What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 2:15pm Tuesday 9am - 2:15pm Wednesday 9am - 2:15pm Thursday 9am - 2:15pm Friday 9am - 2:15pm Saturday 9am - 2:15pm Sunday 9am - 2:15pm

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

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Carlsbad Caverns National Park

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On October 25, 1923, President Calvin Coolidge signed a proclamation creating Carlsbad Cave National Monument. But the fun and beauty are not only underground.

The monument was designated as Carlsbad Caverns National Park by Congress on May 14, 1930. Beauty and wonder; above and below

Rocky slopes and canyons, cactus, grass, thorny shrubs, and the occasional tree, who could guess at the hidden treasures deep underground? Beneath this rugged land are more than 119 known caves - all formed when sulfuric acid dissolved the surrounding limestone. To plan your visit, go to the park's official website: www.nps.gov/cave . Activities

A variety of cave tours are available—from the self-guided Natural Entrance and Big Room routes to guided tours that range from walking the paved trails of Scenic Rooms, called the Kings Palace Tour, to crawling through narrow passageways in Hall of the White Giant or Spider Cave. In the park Visitor Center, you will find educational exhibits, ranger led talks and programs, a bookstore run by non-profit partner, Western National Parks Association, and a restaurant, gift shop and kennel operated by park concessioner, Carlsbad Caverns Trading Company. Outdoors there are opportunities for hiking, backcountry camping, picnicking, and from May to October, watching the incredible exodus of Brazilian free-tail bats out of Carlsbad Cavern at dusk. About posting:
Welcome to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park page. We hope this will become a place where fans feel comfortable sharing information and experiences about this and other national parks and one another. While this is an open forum, it is also a family friendly one, so please keep your comments and wall posts clean. Please be considerate of other fan's opinions. In addition to keeping it family friendly, we ask that you follow our posting guidelines here. If you do not comply, your message will be removed. We do not allow graphic, obscene, explicit or racial comments or submissions, nor do we allow comments that are abusive, hateful or intended to defame anyone or any organization. We do not allow solicitations or advertisements. This includes statements, photographs or external links that promote or endorse any financial, commercial or non-governmental agency. Such posts and/or links are subject to deletion. People who continue to post such content and/or links may be subject to page participation restrictions and/or removal from the page. We do not allow attempts to defame or defraud any financial, commercial or non-governmental agency. We do not allow comments that suggest or encourage illegal activity. You participate at your own risk, taking personal responsibility for your comments, your username and any information provided. Finally, the appearance of external links on this site does not constitute an official endorsement on behalf of the U.S. National Park Service or the U.S. Department of the Interior.

11/01/2026

History comes to life in the depths of the cavern!

Please join us for this historic, 1.25-mile lantern lit tour, which will feature a re-creation of the Rock of Ages ceremony. This ceremony was regularly conducted within the Big Room at Carlsbad Caverns during the 1930s and 1940s.

• December 3-5, 10-12, 17-19 • 5:00PM - 7:00PM
• $15.00 per person • Age minimum of 10 years old
• Starting November 16th, reservations can be made
by phone at (575) 236-1357
• This program is not ADA accessible

10/30/2026

Join our current Artist in Residence and sculptor, Kevin Shluka, for a special program tomorrow, 10/30, at 11am in our Visitor Center! Program is free to all and no ticket is required. Join Kevin in creating elements that will be incorporated in his final sculpture creation! We look forward to seeing you!

10/28/2026

Have you even flown through a cave in the dark to get your dinner?

The lowest known point of Carlsbad Cavern is called Lake of the Clouds at 1037 feet. This area is much warmer than the 56°F visitors encounter in the Big Room. These warm temperatures were chosen by the Cave Myotis (Myotis velifer) and sometimes the Fringed Myotis (Myotis thysanodes) as a maternity roost and bachelor pads. The bats take an arduous flight in order to get out in the evenings to eat insects. They travel past the lunchroom all the way up the main corridor and out into the evening.
Each year the Resources Department sets up an audio recorder that catches the different calls the bats make as they leave their roost sites. Echolocation call characteristics and identifying software are used to determine the bat species recorded. This information is helpful to researchers to determine what type of bats are currently roosting in this area of the cave and if there has been a change in residency. Cave myotis typically call in the 40 Kilohertz range and Fringed myotis make calls in the 20 Kilohertz range.

Photo: NPS/T. Gleason

10/27/2026

Due to the recent flooding in the park, the Yucca Canyon and Slaughter Canyon trails are closed until further notice. The cavern trails remain open and fully operational. Thank you for your understanding!

10/26/2026

Another spooky season icon at Carlsbad Caverns National Park is the Hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus). They are one of the most widespread species of bats in America having been recorded in 49 states. They have thick fur in a variety of shades from gray to a light orange. Typically, they roost on trees in loose bark or in thick foliage. To keep warm while roosting, Hoary bats wrap themselves in their furry tail membrane like a sleeping bag.
In recent years, Hoary Bats have showed significant population declines due to deforestation and wind turbine collisions. Thankfully Bat Conservation International and other governmental agencies are working with the wind industry to implement solutions that will reduce the mortality rate of these special bats.

Photo: NPS

10/24/2026

🎶Na na na na na na na na na na na na na Bat Week!🎶

It's one of our favorite times of the year here at Carlsbad Caverns National Park–Bat Week! Carlsbad Caverns has 17 documented species of bat; however, visitors mostly hear about the Brazilian Free-Tailed bat (also known as the Mexican Free-tailed bat), due to their large population numbers inside the cavern. So, we wanted to show off a real battie, which is the Pallid Bat (Anthrozous pallidus). Bat Cave Pallid bats may occasionally use the bat cave in Carlsbad Caverns but likely not when the Brazilian Free-Tailed bats are present. Pallid bats use their uropatagium, the thin layer of skin between the hind limps and tail, like a catcher’s mitt to grab insects midflight. They are considered a gleaning bat and have even been known to eat ground-dwelling prey like scorpions.

Photo: NPS/E.Lynch

10/22/2026

Lubber (noun): a clumsy fellow or unskilled seaman

Although the Plains Lubber grasshopper (Brachystola magna) spends little time near the sea, it certainly lives up to the “clumsy” part of its name!

Despite having powerful hind legs, Plains Lubbers spend most of their time crawling, choosing to hop only when necessary. As they grow older and larger, their hopping becomes less controlled, and they often struggle to land right side up.

Although they have wings (round, pink, and dotted), these are too short to allow them to fly. Perhaps because they prefer crawling to hopping, Plains Lubbers are frequently spotted crossing roads and parking lots throughout Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

Photo: NPS/T. Gleason

10/19/2026

Like visitors of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Great Horned owls (Bubo virginianus) enjoy attending Bat Flight programs. Especially during the fall months when large bat flights are occurring. Unlike the normal visitor, Great Horned Owls are not there just for the views, they are there to eat. Horned owls along with other birds of prey, regularly wait around the cave entrance to sn**ch up wayward bats or bugs. Our live bat camera captured this owl swooping down to lands on the cave's entrance.

Photo: NPS/Explore.org

10/16/2026

World War II Across America’s National Parks: Carlsbad Caverns National Park

“I believe if the armies of the world could just march through your caverns, they would come out chastened and humbled to live together in brotherly love.”
- William R. Arnold, Chief of Chaplains, in a letter dated 1943 to Colonel Thomas Boles, Superintendent of Carlsbad Caverns National Park

From January of 1942 to September of 1945, armies did indeed march through Carlsbad Caverns. Over 130,000 troops—referred to as “guests in uniform” by Superintendent Colonel Thomas Boles—visited Carlsbad Caverns National Park during the Second World War. Carlsbad Caverns experienced a 20% - 70% decrease in visitation each month until near the end of the war. The NPS and concessionaires within parks were struggling to break even in the face of such low visitation numbers. These guests in uniform were not charged for park entry, but many brought along friends and family outside of the military, whose money helped keep the parks and concessionaires afloat. In 1943 alone, 2 million of the 7 million visitors to National Parks were US servicemen. Officers at airfields and training camps near parks strongly encouraged their men to visit their local parks. Hobbs Air Field alone sent 1,000 soldiers every month to visit Carlsbad Caverns. Following the war, visitation to the cave, sometimes referred to as “the largest air-raid shelter in the world” by Colonel Boles, saw an unprecedented increase. Many of these post-war visitors were returning WWII veterans who fondly recalled their time exploring the cave during the war. “Chastened and humbled” by their first time visiting Carlsbad Caverns, these veterans now returned with their families, ready to “live together in brotherly love” following years of war.

Carlsbad Caverns was just one of the national parks that offered servicemembers a place for recreation and reflection during World War II. Next, travels to Grand Canyon National Park to explore another landscape considered "worth defending."

10/15/2026

Please stop by tomorrow for our special Artist in Residence program with Megan Garcia! There will be a hands-on papier mache activity that is open to all visitors. This event will take place in the visitor center at 11:00AM and is free.

Address

727 Carlsbad Caverns Highway
Carlsbad, NM
88220

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 2:15pm
Tuesday	9am - 2:15pm
Wednesday	9am - 2:15pm
Thursday	9am - 2:15pm
Friday	9am - 2:15pm
Saturday	9am - 2:15pm
Sunday	9am - 2:15pm

Telephone

+15757852232

Website

http://www.nps.gov/cave

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