Overview

Carlsbad Cavern is one of the world's most famous show caves, and forms the heart of Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Discovered in the late 19th century, the cave includes the Big Room, a natural limestone chamber that is 255 feet high, 625 feet wide, and about 4,000 feet long. Carlsbad is just one of about 300 known caves below the Chihuahuan Desert and Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico and west Texas, and portions of its 30 miles of passages can be explored via an elevator at the visitor center or through a natural entrance. There are three miles of paved trails within Carlsbad Cavern, plus a wide variety of ranger-led tours that will take you into parts of the cave system where you'll see natural pools, fossils, and unique rock formations. You can also visit the more primitive Slaughter Canyon Cave, claustrophobic Spider Cave, or venture even further underground on your own by obtaining a spelunking permit. Above ground, the park includes a drive through the Chihuahuan desert and Walnut Canyon, 50 miles of hiking trails, and Rattlesnake Springs, a cottonwood grove used as a resting place by generations of native tribes, pioneers, and settlers, and now a popular picnic area.