New Mexico Carlsbad vacation or Grand Canyon AZ?

Hello,

My boyfriend and I are vacationing for Spring Break(mid March) and I had my heart set on Sedona AZ 3 days Grand Canyon 2 days. This with hotels, car, and plane is about 1,500.00. This does not include trinkets, food or fees, mules etc. My boyfriend is thinking less expensive and driving to New Mexico. We live in Dallas. I%26#39;m thinking Carlsbad, ufo museum, White Sands and Big Bend. I have off work from Thurs to Sunday. If I go to grand Canyon or find a good New Mexico trip I%26#39;ll take off Tues to Sunday. Any ideas. I know nothing about AZ or New Mexico. Please Help.

Thanks so much(in advance)

Jennifer

New Mexico Carlsbad vacation or Grand Canyon AZ?

Sedona and Grand Canyon are well worth the trip. Have you looked at Southwest Airlines for deals on flights?

Carlsbad Caverns is great. UFO museum will take all of 1 hour, not really worth the drive in my opinion. White Sands would be great this time of year, possibly a bit windy, so a visit in the morning would be good. Also in Alamogordo is a great space museum. A stop in Las Cruces and Mesilla would be great and I would consider staying there at least a night. Fun college town with some great food... check out La Posta and Double Eagle.

Day 1 Drive from Dallas. Stay in Carlsbad.

Day 2 Carlsbad Caverns. Hike in the Natural Entrance. Stay in Carlsbad

Day 3 Drive to White Sands and stay in Las Cruces. About 3 hours from Carlsbad to Alamogordo via Hwy 82 through Cloudcroft. Have a nice meal in Mesilla and plenty of places in Las Cruces to stay. We usually stay near Mesilla.

Day 4 Las Cruces to Big Bend-skip Juarez Mexico, lots of drug violence.

Day 5 Big Bend evening head back toward Dallas.

Day 6 Back to Dallas- long drive.

New Mexico Carlsbad vacation or Grand Canyon AZ?

It is hard to top one of the ';wonders of the world'; in the Grand Canyon. Sedona is also pretty neat, but I don%26#39;t know if you%26#39;d need to spend three days there.

If driving to New Mexico, you%26#39;d be taking in a huge area, with not that much to see between ';attractions.';

Carlsbad Caverns is great, and FYI there are two ';half'; tours, or the full one which is about 2 1/2 miles. I too would encourage you to enter the ';Natural Entrance,'; i.e. the cave mouth at the Visitor%26#39;s Center, for either. The pine-clad mountains between Artesia, NM and Alamogordo are beautiful, and you might consider spending a night in Cloudcroft, at 9,000ft. elevation, and in a cabin with a crackling fire. Very romantic! :-)

White Sands is only 30 miles below, via Alamogordo. Late morning temps in March should be ideal.

Las Cruces and Mesilla are nice, historic towns to visit also.

Big Bend is in reality, still a wilderness area, and there are very limited, (and expensive) accomodations deep inside the park. You might want to motel in Alpine. If you%26#39;d be driving from Las Cruces, to El Paso, then east on I-10...turn south at Kent, TX, east of Van Horn, and go down through the Davis Mountains, to Fort Davis (and the historic frontier post), and on to Alpine. You can usually see both mule deer, and antelope on this drive. It is still over 100 miles from Alpine into the heart of the park, and lodge, at Chisos Basin. Surprisingly, March is the #1 month for visitors in Big Bend, because many species of migrating birds arrive then, and attracts the ';birders.'; You%26#39;d want reservations early if staying there.

If I may toss in a third option. You could see the caverns, White Sands, Las Cruces %26amp; Mesilla, but then come up to Northern New Mexico and Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and possibly Taos. This would not be much farther than going down to Big Bend, and much more interesting. You could return to I-20, and back to Dallas through Clovis, and Lubbock.

I too would skip the UFO museum, and save it for another visit. Perhaps we can be of more help when you%26#39;ve decided on your itinerary.

I second NMPhoto%26#39;s suggested itinerary, especially including the overnight stop in Cloudcroft.

Due to the Grand Canyon%26#39;s altitude they could still be getting snow in March (sometimes even later) both on the south and north rims. Winter weather usually doesn%26#39;t break up until April so it could get down into the 20s at night and only into the low 50s in the day. I would suggest the New Mexico trip - you could really find lots to do. Santa Fe is celebrating their 400th anniversary this year and there are some great deals to be had.