As many of you know, our goal as a family is to see all of the US National Parks. This past fall, we were able to cross two more off of the list – one of which being Carlsbad Caverns.
What you need to know:
Address: 727 Carlsbad Cavern Hwy Carlsbad, NM 88220 United States
Visitor Center: 8:00 am until 5:00 pm daily
Caverns: 8:00 am until 1:30 pm daily
Fees:
- Adults 16 years and older are $15,
- Children 15 and younger are free
- Entrance fee is good for 3 days. If you are staying in the area, you can come back as often as you like within those 3 days
Getting to the caves:
To get down to the caves, visitors can either walk down via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center. The natural entrance is a 1.25 mile very steep walk down into the caverns. We opted to walk down and then take the elevator back out when we visited. There is quite a bit of walking even once you get to the bottom, so keep that in mind if you have little kids with you. We had a 4, 7 and 10 year old with us and they did great, although our 4 year old did start to get tired after a while.
Rules:
- Baby strollers are not permitted in the cavern.
- Visitors under the age 16 must be accompanied by an adult, age 18 or over.
- All cavern tours require that you wear shirts and shoes.
- Metal framed backpacks or backpacks that extend above the shoulders or of a length that extends below the hips are prohibited (e.g. trekking backpacks).
- Plain water is permitted in the cavern, but no flavored water or drinks. Also, no food, gum, mints, candy, or any product that could attract animals into the cavern where they can’t escape.
- Please bring your quiet voice, noises carry up to a 1/4 mile (0.4 km) in the cavern.
Things to do:
When choosing which activities to do in the park, it’s important to note how much time you have. You can go with the most popular, self guided cave tour which allows you to freely roam the caverns at your own pace. The elevator is great if you do not have much time! The other option is to take a ranger-guided tour. These do require reservations but I will link the website here for more detailed information.
Another popular is attraction is the Bat Flight Program. This occurs from every evening from late May-October, where a ranger will talk about bats prior to their flight. No reservations are required for this program! The program takes place at the Bat Flight Amphitheater, located at the Natural Entrance to Carlsbad Cavern. The start time for the program changes as the summer progresses and sunset times change.
Aside from the caves, there are also several outdoor hikes available. The nps website has all that information here. If you are traveling to the park with kiddos, I highly recommend the Junior Ranger program. As with all National Parks, this is a great activity to do with kids and you as the adult will usually end up learning things you would have otherwise. After completing the booklet, a ranger will review your work and award you with an official junior ranger badge!
Carlsbad Caverns also has a cafe in the visitor center and an underground lunchroom in the caverns. The Underground Lunchroom only serves a small selection of pre-made sandwiches, salads, yogurt parfaits, coffee, bottled drinks, and hot chocolate that you can enjoy at a self-lit picnic table. The kids really got a kick out of eating in the dark by the light of a lantern. The cafe in the visitor center serves hot meals and drinks. The bookstore and huge gift shop boast some really neat souvenirs to bring back home. My daughter got the cutest stuffed bat to remember the caverns by.
