Located on the beautiful Pecos River, Carlsbad offers hiking, golfing, river recreation and lots of sunshine! Carlsbad Caverns National Park and the Guadalupe Mountains National Park are nearby. Carlsbad, New Mexico, is the seat of Eddy County. Situated in a semiarid climate at the northern tip of the Chihuahuan Desert, Carlsbad (elevation: 3100 feet) enjoys mild winters and endures hot summers. The city, with its tree-lined streets, public parks and recreation areas — including the municipal beach and greenway along Lake Carlsbad – originated as an oasis, the “Pearl on the Pecos.”
The town has had several different incarnations over a little more than a century — from frontier settlement to boom town and tourist destination to retirement community and new technology center. As you pass through the Chihuahuan Desert and Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico and west Texas-filled with prickly pear, chollas, sotols and agaves-you might never guess there are more than 300 known caves beneath the surface. Carlsbad Caverns National Park contains 113 of these caves, formed when sulfuric acid dissolved the surrounding limestone, creating some of the largest caves in North America.
The Living Desert Zoo & Gardens State Park is an indoor/outdoor living museum displaying more than 40 native animal species and hundreds of succulent plants from around the world. While on the 1.3 mile self-guided tour, visitors discover many faces of the Chihuahuan Desert, from sand dunes and pygmy forest to the desert floor.
