Albuquerque: hot air balloons over the desert

Every October hundreds of hot-air balloons color the sky above Albuquerque, harnessing a local wind phenomenon that makes the city the world capital of hot-air ballooning.

The historic center is explored on foot; the rest of the city requires a car.

The Old Town, a nucleus founded by the Spanish in 1706, preserves around the central plaza adobe buildings and the Church of San Felipe de Neri.

Taking the Sandia Peak Tramway, one of the world's longest cable cars, you reach the 3,660-meter Sandia mountain range with views of the entire city.

Returning to the valley, the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History recounts the history of the nearby Los Alamos laboratory and the Manhattan Project.

If the calendar coincides, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in October fills the sky with hundreds of hot air balloons thanks to a local wind phenomenon known as the "Albuquerque box."

The 'Box' phenomenon consists of wind layers blowing in opposite directions at different altitudes, allowing hot air balloons to ascend, move laterally, and return nearly to the starting point simply by changing altitude.

The Sandia Peak Tramway spans over four kilometers in a single leap without intermediate support poles, one of the longest single spans in the world for this type of installation.