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Local & General Info
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Location:
Best Western Cavern Inn is located ¼ from the entrance of Carlsbad Caverns National Park on Carlsbad Caverns Highway.
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Areas Served:
White's City, Carlsbad Caverns, New
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Area Airports:
Cavern City Air Terminal Airport 18 miles
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White’s City Resort and Water Park:
- Carlsbad Water Park: Slide down our two thrilling 150 foot water slides. One is completely black making the ride dark and exciting. Small children love the Pirate Ship with its squirting cannons, soft slides, and lookout water drop. The splash pool has a high volume mushroom water drop and is only 12 inches deep. Fun for kids of all ages. Free to hotel guests.
- Million Dollar Museum: 12 large rooms filled with over 30,000 items! See the Whittlin' Cowboy's Ranch, 30 antique European doll houses, antique dolls, guns, cars, wagons and 7,000-year-old mummified bodies. Entertaining and educational for the whole family
- Granny's Operahouse: Hiss, boo, cheer and throw popcorn in the hilarious performance of "The Bankers Dilemma" or "How the Dollop and Trippington Railroad came to Botts California". Now in its 13th year, this historically incorrect drama is interspersed with oleos and song. Fun for the entire family.
- Arcade: Our redemption arcade has video games, skee ball, basketball, racing and shooting gallery. Located next to the Million Dollar Museum on the boardwalk.
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Carlsbad Caverns National Park:
Enter the park only one quarter of a mile from our hotel. Visit all the attractions found at the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The Carlsbad Caverns Visitor Center, where you can begin your exploring, is located seven miles from the park entrance.
- Carlsbad Cavern: Explore the subterranean fantasyland of stalagmites, stalactites and helicites in the Eighth Wonder of the World. Designated a World Heritage site, the caverns are accessible by elevator or natural entrance trail. Admission $6.00 adults, $3.00 students and seniors. Tickets are for three days. Open everyday except Christmas.
- Natural Entrance Route: On this self-guided route you will descend over 750 feet on a steep, narrow switchback trail. This one-hour, one-mile walk takes you through the historic natural entrance to the underground lunchroom.
- Big Room Route: The Big Room is a massive 14-acre chamber, which is reached either by elevator or the natural entrance route. It is a one-hour, one-mile easy walk on level trails. You will see spectacular formations in this largest of all underground chambers in North America.
- Kings Palace Guided Tour: This one and a half hour ranger guided tour will lead you through four highly decorated chamber 830 feet below the surface. Tours depart from the underground lunchroom. Admission $8.00 adults, $4.00 students and seniors. Several tours are offered daily. Reservations and general admission ticket required.
- Lower Cave: Moderately strenuous wild caving tour. Highly decorated passageways highlighted by rare cave pearls and unique formations. Be prepared to descend 50 feet on ladders. Admission $20.00. Tours Monday through Friday 1:00 p.m. Reservations and general admission ticket required.
- Left Hand Tunnel: This one-half mile guided lantern tour over packed earth trails is highlighted by formations, crystal clear pool and ancient reef fossils. This tour is the easiest of the off-trail tours. Admission $7.00. Tours daily 9:00 a.m. Reservations and general admission ticket required.
- Hall of the White Giant: Strenuous and challenging wild caving tour. Tour involves crawling long distances, squeezing through tight passageways and climbing up slippery flowstone lined passages. Admission $20.00 Tours Saturday 1:00 p.m. Reservations and general admission ticket required.
- Underground Lunchroom: This is the only place where you can have lunch 750 feet underground in one of the world's largest caves. Box lunches of chicken or sandwiches, pizza, snacks and beverages. Do not miss this unique experience.
- Summer Bat Flight: Carlsbad Caverns' most famous residents are the Mexican Freetail bats that inhabit the cave during the warm spring and summer months. At dusk 300,000 bats take 20 minutes to two hours to exit the cavern. Rangers offer nightly talks about the bats as visitors watch this amazing wonder from the amphitheater of the park. Admission is free. At sunset every evening from May through October.
- Bat Flight Breakfast: A bat flight breakfast is held annually, usually on the second Thursday in August, from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. Park employees sponsor this breakfast once each year. A special program is given and other activities may be scheduled as staffing permits. A reasonable charge is made for the breakfast. Regular cavern fees apply for entry into the cave following the breakfast.
- Slaughter Canyon Cave: 15 miles away you can tour a large and well-decorated undeveloped backcountry cave. Visitors meet at the Slaughter Canyon parking lot (16 miles from White's City), hike one half mile and tour the cave by flashlight on unimproved dirt trails. Admission $15.00. Tours daily in summer and on weekends in winter. Reservation required.
- Spider Cave: Nine miles away you can participate in very strenuous wild cave tour visiting a complex backcountry maze cave. Tour involves a half-mile hike to the cave and negotiating tight crawlways. This is a warm cave (75-degrees F). Glasses will fog up. Admission $20.00. Tours Sunday 1:00 p.m. Reservations required.
- Walnut Canyon Desert Drive: Seven miles away is the start of a one-hour drive through the Chihuahuan Desert, this nine and one half mile gravel road is suitable for most vehicles except trailers and motor homes. You may see species of desert wildlife.
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Guadalupe Mountains National Park:
- Headquarters Visitor Center at Pine Springs, elevation 5,740 feet. On US 62-180, 35 miles southwest of White’s City and 110 miles east of El Paso. Information, natural history museum, introductory slides program. Admission is free. Open every day except Christmas.
- Frijole Ranch History Museum: Cultural exhibits of the Guadalupe Mountains area.
- McKittrick Canyon: A favorite hiking experience. Maple, walnut, ash, oak, pine, juniper and chokeberry trees grow along the spring-fed stream throughout the canyon.
- Guadalupe Peak: On a clear day, the view from the Top of Texas (8749 feet) is outstanding. The trail is steep, but well established. Rated strenuous with 3000 feet of elevation gain. It is 8.4 miles and takes six to eight hours.
- El Capitan: Once called Signal Peak because the Indians sent smoke signals from its bluffs, this 11.3-mile hike is rated moderate. Take plenty of water.
- The Pinery: Walk the short three-quarters of a mile path t the ruins of the old Pinery Station, once a favored stop on the original 2,800-mile Butterfield Overland Mail Route.
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Lincoln National Forest:
30 miles away you can enjoy the Lincoln National Forest
- Sitting Bull Falls: Located seven miles southwest of State Highway 137 on Forrest Route 276, this 130-foot waterfall is one of the highest in New Mexico. Picnic area, trails and restrooms are available. Day use only - no camping.
- Five Point Vista: Eleven miles south of State Highway 137 on Forrest Route 540. A panoramic view of the desert from the top of the Guadalupe Mountains is spectacular.
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Living Desert Zoo & Garden State Park:
A brief 25 miles away you will find the Living Desert Zoo and Garden State Park. Come face to face with a mountain lion or rattlesnake at this unique zoo and botanical garden offering an opportunity to experience the Chihuahuan Desert first hand. See the rare Mexican gray wolf (Lobo) and New Mexico’s state bird, the roadrunner. Be sure to catch their mescal roast and the Mountain Spirit Dancers. The park is located high atop the Ocotillo hills overlooking the northwest edge of Carlsbad. Admission $4.00 adults, $2.00 students. Open daily except Christmas 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
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Brantley Lake State Park:
35 miles from White’s City, located 12 miles north of Carlsbad on US285. This state park offers camping, boating, fishing, picnic area, restrooms, showers and grills.
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Carlsbad, New Mexico:
Be sure to take a drive over to Carlsbad, only 15 miles away. In Carlsbad you will find the Pecos River with its many attractions, White’s Animal Kingdom Zoo, Carlsbad Museum, the Eddy County Courthouse and the Fiesta Drive-in Movie.
- Fiesta Drive-in Movie: Outdoor family entertainment at a reasonable price. All features in stereo with your car’s FM stereo radio. Come early and enjoy an evening meal from our concessions. Three giant screen. 401 West Fiesta, Carlsbad, New Mexico. www.carlsbadnm.com/fiesta
- White’s Animal Kingdom Zoo: A fun little zoo with some of everything. View exotic animals in spotless surroundings. Located on Fiesta Drive in Carlsbad.
- Carlsbad Museum and Art Center: See on of the only complete collections of Taos Founder’s paintings. The museum features Mimbres pottery, local artifacts, old west chuck wagon and three of New Mexico’s artist’s Glenna Goodacre sculptures. She sculpted the Vietnam Women’s Memorial in Washington, D.C. Most recently, she designed the nation’s newest coin, a gold-colored one-dollar piece bearing the image of the Shoshone Indian Sacagawea (www.usmint.gov). In front of the library is "The Reader", a sculpture by local artist Wren Prather Stroud.
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Pecos River:
- Christmas on the Pecos: It glows out of the desert and reflects the magic of each holiday season. Visitors aboard one of the three cruising pontoon boats, enjoy a tranquil fifty minutes floating past exclusive waterfront home decorated for the holidays. Operating from Thanksgiving to New Years Eve, this is a tradition in New Mexico. Admission $7.00, reservations required (505-887-6516)
- George Washington Paddle Wheeler: Take a relaxing 40-minute ride up the Mighty Pecos River to view exclusive river front homes. Operates summers and weekends.
- Riverwalk: Whether you walk or run, the four and one half miles of paved walk along the banks of Lake Carlsbad is the perfect place for exercising. Playgrounds and picnic tables make these parks irresistible.
- Pecos River Village Conference Center: Located on the banks of the sparkling Pecos River, the center offers meeting rooms, spectacular views and shipboard dining.
- Eddy House and the Flume: This small stone house was the first built by Charles B. Eddy, Carlsbad’s founder. It is located next to the Flume, once the largest concrete structure in the world.
- Lake Carlsbad Golf Course: This beautiful course, found by Lake Carlsbad, offers 18 holes of challenging golf along the river and in the foothills. There is also a 9-hole par three executive course. Fees may be the lowest in the world.
- Discover Carlsbad Driving Tour: Signs will guide you through town, along the river, up to the Living Desert in the foothills of the Guadalupe’s, past Carlsbad Senior High School, to the Eddy County Courthouse and the Carlsbad Museum and Art Center.
- Riverside Country Club and Golf Course: Member of the country clubs are welcome in the clubhouse and on the golf course. Every Tuesday the 18-hole course is open to the public.
- Fishing, swimming, boating, waterskiing, Fourth of July celebration may all be enjoyed on the Pecos River at Lake Carlsbad in the middle of town.
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Area Map
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Best Western Cavern Inn
