2 Day Carlsbad Caverns Itinerary
Explore above and below the surface of New Mexico with this comprehensive Carlsbad Caverns itinerary!
In just 2 days, you can see one of the United States’ most beautiful caves and explore the stunning desert landscape above.
In the itinerary below, you’ll find suggestions to help you easily plan a visit to this incredible national park.
From the best place to picnic to how to nab elusive ranger led tour tickets, I’ve got all the tips for your family vacation!
As with all of my posts, the itinerary and tips here are good for all ages, so that kids and parents alike can experience the wonder of this unique place.
If we don’t have a photo of the entrance sign, did we even visit?!
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Carlsbad Caverns Itinerary for Families
Located in southeastern New Mexico, Carlsbad Caverns isn’t really on the way to anywhere—and that’s part of its charm.
Tucked away in the corner of New Mexico that borders Texas on 2 sides, this remote national park offers an incredible array of activities for those patient enough to get there.
It’s one of the 2 New Mexico national parks, the other being the equally incredible White Sands National Park.
(If you’re planning to do both, check out my 1 day in White Sands National Park itinerary as well.)
Camping Kiddos (on the left) for scale at the Natural Entrance!
If this is your first trip to a national park, you’ll want to read through my comprehensive guide to the U.S. National Parks for beginners, which explains in detail everything from how the Junior Rangers program works to how to nab accommodations in the parks.
Reservations for Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Yes, this national park does require reservations for entrance, much like Arches National Park and a handful of others across the U.S.
However, unlike Arches National Park and others, you only need reservations if you’re planning to go into the cave. You will not need reservations if you’re just planning to stay on the surface.
This system is in place in order to keep admission to the cave limited to a specific number of people at any given time.
Reservations are taken up to 30 days before your visit. Plan ahead and nab one of the earliest entrance times to ensure you have time to see and do all that you want.
Plus, if you choose an earlier entrance time, you’ll be able to come and go into the caves as much as you’d like during the day.
However, you must enter for the first time during your chosen 1-hour time period.
A few finer points about the park reservations:
The reservation fee is $1 per person.
This fee does not include any park entrance fees or tour fees. Those are separate and payable when you get to the park.
Kids 15 and under are free to enter the park, but you’ll still need to pay that reservation fee.
Annual pass holders are also free to enter the park. However (and this will come at no shock), you’ll still need to pay that reservation fee!
If the park isn’t particularly busy on a given day, it’s feasible that you can just show up and hope to grab a reservation time later in the day. This is not advisable, as you will not get to everything on this itinerary and you face the very real situation of getting turned away.
The person making the reservations will need to be the person checking in at the park. The rangers will ask you for your reservation number and your ID.
Itinerary Day 1
Start your day bright and early!
Hopefully, you’ve been able to nab some of those 8:30 AM tickets, so we can jump right into the exploration today.
Head into the national park after breakfast.
It will be tempting to stop along the winding entrance road, but don’t stop just yet. We’ll have time to explore here later on.
Arrival at Visitors Center
Our destination on day 1 is the visitors center, which is perched atop a cliff overlooking the seemingly endless desert flats below.
PIN ME!
Try to arrive at the visitors center around 8 AM.
Head straight to the ticket counter, where you’ll show your reservations for your 8:30 AM check-in time.
Here, the ranger will check your ID and verify your reservations. If you don’t have an annual park pass, you’ll also pay for your entrance fees.
NOTE: Ask about the King’s Palace Tour tickets at this point. These are nearly impossible to get online (but I still encourage you to try!), but the rangers hold back several first-come, first served tickets each day for in-person visitors.
If they have any tickets for this tour, nab them. You might even get the choice of times for this ranger-led tour. If you have the option, select the 1:30 PM tour as this will allow you to complete the itinerary below as is.
If they don’t have any tickets, don’t despair! We’ll try again tomorrow.
Heading into the cave via the Natural Entrance
With your general admission ticket in hand, it’s time to head into the cave.
When you purchase your daily admissions ticket (or show your interagency pass), the ranger will ask you if you’d like to enter via the bat cave/surface entrance or via the elevator.
Heading down a series of switchbacks on the path into the Natural Entrance
I highly recommend the surface entrance for the biggest wow factor!
You’ll head through a portion of the visitors center—again, it’s hard to walk through, but we will be back to explore this area further—and down a short, paved path to a ranger checking tickets.
He or she will then give you a short safety talk before sending you on your way into the cave.
The entrance is spectacular, and you’ll want to stop to take a photo (or 12).
For the best pictures of the entire mouth of the cave, step into the ampitheatre used for the bat flight program. This also ensures that you stay out of the flow of foot traffic into the cave.
From there, you’ll begin to go down…and down…and down. The cave will feel impossibly huge as you descend further into the darkness.
You’ll also see (and smell) many small birds who spend their days here catching insects.
All in all, it’s one of the most incredible cave entrances that I’ve experienced!
Descending into the caverns
While this entire path is paved, it is quite steep in places.
My dad and kids pause in one of the big chambers along the natural entrance hike
If you’re traveling with small kids, go slowly and take frequent breaks as the decline feels as if it will go on forever. In reality, it goes on for almost 1.5 miles!
On your self-guided tour, you’ll learn about ways that animals have adjusted to the near darkness. You’ll cross the “midnight zone,” so called for the area where rangers have purposefully removed lights in the cave as a natural, protective barrier to wildlife in the cave.
You’ll be treated to huge rooms, many of which were shaped and reshaped as the land here moved and changed over the last 250 million years.
All in all, this self-guided tour should take around 1.5 hours if you’re walking at a normal pace.
If you’re traveling with kids, this tour might go on longer depending on how quickly those little legs can walk, and how many times your family stops to discuss various areas in the cave.
This hike puts you out at the Big Room, the incredible space that Will Rogers called “the Grand Canyon with a roof on it.”
Even the Rotunda room at Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park, the massive space at the heart of the best Mammoth Cave tour for kids, pales in comparison to this chamber in New Mexico.
>> Compare Carlsbad Caverns vs. Mammoth Cave for a better idea on what to expect at each national park. <<
Marvel at this space, but don’t get too entrenched here, as we’re coming back to it later on in the itinerary.
For now, take a quick pit stop at the unique underground restrooms just beyond the Big Room, and head back to the visitors center via the elevators.
The elevators date from the 1970s and are built directly into the surrounding rock.
Lunch time
At this point, you’re likely getting a bit hungry.
The Camping Kiddos at the perfect picnic spot at Carlsbad Caverns
On the way out to grab your picnic lunch, stop by the information desk by the front doors to get your kids’ Junior Ranger booklets.
They can discuss what they saw on the Natural Entrance hike and begin to fill out relevant pages.
While there is a small concessionaire through the gift shop, we prefer to bring picnics on our outdoor adventures.
This allows us a chance to relax outside for a bit in the beautiful natural surroundings of whatever park we’re visiting.
Our picnic basket is similar to this one on Amazon (the exact one isn’t sold anymore as we’ve had it for a decade!), and it’s great for packing a quick—and cute—lunch of sandwiches, fruit, chips, cheese sticks, and more.
Take your picnic basket or cooler to the picnic tables on the far side of the parking lot.
We preferred the one on the edge of the cliff for the best views, but this one doesn’t have protection from the sun.
If you’d like a picnic table with shade, there is one just across from the far end of the picnic area under a tree.
King’s Palace Tour
After lunch, browse in the gift shop for a few minutes before heading down via the elevators into the caverns again.
Hopefully, you were lucky enough to secure tickets for the King’s Palace tour either online or when you checked in this morning.
You’ll wait for your ranger guide on the stone benches near the elevators. Don’t be late as the ranger will leave promptly at the time listed.
On the King’s Palace tour with our ranger guide (on the left)
Over the next hour and a half or so, you’ll get to go off the main path of the caverns into the spectacular King’s Palace area.
You might think, “If I’ve seen part of the cave, I’ve seen it all.”
However, let me assure you that the King’s Palace Tour is a completely different experience than the self-guided tour, and it is a fascinating, enriching part of your Carlsbad Caverns experience.
Get everything you need to know in my comprehensive King’s Palace Tour review.
After the King’s Palace tour, it should be mid-afternoon.
Bat Flight Program
Depending on your tolerance for walking and touring, you might be ready to head back to your campsite or hotel room for some downtime.
Families with small children will likely call it a day here as you’ve been walking since 8 AM this morning.
If you’d still like to keep going AND it’s between mid-May and the end of October, I’d suggest leaving the park for a bit to get dinner, and relax for a few minutes.
Then, you’ll want to be back in the park at the ampitheatre around sunset, which can be anywhere between 5:30 and 7:30 PM depending on the month.
Plan to arrive at least 30-45 minutes before sunset as you’ll get a free ranger talk about the stars of the sunset program: the bats!
During the late spring, summer, and early fall, the bat flight program is not to be missed each evening.
This is when you’ll see thousands of Brazilian free-tailed bats rush out of the cave’s natural entrance in search of food.
Ask at the information desk on the exact timing of the ranger talk and bat flight for the day.
Sadly, you can’t take any photos as cameras and other electronics aren’t allowed since they can interfere with the bats’ natural tolerance for sound and light.
See more NPS sites on our New Mexico National Parks road trip itinerary!
Itinerary Day 2
There’s so much to do at Carlsbad Caverns that you ABSOLUTELY will need a second day.
You might be able to do this itinerary in a single day if you were willing to hustle all day without breaks, but what’s the fun in that experience?
Taking 2 days at Carlsbad Caverns allows you to get a sample of the park’s offerings without being exhausted in the process.
In any case, let’s head back to Carlsbad Caverns National Park for Day 2!
Walnut Canyon Trail
Today, we’re spending some time on the entrance road, Carlsbad Caverns Highway.
Instead of rushing to the cave tour like we did yesterday, we’re exploring a bit of the surface before we head back underground.
Make a stop at the Walnut Canyon Trail for some beautiful views of the desert, and a short nature trail with informative signage.
This is also an excellent area from which to take photos of the winding entrance road and scrubby rolling foothills of the Chihuahuan Desert.
Another great and easy surface hike is on the Nature Trail near the visitors center, where you can learn about some of the flora and fauna supported by the desert landscape.
NOTE: As of the writing of this post in late 2023, the park had suffered damage on several of their backcountry trails (not the Walnut Canyon Trail). These trails in the southern section of the park are excellent options for those looking to dive further into the Guadalupe Mountain range, but they are closed until further notice.
Visitors Center Activities
Once you arrive at the visitors center on day 2, check in again. This is also the time to see if you can get those King’s Palace tour tickets if you were unsuccessful yesterday!
My daughter at the photo op in the Visitor Center
(Touring note: if you get King’s Palace tickets today, you can swap the Big Room Self-Guided Tour on Day 2’s itinerary with the King’s Palace Tour on Day 1).
You will need to have separate reservations for each day that you visit the national park. For Day 2, you can select a later check-in time around 11 AM or 12 PM since you’re spending a part of the morning doing a few surface trails and exploring the visitors center.
I’d highly recommend spending some time in the visitors center this morning as it has several great activities.
The free park film is shown on a rotating basis in the theatre between the bookshop and the doorway to the natural entrance to the cave.
It’s about 20 minutes long and covers the brief history of the formation of the caves, current scientific studies at the park, and an overview of the unique ecosystem here.
There are also 2 different stores on-site: the gift shop and the bookstore.
If you’re looking for a unique souvenir, I suggest checking out both as they have different items in each.
The gift shop has shirts, toys, jewelry, stickers, rocks, hats, magnets, and key chains, while the bookstore has books (of course), the park stamps, water bottle holders, notebooks, and more.
For kids, there are 2 great areas to visit:
The children’s area across from the admissions desk. Here, kids can work on their Junior Ranger badges, color free park worksheets, or take a break at the kid-sized table and chairs.
The interactive exhibits near the door to the natural cave entrance trail. My kids loved exploring these, which included a topography map of the area, a tiny cave passage to squeeze through, and photo ops of a spelunker.
Big Room Self-Guided Tour
The Camping Kiddos exploring the Big Room self-guided tour
We will end our visit to Carlsbad Caverns National Park where we started: back underground.
There’s still one major must-do here under the surface, and that’s to do the 2 loops of the Big Room.
You passed through the main walkway yesterday after hiking down through the natural cave entrance, but the Big Room is well worth its own visit.
Head down via the elevators to the left of the admissions desk, and then begin your self guided tour at the well-marked intersection of paths.
This tour is where you’ll see the highest concentration of stalagmites and stalactites on the self-guided tour options. Many of these formations are intricate, delicate, and awe-inspiring.
Do the entire 1.25 mile loop if your family is able to. Otherwise, there is a cut through about 0.75 miles in that will allow you to do a smaller loop.
For families with young kids, plan on taking at least an hour or so to walk the entire loop. There are many infographics and informational signs along the way to help answer questions that your kids are sure to have.
Finally, turn in your Junior Ranger booklets at the information desk for review and to get sworn in. Congrats to the newly minted Carlsbad Caverns Junior Rangers!
The Camping Kiddos getting sworn in at the Carlsbad Caverns information desk
NOTE: If you have time in this area before you move on, you can head slightly south on Highway 62 into Texas to visit the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, too!
Don’t stop here! Explore even more of New Mexico’s beauty on the Santa Fe to White Sands road trip itinerary!
Carlsbad Caverns National Park FAQs
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You’ll want to wear comfortable layers and closed toed shoes.
Layering will allow you to be prepared for both surface activities and cave activities as the temperature during your visit can vary greatly depending where you are on the property.
Closed toes shoes are a must as you’ll want to protect your feet from desert plants on the surface and be prepared for the walking in the caves. We love and recommend Keen Newport H2 hiking sandals for their versatility and comfort.
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The reservation process is easy and can be done on the Carlsbad Caverns National Parks website.
To reserve, you’ll need to pay a small $1 reservation fee for each person who will be visiting. You’ll also need to identify what day and time you want to visit as cave entrances are strictly limited.
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If you’re just planning to visit the cave, you can have the same experience year round as the cave remains at a constant 56 degrees F.
However, if you’re planning to explore the surface as well—something we highly recommend!—you’ll want to aim for late May. We found this to be the perfect time to visit Carlsbad Caverns as the weather is warm, but not hot, and the bat flight program is usually underway.
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While there is a simplistic RV park at the entrance to Carlsbad Caverns National Park in White City, I highly recommend staying a bit further away from the park in Lake Brantley State Park.
Located about 45 minutes from the national park on the other side of Carlsbad, New Mexico, Lake Brantley State Park is inexpensive, quiet, and gorgeous. In fact, it’s one of my picks for best New Mexico campgrounds.
