We have a week vacation in July. We would love to go to Carlsbad for the bats and the Cave. I am looking for suggestions on what else to see or do or drive to.
Thanks,
Elaine

You could go to El Paso and walk across to Mexico. Our kids got a kick out of going to another country. (They were 9 and 13 at the time) White Sands is also pretty interesting. Keep in mind that it's going to be HOT in July.

White Sands National Monument. It's north of Carlsbad also in NM. It's really pretty there and alot of fun too!

http://www.nps.gov/whsa/

I second White Sands. It was always a stop on the way home to El Paso when we would spend a long week end in Cloud Croft, NM.
Have fun!

Here are the places I went last speing: http://www.mightymac.org/06nm01.htm

Keith

Keith: those were awesome pictures! Thanks so much for sharing!

seremarcus: Carlsbad is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere in the desert. White Sands is a good suggestion. The places that Keith visited are about the only places in the vicinity: Old Mesilla is part of Las Cruces; Cloudcroft is up in the mountains; El Paso is huge and sprawled out and not much charm.

Then there's Roswell, which Keith didn't mention.

Have a good trip!

Effectively, Carlsbad is in the middle of "nowhere", but a nowhere with some jewels : Guadalupe Mountain national park worth certainly one and even 2 days...
Carlsbad caverns worth 1 day and a half and with or Carlsbad-the town(a nice zoo) or a visit to the Sitting Bull falls and you have 4 days full of occupation.
The best is to lodge in the hotel-a best western if I remember near the caves, because you are not so far from Guadalupe park...
For the rest of the week, or option El Paso(1 day) and a day in Mexico, across the border...
Or I agree with White Sands/Alamogordo,
Cloudcroft(the Lodge is a nice lodge)...
Problem is where to land...
Perhaps in El paso.
The trip could be : El Paso/Alamogordo(2 or 3 nights : White Sands, Alamogordo, Cloudcroft, Three rivers petroglyph site...)
Then, Carlsbad(3 nights : Caverns, falls, Guadalupe)
And back to El Paso, driving thru Guadalupe park to hike or soon to arrive in El Paso and have a whole day there.
Erik.

There's also gila cliff dwellings that isn;t a far drive from there. What we did was white sands/alamogordo, carlsbad, then gila then back up towards abq and points north - this was our first visit ever to NM. I've been to NM numerous times now and we always do north - we like it better.