Balloon Fiesta: VIP West RV lot

We attended the 50th annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, our first attendance. We stayed in the VIP West RV lot, which was an easy walk to the launch field. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

Check in: 2022-10-04

Check out: 2022-10-09

5 nights

Weather:

Some sun, but mostly cloudy and rainy

High temps ranging between 63-68°F, lows around 50-54°F

Occasional wind, some lightning

Noise:

Some road noise, no train noise

Generators from neighbors (dry camping)

Site:

VIP West RV lot, pull through, asphalt parking lot

Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach

Level

Small site: about 50 feet long by about 15 feet wide

No hookups; dry camping

Rally-style parking

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 100 Mbps down, 25 Mbps up, 35 ms ping

Verizon: 4-7 Mbps down, 7-12 Mbps up, 70 ms ping

AT&T: 4 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 80 ms ping

Starlink: not used

Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Dumpsters

Balloon Fiesta!

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Bucket List Trip Done Right

We were in VIP West, an easy walk to the Fiesta grounds. It’s dry camping in a parking lot, but you don’t go there for the camping amenities; you go for the Balloon Fiesta. Totally worth the extra money for the VIP parking as we didn’t have to worry about bikes or shuttles and could just walk right over every morning and evening, and our admission was included in the cost. This was definitely helpful as the weather this year was the worst in its 50-year history, and a lot of events were canceled. Still totally worth it for the events that did happen, though! We’re already planning to come again next year. We camped at Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Park in a Motorhome.

Here’s the fiesta map; the VIP West lot is the light blue area to the right to the launch field:

The RVs are parked “rally style”, i.e. fairly tightly packed on a parking lot, with no hookups. We lucked out with a site in a rear corner, with nobody behind us, and only one neighbor, giving us a bit more space than most, albeit with a longer walk to the field:

We had a thrilling view of a parking lot, and the balloon museum:

On the first night, we had a griddle dinner at our site (not a bad view, eh?):

Watching baseball outside:

Other RVs:

The balloon museum:

Bike valet:

Drainage:

VIP access bridge into the fiesta:

On a night with evening activities, a full parking lot next to our site:

View through our Magne Shade:

From in front of our coach:

Our site: