carlsbad caverns national park visitor center

I have been to the Caverns several times and always took the self guided tour. This time, I took a Ranger guided tour of the Kings Palace and was blown away. Cheap, informative, kid friendly. Ranger Phil provided fun, history and an overall great learning experience. He did not rush and allowed plenty of time for questions and photographs.

This visitor center is perched high on the hillside with the Guadalupe Mountains off in the distance. The parking isn't bad if you get there early. There's lots to discover in the visitor center. They have a minature model of the cavern's layout that really puts into perspective how vast the cave system is and how far down you are actually going. There's a huge gift shop and cafe and there's a nice book store and an art gallery. Rangers can answer any of your questions and point you in the right direction. Be sure to sign your kids up for the junior ranger program, it's lots of fun for them and they get a badge when done.

Loved the new walkways and railings, the speleothems and the ease of walking. Areas are not handicapped accessible (wheelchairs). Take plenty of batteries for your camera!

Carlsbad is a wonderful gem. Every time that I visit I'm always amazed at how large and beautiful the cavern is. I've been visiting, off and on, since I was a small child (this was a long time ago). The break room/lunch area was not as nice as I remembered but I did go during the off season so maybe that had some to do with the lack of "boxed lunches" that I remember them having in the past.

The staff was very helpful in suggesting the must sees for a first time visitor. I actually cancelled one of the tours I had booked, on their recommendation, in order to see The Big Room.

I really enjoyed our visit to the caverns this weekend! We went with a large group of friends and really enjoyed the visit even though I was disappointed that the natural entrance closes at 2pm, so we had to take the elevator down instead of walking in. I feel that not using the natural entrance takes away half of the cavern experience, but unfortunately we didn't make it on time.Anyway, it's a long walk and hard if you have small children because strollers are not allowed. Also, the restaurant at the gift shop has nothing special. The food is pretty bad actually, but there are really not alot of options in the area. So, at least you can fill your belly! But, overall the caverns are beautiful and the facilities are well kept!

Not a huge place, but it's a clean facility with everything we needed to supplement the star attraction (the caves, of course), such as clean bathrooms, something to eat (nothing amazing), souvenirs and some interpretive displays.

This large, impressive building got a complete face-lift a few years ago, and it's much improved in most places. The exhibits are really attractive. You can learn a lot about the cave, and see some amazing photos, but after our long walking tour underground, we were too tired to look at them! You may want to stifle your eagerness and see this stuff before you head to the cave. The rangers were all extremely friendly (this was in the off season). The gift shop was huge and reasonably priced, but the bookstore was extremely disappointing, with only a few selections. When we visited in 2002, it was much larger with a much greater variety of titles. The cafeteria offers horrible rubbery hot dogs and stuff like that, but hey, you're way way out in desert here, so you're crazy if you expect fine dining! The food will at least fill your stomach, and it didn't make us sick or anything, but you'd be better off bringing your own. Overall, the visitor center is modern and worth your time. I wish we hadn't been too tired for those displays. They were really beautiful as we passed by.

We visited during a month's stay in Las Cruces, NM and because of travel time we were not able to go through the natural entrance into the caverns (it would have added another hour to our day). We took the elevator from the very clean, attractive, and well staffed visitor's center. The only tour that afternoon was sold out so we did the self guide but it was just fine. Arriving in the Big Room is quite the thrill and walking the full extent is amazing. I marvel at this natural wonder's history and appreciate the efforts our National Park service put forth to maintain it's integrity.

The visitor's center is very nice. Clean, well maintained; friendly, helpful staff. There's a nice little book store and gift shop Beautiful views from the parking lot. The drive out from the main road is 7 miles and it's a beauty--right through the park.

After researching Carlsbad Caverns and checking out a number of reviews, it became apparent to me that we should take the King's Palace ranger-guided tour. I'm happy that we did. Not only did this tour allow us access to otherwise restricted areas (King's Palace, Queen's Palace, etc.) which include some of the more beautiful areas of the cave, but we found our guide very knowledgeable, friendly and informative. This does not mean that the rest of the cave is not worth visiting. It definitely is and the general access areas do contain other areas that are also some of the most beautiful and spectacular sections. However, it is definitely worth paying the extra $8.00 per person to do the King's Palace tour. Note that this tour does require some stairs (15-20) and has some reasonably steep areas to negotiate. It is more physically demanding than the general access areas (but less so than the natural entrance, I am told). Reservations are recommended.Because of slippery conditions on the surface and my wife's sore knee, we opted to skip the natural entrance and take the elevator down. I'm sure that we missed something by doing so but it did make things easier. Note that visiting the cave costs $10.00 per adult and that the ranger-guided tours are in addition to this fee.Visiting Carlsbad Caverns should definitely be on everyone's bucket lists. It is different than any other cave that I have been in (admittedly only six large ones). Highly recommended.

this is my third visit in 2 years, so all I actually did was grab a snack, ride the elevator down, and walk out. the water was off because of a frozen pipeline, so things were limited, but functioning. when you come, besides the big room, try to work in one of the guided tours, you won't be disappointed.

I walked a great distance and enjoyed every minute of it. The cavern big room is beautiful and worth the price. Most caverns charge just as much for half of what is offered here. I will visit again when the bats are back from migration because it sounds like another great thing to experience at the cavern. Very much worth a visit!

I drove here with my middle school daughter. We hiked down through the natural entrance into the cave. Though it was below freezing on the surface, inside the cave it was about 56 degrees. We walked the entire pathway. The height of the cavern as well as the variety of formations was amazing. Thankfully, this was not one of those caves where they illuminate the cave in different colors; everything here was bathed in the same white spotlights. Be sure to rent a sound guide to help you understand what you are seeing.

I went here several times as a kid and always loved this massive cavern, much larger than anything we have around Austin. I took the family this time, and they also loved it!