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Photo: John Phelan, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Visitors can walk the paths through cottonwood forest and next to managed ponds and wetlands, or avoid the elements at the Visitor Center. Beautiful tile installments throughout the park educate visitors on local ecology and conservation efforts. Birdwatchers find this site an especially rewarding urban location.
The Rio Grande Nature Center State Park is a New Mexico state park located adjacent to the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, New Mexico, US. The Rio Grande Nature Center is a 38-acre urban wildlife preserve established in 1982. About two thirds of the grounds of the park are set aside as habitat for wildlife. The remaining acreage contains a visitors' center, two gardens, several wildlife viewing areas, an education building and a building housing the non-profit Wildlife Rescue, Inc. There are four constructed ponds which provide habitat for birds and other wildlife and which mimic wetland features of the historical flood plain of the Rio Grande.
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The bosque provides a tranquil setting for this small but delightful nature center, with its wildlife pond and exhibits on the native wildlife. Nature lovers will particularly enjoy the enclosed views of the pond behind the visitor center. Two short trails head into the bosque from the visitor center.
Operated by the local Unser racing family, this museum is dedicated to the racing legacy of the Unsers and to the sport of auto racing in general.
A tourist complex operated by the 19 Indian Pueblos of New Mexico. Though there is a museum about pueblo history and culture on-site, it's rather small and tucked away, with most of the complex given over to more lucrative ventures like an art gallery, a restaurant, and a large gift shop (a better museum experience can be found at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture up in Santa Fe). Besides the gift shop, the best reason to visit this place is the regularly scheduled Indian dances which take place in the courtyard.
On the west side of town, Petroglyph is a unit of the United States National Park System and preserves a significant archaeological site with an impressive number of petroglyphs. Despite their proximity to an urban center, the petroglyphs are in good condition with very little vandalism or theft. The monument has a visitor center with some interpretive exhibits and a few short trails that lead past numerous petroglyphs. Also within the monument are a series of volcanic cinder cones overlooking the city, accessible by hiking trails from Atrisco Vista Blvd along the backside of the monument.
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.
The center for the city's open space program, which encompasses land from around the city to preserve for environmental and recreational use. The visitor center has exhibits on the natural and cultural resources of the area, an art gallery, a nature area, and views of the bosque and mountains.