During my visit to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, my mom and I chose to do the self guided tour. Well, I say “chose”, but there wasn’t much of a choice. At the time (November 2021), only one ranger tour was being led. When I looked to buy tickets a month in advance, it had already sold out. If you want a ranger led tour, make sure to book it well in advance as spots are limited and clearly sell out early.
But if you don’t manage to snag a ticket for a ranger led tour, don’t worry. You can do the Carlsbad Caverns self guided tour and explore the cave at your own pace. While it may not be as informative as taking a tour with a ranger, I still had a great time.
Carlsbad Caverns Self Guided Tour
Here’s everything that I think you should know before taking the self guided tour at Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
Make a Reservation
Before you even get to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, you’ll need to go online and make a timed entry reservation. Yes, even if you only plan to do the self guided tour, you’ll still need a reservation.
Hundreds of reservations are available daily, but they come with a timed entry. These timed entries spread out visitors so there aren’t massive groups going through the caves at once. We visited in the middle of November and had no problem making our reservation for the self guided tour the day before. For ranger led tours, you’ll want to book these well in advance. For more information, visit the NPS website.
Reservations for the self guided tour cost $1 per person. When you make your reservation you’ll choose an hour window entry time.
Check In
Once you arrive at Carlsbad Caverns, you’ll park in the main lot and enter the Visitor Center. Follow the signs to the check in desk and show your reservation.
At this point, you’ll also need to pay your park entry fee which is $15 per person. An America the Beautiful Pass, with a photo ID, is also sufficient. Note that the America the Beautiful Pass can be used for the driver as well as all other passengers in the vehicle. The America the Beautiful Pass does not cover the $1 reservation fee for your timed entry.
So, as an example, my mom and I were traveling together. We paid $1 to make a timed entry reservation for each of us ($2 total). Then when we checked in, we used my America the Beautiful Pass which covered the park entry fee. If we had not had the America the Beautiful Pass, we would have needed to pay $15 per person (or $30 total) to enter Carlsbad Caverns.
A Choice – Hike or Elevator
When you check in at the visitor center, you’ll be given a choice for your Carlsbad Caverns self guided tour. You can choose to hike in to the caves or take the elevator. The elevator is definitely easier, since you save 1.75 miles of hiking. But the hiking is a bit more adventurous and allows you to see more of the caves. My mom and I chose to hike, and I’ll cover that more in detail shortly.
Taking the Elevator
If you have limited mobility, it’s best to take the elevator. The hike into the cave can be steep at certain parts and it even has stairs at certain points. As much as I recommend hiking in, you need to recognize your own limits. So while you will miss some scenery, you will still get to see some of the awesome formations in the cave if you take the elevator. The elevator will take you straight into the Big Room where you’ll meet up with the people who hiked in.
Hiking In
If you choose to hike in, you’ll exit through the museum and go outside (rangers will direct you where to go). You’ll present your receipt (given to you at check in) to the ranger posted outside the entrance. That ranger will then go over the basic safety information. Now, it’s time to start the adventure on your self guided tour at Carlsbad Caverns.
The entire hike into the caves and to the start of the Big Room (where you’ll meet the people who took the elevator) is 1.75 miles and has an overall descent of 700 feet. Since we were hiking downhill, we found this to be pretty easy. Plus once you get further into the cave, you’ll want to stop to take plenty of pictures. It took my mom and I just over an hour to get from the Visitor Center to the Big Room. We could have gone faster, but we stopped for plenty of photos as we walked.
Along the way, you’ll pass loads of informational signs, teaching you about the history of the caves. You can also get an audioguide that can give you information as well, but since we did not do this, I can’t really speak to it.
The Big Room
Once at the Big Room, it’s mostly flat. It’s another 1.75 miles to walk all of the pathways in the Big Room, although it should be noted that not all of the paths are wheelchair accessible. Signs are posted for when wheelchair users should turn around.
The Big Room is full of several different areas, although some parts are cooler than others. Fairyland was definitely our favorite though. Wander and tour the various rock formations.
If you’ve hiked down, you may be losing steam. Once we were about halfway through the Big Room, we started to get bored. Don’t get me wrong, it was very cool, but there’s only so many rock formations you can look at before it starts to feel long winded. Still, we finished the entire loop so we could get the absolute most out of our $1 reservation fee.
Back to the Top
At the end of the Big Room, there’s a small gift shop. Once unique item is their postcards which they can mail for you from within the caves.
Regardless of how you got into the caves, everyone takes the elevator out. Thank goodness, because I would not have wanted to hike those steep hills back out of the cave! Your self guided tour at Carlsbad Caverns ends as you exit the elevator at the main level in the Visitor Center.
How Long Do You Need?
At minimum you’ll want to give yourself two hours to do the self guided tour at Carlsbad Caverns, if you plan to hike in. If you plan to take the elevator, you may only need one hour. But there is no limit to when you have to come out (except for when the park closes).
Getting To Carlsbad Caverns
From the city of Carlsbad, head south on Highway 62. Once you hit White’s City (the first city you come to once leaving Carlsbad), turn right and follow the signs to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Expect it to take about 35 to 40 minutes to reach Carlsbad Caverns from the city of Carlsbad.
When To Visit Carlsbad Caverns
The cave is constant 56 degrees all year round, so the weather outside doesn’t need to influence your plans. Instead focus on what else may be going on at the park. If you visit between April and September, you could see the bat flight program.
We visited in November and had low crowds and a great time.
Final Thoughts
As an independent traveler, I appreciated the option for a self guided tour at Carlsbad Caverns. It allowed my mom and I to go at our own pace. We stopped for plenty of photos in the beginning, but by the end, we were kind of over it. Although part of it may have been we misread the information and thought we had a one mile hike in and a one mile hike through the Big Room so our expectations were off.
A few months earlier, my mom and I toured Mammoth Caves National Park in Kentucky. While both caves were cool, I think I preferred my overall experience at Mammoth Caves more. Carlsbad Caverns had more “wow!” rock formations, but taking the ranger led tours at Mammoth Caves really helped to give more context to what we were looking at.
So maybe, I would feel differently had we taken a ranger led tour at Carlsbad Caverns. But I have no regrets about visiting. I am especially glad we chose to hike in, as that’s where my mom and I had the most fun.
Continue Your Adventure
New Mexico: Carlsbad Caverns is one of two national parks in New Mexico. The other is White Sands National Park near Alamogordo.
Texas: Just a short drive from Carlsbad Caverns is Guadalupe Mountains National Park where you’ll also find Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas.
Itineraries: In one five day road trip, you can visit White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks.
More Caves: If you’re interested in touring caves, you have to add Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park to your bucket list. Or head to South Dakota for Wind Cave National Park and nearby Jewel Cave National Monument.