The Rio Grande has shifted its course in the last three hundred years, so there's an unexpectedly low-key gap west of Old Town, much of it left undeveloped in deference to the unruly river. Along the wooded eastern riverbank, the
Bio Park
holds two attractions that focus on the natural world. Not for the squeamish, the
Albuquerque Aquarium
(June-Aug Tues-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat & Sun 9am-6pm; Sept-May daily except Mon 9am-5pm; $9) offers such diverse experiences as eating in a restaurant beside a glass-walled tank filled with live sharks and walking through a tunnel surrounded on all sides by fierce-eyed moray eels. Across the way, the
Rio Grande Botanic Garden
(same hours; same ticket) consists of two large conservatories - one holding rare plants from the Sonoran and Chihuahua deserts, the other more temperate Mediterranean species - plus a series of walled gardens.
At the lower-key
Rio Grande Nature Center
(daily 8am-5pm; $1.50), two miles north of Old Town on Rio Grande Boulevard, informative displays describe Albuquerque's wildlife, and two short but enjoyable nature trails along the riverside feel far removed from the city.
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