Acoma Sky
City is the oldest continuously inhabited Indian Pueblo in
North America. Native American culture runs deep at the Laguna and Zuni
Pueblos.
Bosque
del Apache Wildlife Refuge
Located south of Socorro, Bosque del Apache offers unique wildlife viewing
opportunities. Year-round residents include: mule deer, coyote, porcupine,
musk-rat, Canada goose, coot, pheasant, turkey, quail and roadrunner.
A 15-mile tour route allows visitors to enjoy wildlife viewing and photography.
The refuge tour route is open from one hour be-fore sunrise to one hour
after sunset every day of the year.
Also available are nature trails, wilderness areas, a picnic area and
limited hunting and fishing in legal seasons. The visitors' center offers
displays, videos and a bookstore.
The 57,191 acre Bosque del Apache National Wildlife was established
in 1939 “as a refuge and breeding grounds for migratory birds
and other wildlife.” The refuge also provides winter habitat for
greater sandhill cranes. In 1941, only 17 cranes used the refuge. Sandhills
now number as high as 17,000 on the refuge.
Cibola
County
Cibola County; once part of Valencia County; has many places to visit
and see. The New Mexico Mining Museum in Grants is the only uranium
mining museum in the world. Bluewater Lake offers great ice fishing
and summer visitors can boat, fish, water ski, swim or camp.
El Malpais,
"The Badlands," is a beautiful sight with lava tubes, craters,
sandstone bluffs and forests. Near El Malpais is New Mexico's largest
natural arch, La Ventana, "The Window" to this area for 150
million years.
El Morro
National Monument, a significant historical landmark, is a
gallery of drawings, pictures, ancient petroglyphs and signatures of
Spanish and frontier Americans who passed by.
Salinas
National Monument
In the stones of the Salinas Valley pueblo ruins are the faint echoes
of the communities that lived there more than three centuries ago. The
monument's three sites commemorate the stable agricultural society where
members lived in apartment-like complexes and participated, through
rule and ritual, in the cycles of nature.
Salinas
Pueblo Missions National Monument is open daily except Christmas.
The park visitors' center is in Mountainair, a 45 minute drive from
Belén.
On the way to the visitors' center, stop at the Abo Monument located
on U.S. 60. You'll find sophisticated church architecture and a large
unexcavated pueblo.
After a tour of the visitors' center then it's off to Grand Quivira
ruins which features two churches, excavated Indian structures, exhibits
and a 40-minute video. The third site is Quarai which has the most complete
Salinas church and includes artifacts on display.
The Harvey
House was part of the extensive restaurant system founded by
Fred Harvey. Located near the Santa Fe Railroad tracks, it now houses
the Harvey House Museum operated by the Valencia County Historical Society.
Among the museums in Albuquerque are the Natural History Museum, Albuquerque
Museum, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Maxwell Museum of Anthropology,
Explora Science Center and Children's Museum, the University of New
Mexico Art Museums, and the National Atomic Museum.
The Manzano
Mountains
The Manzano Mountain Wilderness encompasses 36,970 acres on the Mountainair
Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest and is located in Belén's
backyard.
Accessible trails lie on both sides of the mountain and picnic areas
abound. Wilderness elevations range from 6,000 feet in the foothills
to 10,098 feet on Manzano Peak. The district office is in Mountainair
where advice on trails and recreation is offered.
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Belén was
founded in 1740 when the town was settled by two Spaniards named
Captain Don Diego Torrés and Antonio Salazar, who was Torrés'
bother-in-law. They named the town Belén, Spanish for Bethlehem,
in honor of that town.
The forty families who founded Belén were the beginning of a
community based on agriculture. By the 19th century, Belén's
economy had expanded into sheep herding and the town was slowly growing.
After New Mexico became a territory of the United States in 1846, immigrants
began arriving and the Belén area began to develop as a mercantile
center with trade base extending west to the Arizona line and east to
the Estancia Valley.
The Civil War found Belén, along with the rest of the Southwest,
loyal to the Union. At first, the fortunes of war went against Union
forces. Belén residents watched Confederates gallop into their
town in March, 1862. Soon after, the Confederates were defeated at Apache
Canyon near Santa Fe. By the following July, the Southern forces had
withdrawn from New Mexico.
Tomé Hill to the north of Belén is the site of the annual
Good Friday pilgrimage. The hill offers an exquisite view of the Valencia
Valley any time of the year. Ladrone, or Thieves' Mountain, south off
Interstate 25, has been the center of many legends including those which
say several treasures have been buried somewhere in the large mountain.
The arrival of the railroad in Belén brought shops, a roundhouse,
an ice plant, yards containing miles of tracks and a depot. Growth has
been constant since then. The Village of Belén was incorporated
in 1918. That was followed by many municipal improvements and the establishment
of Belén as a city in 1966.
Today Belén is filled with stores, motels, restaurants, and friendly
residents.
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Belén area
offers recreational swimming, soccer, volleyball, and tennis. The Belén
Parks & Recreation Department sponsors and coordinates a variety
of leagues and programs.
Hunting, skiing, fishing on rivers and lakes are all within easy commute
from Belén, some only a one hour drive away.
Close to Belén are the Tinnin Hunt Club and a skeet range.
City of Belén Multi-purpose Park features multipurpose fields,
tennis courts, play equipment and there is more to be added to the facility
which has a view for miles. Several other parks add touches of green
as well as recreational facilities throughout the city of Belén.
Sugar Bowl Lanes on Becker Avenue provides a chance to make a strike
or spare.
Many people fish on the ditch banks and Isleta Lakes offers a different
type of opportunity for fishing.
La Mirada R. V. Park is off interstate 25 at the Sosimo Padilla exit.
Water fowl refuges located in Casa Colorado and Bernardo provide excellent
bird watching.
Golf is also available in the area.
With the majestic Manzano Mountains as a background to Belén,
the opportunities for hiking are limitless.
Part of the Cibola National Forest, the Manzano's provide beautiful
trails and canyons for camping, exploring, horseback riding, hiking,
and backpacking.
Elevations in the Manzano Mountains range from 6,000 in the foothills
to 10,098 on Manzano Peak. A hiker can start out in the desert of central
New Mexico and end up in a climate similar to the spruce-fir forest
of lower Canada because of the elevation changes.
And if you don't get enough exercise hiking through the Manzano Mountains
then you can enjoy playing baseball or a variety of other sports in
Belén.
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Albuquerque International
Airport (505) 842-4366
Coronado Airport (505) 821-7777
AIRLINES
WHICH SERVE ALBUQUERQUE
America West Airlines (800)235-9292
American Airlines (800)433-7300
Continental Airlines (800)525-0280
Delta Airlines (800)221-1212
Frontier Airlines (800)432-1359
Northwest Airlines (800)225-2525
Reno Air (800)736-6247
Southwest Airlines (800)435-9792
Trans World Airlines (800)211-2000
United Airlines (800)241-6522
US Airlines (800)428-4322
AUTO RENTALS
All major automobile rental companies are located at the Albuquerque
International Airport
Advantage Rent-A-Car (505)247-1066
Alamo Rent-A-Car (800)327-9633
Avis Rent-A-Car (800)831-2847
Budget Rent-A-Car (800)527-7000
Dollar Rent-A-Car (505)842-4224
Enterprise Rent-A-Car (800)736-8222
Hertz Rent-A-Car (800)654-3131
National Inter-Rent (800)227-7368
Thrifty Car Rental (800)847-4389
AUTO RENTALS
IN BELÉN
Auge's Sales & Service (505)864-4482
Enterprise Rent-A-Car (505)864-1936
BELÉN
AREA AIRPORTS
Alexander Municipal Airport West of Belén (505)864-4302
Mid Valley Aviation Los Chavez (505)866-7275
AIRCRAFT
STORAGE
Mid Valley Aviation (505)866-7275
Mountain Sun Aviation Inc. Airport Road Belén (505)864-0822
TAXI SERVICES
Valley Cab (505)861-1111
TRAVEL
AGENCIES
Aragon Travel, 335 Bosque Farms Blvd., Bosque Farms
(505)869-2259
AMTRAK
Service in Albuquerque (800)872-7245
BUS LINES
TNM&O
(505)864-6495
Greyhound (800)231-2222
BELÉN
CITY TRANSPORTATION
R.S.V.P. Office (505)864-8630
RAIL RUNNER
EXPRESS
(505)245-RAIL
The Belen Rail
Runner station is located in the heart of Downtown near the site of the
old Harvey House - an area that brings passenger rail service full
circle to where it all started back in 1901. The station also serves
nearby Rio Communities, Jarales, and Tomé.
The Belen station
offers free parking. The parking lot, with approximately 220 spaces, is
located east of the platform, at the end of Desoto Avenue.
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