Visiting Carlsbad Caverns. Need RV Park. Where to U stay?

We also stayed at the KOA. And would again. Not exactly convenient to the caverns or town, but the best around anywhere close that we found. There is a small RV park right at the turn off to the park. But rvparkreviews.com reviews are poor, and from looking at it from the road I would guess valid.

Walking in the natural entrance is great (if you are in reasonably good condition). But you better be in great condition to walk out.

While I have not stayed at any of these parks I am living nearby and have looked at them. As suggested the KOA seems to be the best choice and I believe that you will see several votes for it. There is also Brantley Lake State Park in the area if you are inclined.

One suggestion and one caution if I may.

The suggestion is to try to drive a little farther down the road and visit Guadalupe Mountains Nat Park if you have time. A stop at the visitors center and Frijole Ranch house would be a nice stop if you have never been in this area.

The caution is to be aware of the weather. I don't know where you are coming from or your schedule but the weather is being forecast to change significantly on Sat with forecasts of rain and snow with much colder temps. This area has a tendency to have freezing rain as well and the roads do get closed at times so just be informed.

The last thing that comes to mind is that some time back there was a report that the elevator into the caverns was out of service so the only way in and out was the walking entry. Don't know if this is still the case or if it is important to you but wanted to share.

Hope you have a great trip.

Terry

We stayed at Brantley State Park, and were very well pleased with the campground.

We stayed at Carlsbad KOA which is actually about 45 minutes to an hour drive to the Caverns. There are parks a lot closer, but we would not have wanted to stay at any of them. There is also a Escapees park nearby the KOA, but we did not check it out.

Honestly it was one of the nicest parks we have stayed at and we normally are pretty picky about where we stay, but like most KOAs not cheap. Nice large spaces, neatly maintained, nice laundry, good dog park, decent WIFI, good 50 AMP service and spotless bathrooms. The office personnel were professional and friendly. At the time we were there, there had been torrential rains thru the area and the area by the office for check in did have some potholes open up, but other than that the roads where well maintained and easy to navigate. They provided pizza and bbq meals that you could have delivered to your RV or eat in the meeting area by the office.