Things to Do
Guided Cave Tours: Guided tours of varying difficulties in Carlsbad Cavern and other park caves are available. To reserve tickets for a guided tour, call (877) 444-6777 or visit Recreation.gov.
Notice:
Carlsbad Caverns requires all guided tour tickets to be picked up 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the tour.
The rest of the year the visitor center is open from 8am to 5pm, with self-guided cave tours from 8:30am to 3:30pm
The basic cavern entry fee, which is good for 3 days and includes self-guided tours of the Natural Entrance and Big Room, is $6 for adults and free for children 15 and under. Annual passes and senior passes are good for the entry of four adults.
You can make reservations for cave tours up to 3 months in advance by phone or online (tel. 800/444-6777
Summers are known for sudden intense afternoon and evening thunderstorms; August and September see the most rain. Underground it's another story entirely, with a year-round temperature that varies little from its average temperature of 56°F (13°C), making a jacket or sweater a welcome companion.
The best time to see the park might well be in September, when you can still see the bat flights but there are fewer visitors than during the peak summer season.
From the city of Carlsbad, head 30 miles southwest on U.S. 62/180 and then 7 miles on N. Mex. 7 to the visitor center. 1 hr from Artesia
Self-Guide Cave Tours: All visitors should tour the main section of the cave, the Big Room self-guided tour. The Natural Entrance self-guided tour is also very impressive, but it is not recommended for visitors with any kind of health problems as it is very steep. Tickets are sold at the visitor center each day, except December 25. Entrance fee tickets are good for three days but do not include guided or other special tours.
Bat Flight Program: Prior to the evening bat flight, a program is given at the cavern entrance by a park ranger.
Major Attractions
Main Corridor: Once in the mouth of the cave, visitors will see 1,000-year-old red and black pictographs high on the walls. The corridor showcases the cavern’s enormity.
Iceberg Rock: A 200,000-ton boulder that crashed down from the ceiling thousands of years ago.
Big Room: The largest single room most visitors see (unless they go to Borneo), this room is 1,800 feet long and 1,100 feet wide.
Hall of Giants: Showcases some of the largest formations in the cave.
Desert Nature Trail: This easy half-mile trail is best enjoyed right before the evening bat flight program.
Crystal Spring Dome: The cave’s largest active stalagmite.
Slaughter Canyon Cave: For those looking for adventure, you will find it on this guided tour. This “unimproved” cave will have you slipping and sliding around for a few hours.
September 4–November 21
King's Palace: 10 am (Daily) Duration: 1.5 hours
The King's Palace tour, a 1.5-hour ranger-guided tour through four highly decorated chambers will take you into the deepest portion of the cavern open to the public, 830 feet beneath the desert surface. Although not as difficult as the Natural Entrance route, this 1-mile tour does require additional descending, and at the end, walking up a very steep hill. Look forward to viewing a variety of cave formations including helictites, draperies, columns and soda straws. Rangers frequently conduct black-outs during this tour, briefly turning off all artificial lights to reveal the natural darkness of the cave.
The King's Palace tour, a 1.5-hour ranger-guided tour through four highly decorated chambers will take you into the deepest portion of the cavern open to the public, 830 feet beneath the desert surface. Although not as difficult as the Natural Entrance route, this 1-mile tour does require additional descending, and at the end, walking up a very steep hill. Look forward to viewing a variety of cave formations including helictites, draperies, columns and soda straws. Rangers frequently conduct black-outs during this tour, briefly turning off all artificial lights to reveal the natural darkness of the cave.
Left Hand Tunnel: 1 pm (Daily) Duration: 2 hours
Moderately difficult, this is a historic candle-lit lantern tour through an undeveloped section of the cave on unpaved trails. The dirt trail winds over uneven surfaces with some steep slippery slopes. Careful footing is required to navigate on steep slippery slopes, around cavern pools and fragile formations. Not recommended for anyone who has difficulty seeing in dim light. Lanterns are provided.
Moderately difficult, this is a historic candle-lit lantern tour through an undeveloped section of the cave on unpaved trails. The dirt trail winds over uneven surfaces with some steep slippery slopes. Careful footing is required to navigate on steep slippery slopes, around cavern pools and fragile formations. Not recommended for anyone who has difficulty seeing in dim light. Lanterns are provided.
Sturdy, lace-up hiking boots that cover the ankle are required. Boots with zippers will not be permitted on the tour. Boots must have good aggressive tread. No sandals, flip flops, tennis shoes, or similar. Duration: 3 hours
In 1924, National Geographic expedition members wrote about the wonders of Lower Cave. Visitors today can see the evidence left behind from those and other explorers. Highlights of this tour include "The Rookery," with countless nests of cave pearls, the "Colonel Boles Formation," and an incredible diversity of cave formations that compete for your attention everywhere you look. Included in the tour is a descent of sixty feet of ladders and a knotted rope to hang onto as you slowly walk backward down a slope at the tour entrance.
The ranger-guided cave tours require an additional ticket and can be purchased in advance. ALL TOUR TICKETS MUST BE PICKED UP AT THE VISITOR CENTER AT LEAST 30 MINUTES PRIOR TO YOUR TOUR. If you reserve a spot on the Slaughter Canyon Cave or Spider Cave trip you must caravan in your own vehicle to the trailhead after meeting at the visitor center. Participants on guided tours (except King's Palace and Left Hand Tunnel) must bring 3-AA batteries with them. Gloves, knee and elbow pads will be provided if crawling is required on a tour.
August and September see the most rain
The Hall of the White Giant tour is as close to enthusiast caving as most casual visitors ever get; tour groups are limited to eight, and there’s plenty of crawling and slippery passages. The Lower Cave tour requires a rope-assisted descent into chambers of ethereal Gothic architecture some 90 feet below the cavern’s Big Room. Slaughter Canyon Cave, discovered in 1937, is another cave system within the park; its entrance is a 23-mile drive west of the park’s visitor center.
Hall of the White Giant and Spider Cave tours run once weekly and may fill up two months in advance; Lower Cave tours run more frequently. Tour fees range from $7 to $20 plus $6 park entrance fee, and difficulty varies: Some excursions require gloves, kneepads, hard hats (provided), and lights (provided, but bring four AA batteries). Don’t miss Slaughter Canyon Cave (bring a flashlight)
Slaughter Canyon is the most exotic and colorful cave I’ve ever been in, a grotesquerie of bizarre formations, most likely gnawed into their convoluted forms and surprisingly vivid colors by ancient sulfuric acid in suspension in the cave’s air. Most of the park’s 500,000 annual visitors never see Slaughter Canyon Cave because it’s a 30-minute drive from the visitor center and tours require reservations. But it’s even more spectacular than Carlsbad Cavern, the park’s famous centerpiece and namesake.
First, stop at the visitor center to look at the exhibits and check out that day's tours and programs. If you would like to take any guided tours, it's best to buy tickets now. Then head into the main cave through the steep Natural Entrance Route and continue on a self-guided tour of the Big Room.
You'll finish your Big Room tour at the elevators near the Underground Rest Area, so pick up a sandwich there or take the elevator up to the surface, where you can dine in the restaurant at the visitor center or drive out for a picnic lunch at Rattlesnake Springs.(Rattlesnake Springs is a picnic area with tables, grills, drinking water, and restrooms. It's along the access road to Slaughter Canyon Cave.) After lunch, take the King's Palace Guided Tour (for which you purchased tickets earlier). Then walk the nature trail outside the visitor center and drive the 9 1/2-mile Walnut Canyon Desert Drive. If possible, try to get back to the amphitheater at the cave's Natural Entrance by dusk to see the nightly bat flight (spring through fall), when thousands of bats leave the cave.
- Carlsbad Caverns is big. Seriously big. I know that seems like everyone would know that a cave is going to take up some space, but I was completely unprepared for the sheer size and time needed to see this cave. Unless you want to really rush, plan at least a half-day to see the entire cave, but a full day can definitely be spent here.
- There are no restrooms in the cave. The restrooms are located at the top of the Natural Entrance and next to the elevators. If you are in the cave and have a bathroom emergency, it is easiest to continue to the Big Room and high tail it to the elevators. This is also the best exit if you need to take a break for a snack.
- Your ticket to the Caverns is good for re-admittance to the cave all day, so feel free to use the elevator to go back to the Visitors Center for a break.
- To do the cave justice, a minimum of 2 ½ to 3 hours is needed unless you want to keep a pretty fast pace on the trails. Four hours is a good amount of time to see all of the parts of the cave.
A FULL DAY ITINERARY
Start the day much like the half-day itinerary, but register for a guided tour of the King’s Palace for the afternoon. With the afternoon set, a more leisurely pace can be enjoyed for the Natural Entrance Route and the Big Room Route, and you can still expect to finish in time for lunch. A King’s Palace tour will take you into the deepest point allowed by visitors in the cave and adds about 1 ½ hours to your day. At that point, you could choose to enjoy the desert trails around the Visitors Center or head into town for dinner before the finale courtesy of the millions of bats that call the Caverns home.
A HALF DAY ITINERARY
Begin the day when you are fresh with the Natural Entrance Route Tour. This begins at the surface level and allows you to duck into the gaping mouth of the massive cave, all while enjoying the cave swallows swooping and diving overhead. The tour winds past the Boneyard where intricate calcified formations and a 200,000 ton boulder are the highlights of the trek. The trail is about 1 ¼ miles, and steeply descends into the cave for about an easy hour walk. At that point, the trail joins the Big Room Route where you have the option to use the restroom or take the elevators back to the Visitor Center for a snack or continue on another 1 ¼ mile walk. The trail here is level and loops around some of the more fantastic formations in the caverns. 1 ½ hours is a good estimate for this loop and it returns to the elevators where a quick ride takes you back to the surface just in time for lunch.
Another rad cave tour offered by the NPS is the Left Hand Tunnel Tour. Rangers will guide you along a primitive, unpaved trail in an undeveloped portion of the cave... and you'll each get a lantern to light the way as you explore the more rugged areas of Carlsbad Caverns. It's a totally old-school cool way to experience the underground tunnels.
The rangers also offer bat programs at night between April and mid-October. At 7:30, learn about these mysterious creatures and watch nearly 400,000 Brazilian free-tail bats leave the caves for their nightly feedings. remember that you can only bring plain water with you (because the cave is home to a delicate ecosystem) and that you might want a jacket or a sweater, since it's cooler underground. There's a snack bar inside, though, in case you get hungry.
into the town of Carlsbad, NM, you'll find some awesome little gems like the Trinity Hotel. The historic building was once a bank, a newspaper printer and an office building, but has recently been converted into Carlsbad's only boutique hotel. Pro tip: even if you don't stay here, grab dinner at the onsite restaurant: the hand-cut, locally-sourced steaks are incredible, and you won't find a more reasonably priced and delicious plate of pasta in the whole state!
later in the summer, afternoon rains downpour across the desert.
This is a suggested way of spending two days at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The order allows the experiences to build on each other. The Natural Entrance and the Big Room are basic standards and are a great way to begin. The King's Palace continues with what used to be a self-guided tour, but is now only available on a scheduled ranger-guided tour. The Left Hand Tunnel experience is by candle lanterns and ups the overall experience. Finally, the Lower Cave tour is by headlamps and features some mild caving opportunities. Fill in the in-between times with book store, gift shop, theater and/or cafe.
Day 1
- Rent the available audio guide.
- Start with the NATURAL ENTRANCE ROUTE SELF-GUIDED TOUR. Allow 1 hour.
- Continue with the BIG ROOM SELF-GUIDED TOUR. Allow 90 minutes.
- Ride the elevator to the surface and visit the book store and gift shop. Possibly view one of the short movies in the theater. Have lunch in the café.
- Ride the elevator down again and take either the 2pm or 3pm KING’S PALACE RANGER-GUIDED TOUR.
- Afterwards, be prepared to kill some time including having dinner (bring some reading material, cards, etc.) and then attend the BAT FLIGHT PROGRAM.
Day 2
- In the morning take the 9am LEFT HAND TUNNEL RANGER-GUIDED TOUR.
- Lunch in the café.
- In the afternoon take the 1pm LOWER CAVE RANGER-GUIDED TOUR.
To make this schedule possible, you’ll need to book the 3 ranger-guided tours well in advance as they regularly sell out. Each of them become available 6 months in advance for booking.
DRAGON CHINA BUFFET $10 WITH SOME SUSHI
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