Tour the caves of course! and other Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM Things to Do Tips

There are 3 well known cave tours at this location.

The natural entrance self-tour is my favorite, it's about a 1-2 hour walk steeply downhill. Some portions are a bit slick from moisture.

At the end of the Natural entrance tour, you can go over to the rest area, or continue around to the Big Room Tour. This portion is the same self guided tour you'd get if you took the elevator down.

Every day at 0900 is another, lesser known tour known as the left hand tunnel. This is a guided tour through an essentially unimproved section of the cave. Reservations are usually needed, and the youngest visitor allowed on this tour is 6.

For the more adventurous, you can make arrangements to go to the unimproved, and most recently discovered Lachuguilla caves.

Another guided tour I have yet to take .....a guided tour into rooms with the most photgraphed features found in local art... I tend to hate large crowds and tours in general - so I have chosen to avoid this one as it is quite popular and usually sold to capacity.

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Directions: * EXPANDED HOURS: Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tours available 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. LAST ENTRY INTO CAVE VIA NATURAL ENTRANCE IS 3:30. LAST ENTRY INTO CAVE VIA ELEVATOR IS AT 5:00. [from nps.gov/cave]
Website: http://www.nps.gov/cave/index.htm

I hightly recommend spending the extra $3.00 for the audio tour. You watch for the numbered placards along the route and when you see them, type in that number. The handheld audio device will provide very helpful information about that part of the cave. I like it because I can skip a section, or get ahead of where I am if I choose.

I found these little devices much more helpful than the informational signs along the route - more informative, and I could stand to the side away from the group trying to read said small sign :)

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Website: http://www.nps.gov/cave/index.htm