Balloon Fiesta South RV Lot

If you are lucky enough to own (or even luckier - to live in) an RV, and then are willing to one-up that luck by attending Balloon Fiesta, go ahead and do yourself an even solider solid and stay at one of the RV lots at Fiesta.

We stayed at the South lot in a 'regular' ($35) space for several days during the 2015 Fiesta.

All parking in this (and all lots) is done 'rally' style by volunteers who you will meet at check-in. This means that you are parked in the order you come - next to the people who roll in before and after you - in a 'pull through' fashion. There are some areas reserved for clubs who are parking together (i.e. Xscapers, Monaco, Airstream), but other than that, if you want to be parked next to a special someone, you best stage somewhere and roll into the lot before or behind them.

This lot is gravel, and is ~3/4mile of a walk from the Balloon Fiesta field. You'll need that walk to burn through the breakfast burritos you will make the choice to eat daily. And, if you decide not to eat those breakfast burritos (SHAME), or maybe are building up your fat stores for winter (NO SHAME), there are Fiesta Official guys & gals driving golf carts between the Fiesta field and the South Lot all day giving folks free lifts back and forth in their rad little caddies.

The South Lot itself is typical, packed in rally style parking. Sardine can at its best. It can get a little dusty, although the Fiesta folks do water the lanes. It can be a bit loud - you're allowed to run your generator during they day (but not at night) and you are near a main road. And also, its Fiesta. But, the sudden influx of generator and traffic noise in the morning will only serve to wake you from your slumber so that you can make it to the Fiesta field in time to catch a balloon glow. (Thanks smelly generators!)

The two REALLY awesome parts of staying on site at Balloon Fiesta are (A.) not missing a glow or launch because you are stuck in your car in traffic along with the entire rest of Albuquerque since you will be awoken from your slumber by generators at your RV lot in time to walk to the field and (B.) you can see the balloons from your rig AND they often land near or in the South RV Lot. So, if you are too lazy to make the walk to the field every morning, you can just plop your butt in front of your dash, next to your rig, or on your roof and get all the balloon action you could desire (minus the breakfast burritos).

In summary, this lot is the furthest 'official Fiesta lot' from the Fiesta itself, but touts the perks of being substantially cheaper than the other 3 lots, and based on our experience there, has a better chance of balloons landing in the lot.

There are spaces with water and 30A electric hook-ups available in this lot, but they are towards the rear of the lot - and are $75/night. But, if you desire em, they're there.

P.S. - Make your reservations EARLY. As in, reservations for all lots open 9 days after the commencement of each years Fiesta, and fill-up quickly for the next year's Fiesta. There are some walk-in sites available also, and when we were at Fiesta in 2015 it seemed that people were successful in obtaining some of these. There is a 3 night minimum stay - which can be spread across several lots or within the same lot - so if you want less than 3 nights (and don't want to pay for the space when you won't be using it) it is suggested you try a walk-up site.

And just one more time for good measure: Fiesta. (Fiesta)

Our first experience with rally style event RV parking and it really couldn’t have been a more perfect experience! From the volunteers who greeted and parked us to shuttle bus service directly to the event there’s a lot to love about this location. Our only struggle was with the uneven site, which was a fair enough trade off for the spectacular views and ease of participation in the Balloon Fiesta! We lived in Albuquerque years ago and attended the fiesta several times, but this was a completely different experience. From having an easy roll out of bed and head to the fiesta without the stress of traffic, to the sitting outside of our RV and watching the sun come up and balloons go directly over our site while we just relax with our coffee the whole thing was overwhelming! It was easy to get in and out with our tow vehicle with special passes for it as well. The ratings reflect how overall wonderful the experience was, as a little “lopsidedness”, and dust is a small price to pay!

WOW! Let me say this again, wow! We are full-time RVers and first time Balloon Fiesta attendees and we really did not know what to expect, but we were impressed and surprised. We made our reservations in February of 2018 (there were only a few spots left) and couldn't wait for this experience. They start parking RVers at noon, we arrived at about 11:40 am and only waited in line for about a half hour. Not bad! We were given a card for our toy hauler and a card for our truck, those were our passes for getting in and out of the RV parking area.
We were led to our space by a nice volunteer in a golf cart and directed to our space. It turned out to be nothing short of awesome! We didn't realize it when we first parked, but when the balloons started taking off the next morning, it became apparent that we had some of the best seats in the house. Our view was so good that we only went to the field and grounds one night! The balloons flew right over our rig, landed in the field in front of our trailer and we got to help some of them land. It was epic! We met so many people because everyone wanders around and walks their dogs, so it was fun and we made new friends too. The dogs loved it, there were dumpsters and portable toilets if needed and they had free shuttle buses to take you to and from the balloon field. It was easy to get in and out of the park if you didn't try to do it during peak balloon hours. We have a large toy hauler with a back and side patio and there was plenty of room to have our patios down the entire time. We will definitely be doing this again and will stay in the south lot. The only drawback if you can call it that was that the ground was not very level and we had to buy Lynx Levelers to get our front landing gear to extend far enough to get level. But the cool thing was there was an RV parts and accessories trailer at the entrance and we ended up with two sets of leveling blocks and a really cool adjustable RV step for our rig. We are self-contained with solar, composting toilets and 100 gallons of fresh water capacity so it worked well for us. They had three water spigots at the front where you enter and we just drove up there with our 45-gallon water bladder twice and filled it for free and we were set for our stay.
It's not fancy, but for the price, the views and being able to be on the grounds at the Balloon Fiesta it can't be beat!

Worked in the Discovery Tent as a vagiator this was a volunteer position and yes if I get a chance I would go back It was a blast

This was our first time at the festival. If we were to go again we’d try to get the “box view “ or VIP north sites.
Very convenient for access to the rally and balloons often drift over and land in the camping area.
Be aware of where you’re being parked. Consider if it rains whether your in a potential flooding area. We weren’t impacted but 3 sites over had a river running through it . The staff came and put hay down after the rain
stopped. Also, the majority of sites aren’t level, so be sure to bring your leveling blocks (wood), etc.
Great experience overall!

Stayed at South RV lot 10/5/19 through 10/12/19. Watching hot air balloons fly over our travel trailer in the early morning hours was a wonderful experience. Shuttle service was free, and a convenient way to get to the launch field. These sites do not have hookups, and are great if you are prepared for dry camping. We dumped our tanks and took on fresh water at a local Speedway gas station before arriving. We ran our generator as needed, and people were good about observing quiet hours between 10pm and 5am. Weather was chilly 32 degrees early morning, but reached 70 degrees later in the day. Meow Wolf museum in Santa Fe was fun for us and our ten year old. Also enjoyed Brixens restaurant and Golden Crown Panaderia in Albuquerque.

We took our 26' Brave to ABQ for the 2019 Balloon Fiesta. Living in sothern NM, we have watched portions on TV many times, but this was our first actual visit. We stayed three nights (Wed-Thu-Fri) at the Fiesta RV lot south of the launch field, also run by the Fiesta folks for the city. That is a great 3 night stay, because the Mass Accession is Saturday mornings, and over before the 1100 checkout time. Mostly dry camping, a some sites with power & water at (IMHO) premium prices. Free (included in RV space) shuttle buses from RV lot to launch field every 15 minutes or so 'till past 2200. Others have mentioned the uneven parking spots, but we were lucky and were guided to one that was near level. Our MH has short fold up hydraulic jacks that only extend 6". The water & dump services stayed busy, but we did not need to them. There is potable water available for free at the entry station, so we topped off before parking. 3 Star rating for access could be 1 star at times. We arrived around 1600 and They were watering the main roads to keep dust down, but it's still mostly a dirt lot with no gravel.

Sadly, the Thursday morning launch and evening glow were cancelled due to wind, which brought in a very chilly morning on Thursday. Both Friday and Saturday flights went off as expected, and the balloons came right over the RV lot for a great show at no extra charge! Many were able to change altitude and thus wind direction to return to the field, called flying the "box" by the balloonists. Some landed right in the open center of the RV lot. We only went to the launch field one session ($10 ticket) to see the Friday evening balloon glow close up.

There were also two parachute team jumps Friday, one before dark with a huge flag and smoke trails. One after the glow in the dark! The after dark jump featured (I think 4) jumpers with flares and fireworks and made quite a show. I got a short (21 sec) cell phone video of them. Looks like I cannot do video uploads to Campendium directly, only links.

As a cautionary note, last year I booked our 3 nights less than 1 hour after 2019 reservations opened a few days after the 2018 Fiesta, and they were the only standard ($40) slots available. We liked it enough to want to go again next year, but at the posted start time, the reservation site got clobbered and I could not connect. When I finally did get thru, both Friday nights were already sold out completely for 2020! We took a Mon-Tue-Wed slot, which only had 2 open.

In my opinion, there's no better place to stay at Albuquerque's Hot Air Balloon Fiesta than the South Lot. The dry camping spots are the most affordable (costing you $40/night instead of $95-250/night for the VIP or Presidential lots). And you get an even better experience because SO many balloons fly right over your roof and land a few feet from your rig!

Pro Tip #1: You can book your spot in the South Lot for a week before the Balloon Fiesta starts, and it's only $20/night. We loved this option because it allowed us to be the first ones setup and we didn't have to deal with squeezing into a spot while hundreds of other campers were parking.

Pro Tip #2: There are multiple casinos in the Albuquerque area that allow overnight parking. You can stage at these casinos that are only 10 minutes away, making your commute to the South Lot super short and easy - especially if you are trying to park next to friends!

The south RV lot is where the balloons will come and land sometimes after leaving the field. It is amazing! Not sure how much it really costs to stay here, as we volunteer our time as Navigators. Working LOTS of hours, we get our site for nothing. There are groups here, too, and some areas have electric brought in. We just boondock. There is water and pump out service available. The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta has HUNDREDS of balloons taking off in the morning during Mass Ascension! Albuquerque is known for its "BOX", which means the winds go usually south near the surface, and north a bit higher. So they inflate, go up, move south, go higher, move back north, go back down, head south, etc. It is AMAZING to watch! And I can't even count the number of times that balloons have landed right in the south lot, within feet of RV's! You can't even imagine. This is a bucket list, folks! South lot is ideal. Sure, it's not too level. But you can usually work around that with blocks. We are very close together, so if dry camping, it is really nice and considerate for you to use a Genturi to funnel fumes from your genny up, up and away. Our group that volunteers each year requires it. You can find out more at the Balloon Fiesta website. Look for the area that talks about Navigators. It seems that cell coverage should be pretty good, but we struggle with both our Verizon hot spot and our ATT cell. Probably because of the sheer numbers of people in the area during that week.