours of the historic home of Casa San Ysidro in the nearby village of Corrales, which offers a glimpse into Spanish colonial life in the valley.