Carlsbad Caverns and Guadeloupe Mountains
 

My wife and I are planning a weeklong trip this winter to visit Carlsbad Caverns, Guadeloupe Mountains and White Sands. We will be flying in to El Paso, and I am looking for lodging near Carlsbad that is somewhat upscale to serve as our home base, but I haven't been able to find anywhere special to stay. Ideally we would like to stay in a nice hotel or a place with natural beauty, even if it is further from the parks.

Our tentative plan is one day at White Sands, two days at the caverns (with a ranger tour if possible) and three days in GMNP (we don't have a plan for the 7th day yet). Is there anything else in that area that is a must see? We love historical places and wildlife.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. It will be our first trip to this area and all we know is what we have read so far.

For lodging, look in the Las Cruces, NM area, if you just google Las Cruces lodging you will find more places that might fit the bill. We drove through el Paso, but I found it a bit sketchy.

When we were in the area we also visited Three Rivers Petroglyph site on the day we went to White Sands. Another day we visited Gila Cliff Dwellings.

There's a national wildlife refuge near White Sands called San Andres. I would assume you would drive from White Sands to Carlsbad via Cloudcroft - that area has skiing in winter so you may run into snow. For upscale lodging around White Sands, your best bet is either Las Cruces or look for a B&B in one of the smaller towns.

What are you looking to do in Carlsbad, other than a ranger guided tour? If you aren't doing one of the special wild cave tours, one day is enough at Carlsbad. There are only 2 self-guided tours and that would take a half day.

Do you enjoy hiking? Guadalupe is very much a hiker's park - there are a couple historical sites (Frijole Ranch and Butterfield Stage Station) but those would probably only take up a half day at most. Other than that, you'll be hiking.

Upscale lodging is a challenge around there. You'd probably need to google some B&B's. You just won't find upscale hotels in any of the smaller cities/towns in that whole region, and Las Cruces or El Paso don't really serve as a good base for the Carlsbad/Guadalupe part of your trip. It's almost an hour drive to Guadalupe Mountains from Carlsbad and I would not recommend staying any farther away than that or the drive becomes prohibitive. As I mentioned above, if you aren't big hikers than you could probably cut back and not spend 3 full days there.

There are other things in the area though. Carlsbad has a living desert zoo state park.
http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/SPD/liv...statepark.html

Closer to El Paso are several Texas state parks.
http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/hueco-tanks
http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/wyler-aerial-tramway
http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/franklin-mountains

El Paso is the biggest city in that region and has the most activities. All 3 of the Texas state parks I mentioned are relatively close to El Paso. You could also visit Chamizal National Memorial and the Magoffin Home. I would consider spending a couple days in El Paso and visiting some of those things at the beginning or end of your trip.

I would do this:

Day 1/2: El Paso
Day 3: Drive to Las Cruces (stop at Franklin Mountains on the way), visit White Sands OR San Andres
Day 4: Visit White Sand OR San Andres, drive to Carlsbad with a detour to Three Rivers Petroglyphs.
Day 5/6/7: Visit Carlsbad Caverns (one day) and Guadalupe (2 days)

Visit Hueco Tanks on your way back to El Paso.

Adjust that based on your flight times and interests.

I've copied part of my trip report that might apply, although we flew into ABQ and drove directly to Carlsbad:

Stayed at Trinity Hotel in Carlsbad for 2 nights, a lovely historic B&B, which truly felt like a respite. Next AM toured main cave via natural entrance. Great experience! For us it was worth the long drive south. In PM drove to Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

Next day headed to White Sands National Monument via Cloudcroft. Interesting views leaving desert for mountain scenery and high elevation (over 8,000 ft.). Spent time on drive within White Sands and in informative visitor center. Loved it! When we got home, it was featured on Sunday Morning TV program.

Thank you very much for your responses! They are very helpful. We do love to hike, and we are planning to do a lot of hiking at Guadalupe Mountains. Franklin Mountains also look like a good place to hike.

It looks like we will stay at a vrbo for a few days, and we will also look into the Trinit Hotel.

San Andres looks interesting, but I read that it is generally closed to the public?

I'm thinking about adding Bosque del Apache to our itinerary. It's a little out of the way, but it looks like it may be worth it. Any thoughts on that?

I'm also looking forward to checking out Huedo Tanks and especially, the living desert zoo state park!

You could add Bosque del Apache, it is best in the winter so would work well for you. Supposedly sunrise/sunset are the ideal times so plan accordingly. If you do that, it might make sense to skip Las Cruces as an overnight and just drive straight to Bosque del Apache.

Hueco Tanks has a limit on the number of people that can be in the park at one time and reservations are highly recommended in winter. Take a look at their website, they also have ranger guided tours but those are also subject to availability.