Stay in Carlsbad or head to Las Cruces?

We will be arriving (late) on a Friday night in Carlsbad from San Antonio. We plan on doing the caverns and the Living Desert Zoo. Should we head to Las Cruces (or maybe El Paso) or just stay in Carlsbad? I hate to waste travel time if we are just going to be at a hotel by 5 pm on Saturday night. I also saw that the hotels in Carlsbad aren%26#39;t that great, right?

Also - my google maps tells me to go from Carlsbad over to Las Cruces, but it looks like people on here say it%26#39;s quicker to head back down to El Paso. I would like to see White Sands possibly, could we do the Caverns, Zoo and WS all in one day and get to Las Cruces at a decent time Saturday night? Our ultimate destination is Anaheim area through Phoenix, visiting friends and family along the way and other nature/historical stops.

Thanks for your advice :)

Stay in Carlsbad or head to Las Cruces?

Hi

You%26#39;ll need all day to visit the Caverns and Living Desert SP. Best Western Stevens Inn is at the south side of Carlsbad and has a decent restaurant (The Fume). The new Holiday Inn is at the northern side of Carlsbad and closest to Living Desert. It%26#39;s a 30-45 minutes from Carlsbad to the Caverns entrance and you%26#39;ll need at least half a day for the Caverns, an aboslute highlight. Then drive to Living Desert SP for a visit. You also need at least 2 hours for it and I highly recommend it. It%26#39;s like a little Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson. I would drive next day via Artesia and Cloudcroft (great views on White Sands far below) and visit White Sands NM before driving to Las Cruces. The drive from Artesia to White Sands is scenic. So my advice, stay at the Holiday Inn, visit Carlsbad Caverns first and Living Desert SP in the afternoon. If you decide to drive to White Sands same day maybe stay overnight in Cloudcroft or Alamogordo. You%26#39;ll have to backtrack to White Sands if you drive to Las Cruces. Shortest route to Las Cruces from Carlsbad already is a 3-3.5 hours drive via El Paso.

Tet

Stay in Carlsbad or head to Las Cruces?

I think you%26#39;ll have to make some compromises, but isn%26#39;t that almost always true?

Here is the website for the ';self-guided'; tours in Carlsbad Caverns. I think you%26#39;d want the do-it-yourselves versions because they give you more flexibility.

nps.gov/cave/…selfguided_tours.htm

The ';full'; tour, from the natural entrance (cave mouth), and then through the Big Room is about 2 1/2 miles. You have two optional choices however if you%26#39;re short on time. In the first, you may enter the natural entrance just outside the Visitors Center, and walk gradually down over 700ft. This is a walk for people in good physical condition. About a mile and a half. To me, it is also the most enjoyable, because you are so close to many spectacular formations. At it%26#39;s end, there are elevators back to the Visitor%26#39;s Center at the surface. You can do this ';half'; tour, and ride up on the elevators, or take in the Big Room also...another mile or so, or the third choice, ride the elevators down from the VC and take in the Big Room only and return to the surface via elevator. This is the ';fastest'; tour. If all in your ';clan'; are in good shape, I%26#39;d recommend the natural entrance, and then back up on the elevators. (Unless you are doing the whole enchilada). :-)

You didn%26#39;t say ';when'; you are coming to NM. The drive from Artesia, west through Cloudcroft is very scenic, but Cloudcroft is at 9,000ft. elevation, so snow is a consideration in winter. If in summer, no problem, and a great highway. The highway comes out about five miles north of Alamogordo, and you can continue to Las Cruces, and take in White Sands National Monument enroute. If you go from Carlsbad to El Paso, and back NE to Alamogordo to take in the sands, it would be way out of the way. I%26#39;d vote for Carlsbad, Artesia, Cloudcroft, Alamogordo if the weather is good.

You should be able to hit the caverns (the natural entrance opens at 8:30am in Winter), and take in what you wish. If a ';half'; trip, you should be able to get out, and get to Alamogordo for the evening. If you%26#39;re in early enough, you could go out to the sands (about 15 miles west) until closing, and return to Alamogordo. The Living Desert Museum is nice, BUT I don%26#39;t think anywhere near the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Stop in Tucson instead, and on the west side of the city, and within a couple of miles, you%26#39;ll get the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Old Tucson Studios (sets where many westerns have been made), and you%26#39;re also in the midst of Saguaro National Park with its giant, pipe organ cacti. A drive from Alamogordo to Tucson even with a W.S. stop, should be relatively easy, as most of it will be on I-10. You may even press on to Phoenix if you don%26#39;t mind arriving a little late. Hope this helps. Have a great trip.

As others have said, it will take you all day to visit the Caverns and Living Desert. If you can, take the Natural Entrance into the Caverns. Wonderful experience walking into the place (you can not hike out, only can take the elevator out). Not really difficult, but not easy.

I would stay in Carlsbad... either the Stevens Inn or there is a newer Holiday Inn Express. Restaurants aren%26#39;t the greatest, but there are a few, mostly chains. Also a visit to the river area is cool.

Then you can drive the next day to Alamogordo to see White Sands and on to Las Cruces. Not much more time that route. Also stop and see Cloudcroft and the observatories there.

Day 1 Friday: Arrive Carlsbad late. Stay Holiday Inn Express.

Day 2 Saturday: Carlsbad Caverns Natural Entrance and maybe a guided tour once there. Plan on at least 5 hours at the Caverns. It is at least 1/2 hour between the places plus you need to have lunch. Then head to Living Desert. At least 2 hours. Stay again in Carlsbad. Take some time to relax, it is vacation.

Day 3 Sunday: Drive to Alamogordo via Cloudcroft. Then on to Las Cruces and on to Tucson area. Maybe stop in Tombstone AZ.