Carlsbad Caverns With Three Kids, a Full Guide

Very, very cool to see. Also a lot more walking than we expected. Here is the honest version.

Carlsbad Caverns genuinely wowed us. Walking down into it feels like stepping onto another planet, and the pure size of it is absolutely worth doing at least once. It is also a lot of walking, more than we realized going in, so here is everything we would tell a family before they go.

Where we stayed: boondocking at Chosa Campground

We boondocked near Carlsbad at a spot called Chosa Campground, and it was amazing. It is a big, open lot not far from the caverns where you can boondock for free, with wide open sky and plenty of room to spread out.

The best part was the people. We met an awesome family from Georgia there, and our girls had a blast playing with their kids. We swapped travel stories late into the evening, picked up some great recommendations for places to see next, and just enjoyed getting to know them. Those unexpected friendships on the road are honestly some of our favorite parts of this whole life.

From here we were pointed toward Zion, and pulling out with a full camera roll and a few new tips felt like the perfect send-off.

Just know going in: it is a lot of walking

They are not kidding when they say the natural entrance is quite the hike. It is a long walk down into the cave, and then a lot more walking once you are inside. By the time we got down into the actual cavern, our kids were pretty much over it, and it was hard to get them excited to keep exploring because we had already walked so much.

So my biggest tip is to really weigh it before you go. Think about how old your kids are, how good everyone's knees are, and how much walking your crew can realistically handle. Ours still complained a little, but we had a great time overall, and it was so worth seeing.

Natural entrance or elevator?

If you have good knees and your kids are older and ready for a real hike, the natural entrance is incredible. It is mostly downhill on the way in, which is really nice, and it stays cool the whole way. But walking back out would be all uphill, and I would not recommend that with kids.

So here is the honest advice. Take the natural entrance down if you are up for it, and absolutely, one million percent, take the elevator back out. I do not know how anyone does that entire walk in reverse. And if the hike is not your thing at all, you can simply take the elevator both down and back.

One heads up: the elevator drops around 750 feet, roughly the height of a 75-story building, and our kids were a little scared of how deep it goes. But by the time we were leaving, they were so exhausted that the elevator was the only option, and honestly, it was a relief.

What surprised us: how open it feels

We had done another cave before this one, Caverns of Sonora, and that one was humid, stuffy, and honestly a little hard to breathe. Carlsbad was the opposite. It is so open and airy that it barely felt like a cave at all. Breathing was easy, the air stayed cool, and the whole space felt calm and wide open. That alone made a huge difference with the kids.

Little things worth knowing

There is a bathroom deep down in the cavern, and the kids thought that was the coolest thing about the whole trip. When we visited, the concessions on the lower level were not open, but from what we understand they usually are, so that is something to plan around depending on the day you go.

Carlsbad blew us away. It is a lot of walking, and we will say that honestly, but the scale of it is unforgettable. Do it once, take the elevator out, and just soak it all in.