Best Cabin Camping near Whites City, NM

If you haven't yet discovered the beauty of the chihuahuan desert, the Carlsbad KOA is a great place to hang your hat while you explore.

I often stay in camping cabins at KOA's while on road trips with my children. We like having a bed to spread our sleeping bags out on sometimes, access to AC after a hot day of exploration and the kids like a chance to 'plug in' while we are unplugged....

Carlsbad KOA is big, but it has adequate bathrooms and showers for the size, and they were in very good shape when we visited in June 2016. There is a pool, laundry, all the amenities you need if you are RVing, a game room and food on site. If you like camp cabins, the cabins had grills, picnic tables, the usual double + set of bunks (bring your own bedding), and AC.

Campground was peaceful. The great tailed grackels were courting and whistling, quail wandered through and rabbits romped around our cabin.

If you are in this area, visit the Living Desert State Park and Zoo and of course Carlsbad Caverns - stay and watch the bats fly out in the evening.

The only drawback on this KOA was that the wifi signal was spotty at our cabin, and I had some work to do. If you are taking an ACTUAL vacation, it wouldn't be an issue!

Let's start with the fact that there are few actually camping areas close to Carlsbad Caverns or Guadalupe National Park. Assuming travelers are coming to Carlsbad to see these great places, the location becomes a major player. Fine print: there is a small campground (absolutely no amenity campground) in Guadalupe National Park which is first-come, first-serve (aka: full), and there a campground in White's City--although having driven past it, I don't think I want to stay there.

Carlsbad RV Park is primarily an RV Park. In fact, while we were there, they were bulldozing their only tent sites and I'm not sure if they are upgrading them or replacing them with more RV sites. So the "tent" site status is tentative. As with most RV Parks, the RVs are crammed in, side by side, and really the place is like an RV parking lot with amenities and hook-ups--but they do appear to be mostly pull through and the staff will show the way to go to pull through without hiccups. These are not spacious by any means. We stayed in one of two cabins, which were very reasonably priced, esp. when comparing to Carlsbad KOA. They even came with a cable and a fridge.

The RV Park (like all of the RV Parks in Carlsbad) has overall become a residence for the oil field workers, so be prepared to try and sleep through the 4 a.m. traffic rush out of camp to oil field. However, the neighbors are pleasant and quiet to have, even if they must drive away before the roosters announce the coming of the sun.

The park has gated access and we felt very safe during our stay. There is a playground that was being bulldozed with the tent site; I am unsure if it is being upgraded or eliminated. There is a camp store, a pool, a game room, showers (which were ok), laundry, a dishwashing sink, picnic tables at the cabins, and universal fire pit. Please note that I am inherently biased against parking lot style RV parks--so 2 stars from me for an RV Park is quite a compliment.

Carlsbad RV Park and Carlsbad KOA direct comparison: we have stayed at both the Carlsbad KOA and the Carlsbad RV Park. The KOA is NOT actually in Carlsbad, and is over an hour away from Carlsbad Caverns and 30 minutes from town. On the other hand, the RV Park is at the southern end of town and only 30 minutes to the Caverns. While the KOA lots are more spacious, they offer no more and no fewer amenities than the RV Park…well the KOA sort-of offers meals but the RV Park is right in town, so delivery is an option. The basic, no frill KOA cabins cost double the RV Park charges. Additionally, the KOA staff was not as friendly or as helpful as the RV Park staff, imho.

While in Carlsbad check out Fiesta Drive-In for one of America's few remaining drive-in movie theaters.

There’s a store in the office with RV supplies, snacks, drinks, toiletries, and other necessities. A restaurant is located in the office that will deliver to the sites. Someone escorted us to our spot when we arrived. They were mostly pull through slots with full hookup. It was a huge space with a lot of amenities: a community room, dog park, playground, etc. There are also cabins for rent and tent spaces. We paid about $53 per night.

When looking for a campground close to Carlsbad Caverns, the most recommended for proximity happens to be that of White's City RV and Campground also known as Carlsbad Campground. Only a short 7 miles from the visitors center and only a few hundred yards from the main entrance, the campsite offers over 200 camping zones for those coming to the area.

We arrived late afternoon to the site and noticed a large quantity of rv campers but very few tents on premise. In fact only a single tent camper was on site at the time of arrival. 

We searched for the check in and were a bit baffled as to where to stop as no clear registration was marked. Instead we stopped and asked someone on site in the RV area and they were very welcoming and informative.

For those camping, arrival check ins are at the local gift shop about a block away, the sleepy town closes by 6 p.m. however so if you arrive past this time you are forwarded to a local hotel for check in. 

After overcoming the confusion we were finally able to start unpacking. Due to it being early in season, we were able to pick our campsite and settle in without any issues.

Campsites are all equipped with a picnic table and fire ring area and a light shade cover. Water hook ups are on hand and the camp keeps a camping hose accessible to all for extinguishing camp fires at night.

We noticed upon our arrival and throughout the evening a plethora of native Bunnies grazing which made for a pleasant atmosphere of bringing nature to our camp.

The camping facilities were grassy and softer than many other sites we had visited along our journey. A nice shade tree made for a great block to the early morning rays. 

Our only areas which we noticed could be improved were in the bathrooms as we noted a lack of recent maintenance and lights needing to be changed to improve brightness in the mirror and sink area. Also the showers were a bit of a question mark for us as they closely resembled indoor beach showers and had no doors. 

During our stay we were the only ones using the facilities so we had plenty of privacy, however during busy season this shower could pose an issue for campers. We recommend the buddy system during busy season here so someone can either hold a towel for a make shift door or be a look out for additional guests coming in.

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Overall this campground gets 3 of 5 Bunnies, in major part because of the bathroom facilities. However we do also have to consider the confusion with check in. We suggest doing a call reservation with payment to avoid having to check multiple facilities just to check in!

We stumbled upon Camp Washington Ranch when looking for someplace to stay near Carlsbad Caverns. It is an interesting property. While it was originally a ranch, it was purchased in the 1980s by a non-profit that serves adults with disabilities. There are group homes on a corner of the property but they also rent the property as a wedding venue and have four RV camping sites. We were surprised by the ponds and creeks running through the property (since its in the middle of a desert) but figured out that it receives excess water from the springs that service Carlsbad Caverns National Park. 

You can walk from Camp Washington to Rattlesnake Springs Picnic Area (part of the National Park), which was a neat adventure. The picnic area was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps and you can visit the springs and see the irrigation system developed by the CCC. Rattlesnake Springs provides all of the water to the National Park and, we figured out, also explains the ponds and creeks in Camp Washington Ranch! 

It seemed like we had the whole property to ourself during our stay. We made our reservation and paid over the phone, and didn't see any staff or residents while we were on the property. Would definitely recommend to anyone needing a place to stay before heading to the national park for a cavern tour.

Full service campground with many amenities. Indoor pool, laundry facilities, showers and bathrooms. Most sites are full sun with a few partial shade. Level sites. Gravel pads with picnic tables. Helpful staff.

We’ve stayed here twice now in the past year, and both times the service and the sites were great. There aren’t a whole lot of other options close to the Caverns - there’s a fairly new KOA and a state park campground, but they are very far to the north, almost another 45 min drive, so if you’re planning a visit to the caverns this place is a great bet. Appreciated the carded gate access after hours for added security.

The service here is next to none! The space is great, convenient to restaurants and a brewery, and the water pressure was fantastic!

Wanted to like this place because the staff was super accomodating and nice and they have some grass sites, but I am not sure how this place gets such good ratings. 

This place is way overpriced for the amenities which need serious updating.

- You get bamboozled by the clean check-in, store& laundry which are inviting and then you see the rest of the place.

- Their"sparkling clean" showers/restrooms were so gross and trough style so you would be showering in someone else's grime even with flip flops.

- The cable was spotty and kept going in and out from clear to pixelated most of the time.

- Couldn't play horseshoes because they were missing 2 horseshoes.

- Couldn't play cornhole because they were missing a beanbag.

- The laundry room was super clean, but it was$7($3.50 each) to do a load.

- The pool was very outdated& super loud if any kids were in it(it echoes because it is indoors and you can't hold a conversation).

- The pool is cold even though they say it is heated. It is okay to put your feet and legs in for a quick cool off, but you can't swim in it long. They set it at 80 degrees and there is no sun to counteract the cold because it is indoors. The proper temperature for elderly and children is from 84 to 94 degrees. 80 Degrees is for competition swimmers to keep them chilled and stimulated. I wonder if the managers have ever swam in the pool to see how cold it really is. 

The pool was the only reason we booked this park so we wasted 3 nights here and paid almost$55 a night for a parking spot. The staff, grass sites, the trees gives this the extra star otherwise it would be a one star based on the pool& amenities. 

Overall, we would not recommend this place if you want to use the facilities. If you are just passing through and need a spot for a night I would not recommend it either because it is so overpriced(there is BLM land all around the caverns for an overnighter).