king's palace

Buy your tickets online and early! Guided tours take you where general admission doesn't. The formations were amazing and the tour went by quickly with so much to see and learn. The ranger that guided our tour, as well as others we encountered through the caverns, are friendly, knowledgable and helpful. Everything we learned on the guided tour made our independent tour through the Big Room even more enjoyable and inspiring. The national park service has done an amazing job in the caverns with lighting, walkways and handrails. Kudos to the national park service and those adventurous cave explorers!

You really need to do this tour when you visit Carlsbad Caverns. The geology is spectacular and the ranger led tour will make the experience even more memorable. Our guide was awesome and gave us a nice summary of the history of the caverns and really made us think about the wonder of this cave and it's past. We also did the big room and I guarantee you that the formations and variety on this tour surpass what you will see in the big room. I had two young kids with me [4 and 7] and they were just fine to keep up with the tour, so don't hesitate if you think you are too slow to keep up. There were a few steepish spots, but generally it was a gentle walk. You might want to bring a flashlight and play with your camera settings before you go to optimize how to photograph in a night-like setting with limited light. FYI -- they do not allow tripods on this tour.

This is an amazing national treasure, a bit off the beaten path but worth going to. Even if you have to travel through west Texas to get there, worth it! We had a reservations which was good because this tour was sold out when we arrived. Long but not strenuous, nicely paved and good handrails for the "ups" and "downs". People taking flash pictures got a bit annoying; wish they had photo stops which would help the group stay together and make a nicer atmosphere.

Your have to pre-purchase this tour. It is well worth it. Just be sure you have enough time for the Big Room which is a MUST

Wife and I booked a place on a King's Palace tour a few weeks ahead. I had heard that's a good thing to do (both choosing the KP tour and booking ahead). Walked from the natural entrance down to the Big Room and met our guide, who took us through lots of rooms, interpreted what we were seeing and patiently answered many questions. He did a great job. The NPS also did a great job of making the site accessible without making it feel too developed. It truly feels like "another world" in the caverns. This site is so remote that it has taken decades for me to find an opportunity to visit. If you are traveling through the Southwest, I recommend stopping here for a minimum of 4.5 hours and planning on driving a couple of hours after leaving before you get to a place where you would want to spend the night (good eating and sleeping options are limited near the caverns). Really glad that we were able to check this park off of our list! It was much more worth the effort than I expected.

This was a fantastic tour of Carlsbad Caverns. Our guide (Steve) was wonderful - very knowledgeable, helpful and informative. The King's Palace tour takes about 1.5 hours and costs $8.00 each in addition to the $10.00 cave entrance fee. It is well worth the extra cost. It is not a difficult tour but there are some steep slopes and a few (15-20) stairs. There are lots of stops, though, so if you are at all fit, you will not find this to be too difficult.These are not the biggest caverns, though I believe they include the most beautiful and are only available to see on this tour. Your regular admission will not allow you into this section of the cave.Do book ahead. This and the other ranger-guided tours are limited and sell out quickly. You may book by phone or online. Have your credit card handy. The ranger will turn out the lights at one point. While we have had the same experience in other caves, it is always interesting to experience the total darkness of a cave. The cave is 56 degrees, so you may wish a light jacket, at any time of year.

Our Ranger's name was Charlie.Very knowledgeable, he made 3 anouncements, about using rest rooms, as it would be 90 minutes back.We had a great tour, lots of information about the caverens.Photography. If you can set your iso up, used 6400, Forget the flash, you lose depth. I took a moni pod that collapsed down quickly. I took over 175 shots i tossed about 8. I hand held many, Colors came out great.We are older, i have a bad knee, slowed me down. For the most part we had no problem keeping up, exception, the steep descent, and the assent out.Great experience. Last there 60 years ago

Ranger-led tours sell out quickly, so try to book online if interested in attending. We got there around 9 am and all the tour tickets for that day were already sold out (one of the attendants in the visitor center bookstore said they had 2000+ visitors just the day before)! Luckily, we had booked our tickets online only had to pick up the tickets when we got there.This is one of the easier tour to take of the caverns, it's pretty much a walking tour (no climbing or crawling involved). The rooms that we got to see had breathtakingly intricate formations and the ranger guide was knowledgable, informative, and funny. At one point, after we were all seated, the ranger turned turned off all the lights and we got to experience and hear the cave in its natural state - in complete darkness and near silence (except for the occational water drip). Plus, we also got to see a familiar resident the caves - a little bat.It was all in all a very interesting and engrossing tour. For $8 a person, it was well worth it.

I walked the natural entrance, went through the big room tour and the Kings Palace tour in the same day. The Kings Palace tour was by far the most beautiful of the three. These rooms are not nearly as large as the big room, but the formations are more beautiful and because the tour is guided you can learn so much more.It is best to pre-plan and book your tour early.If I understood things properly, the day I went, there were 4 tours through the Kings Palace. Two tours were available for pre-sale, with a few walk up tickets and 2 tours were only available the day of. If you are looking to book a guided tour and the pre-sale tickets are already sold out, get to the cave as early as possible in the morning to try to get tickets.If you are going to Carlsbad Caverns you should go on this tour.

very beautiful and well planned out to allow many visitors to easily navigate through the cave. very informative and friendly park rangers

This is the third tour I did during my visit to the Carlsbad Caverns. Having done Left Hand Tunnel and Hall of the White Giant the previous days, the King's Palace is a nice break for me. It is not even close to strenuous. Just a lot of walking. You go through several rooms with different cave formations. There are lots of opportunities to take pictures. I learned about soda straws, columns, cave "bacons" etc. Ranger Phil also discussed the different lights and how it affects your view of the cave. For this tour it appears that backpacks are ok as I have seen several people carrying it. I was able to carry my DSLR without any problems as well. It's an almost two hour tour but every single minute was enjoyable. You get to see so many things and will want to take pictures of everything!Like the other tours, this one also had a lights out moment. I have come to enjoy this part of the tour. The silence and darkness can be soothing at times. It lets your mind play and imagine what it was like for Jim White and other early explorers when they discovered the cave. Ranger Phil was very knowledgeable. He was polite but on point with the information he provides. He makes sure that everyone was getting the information he's providing. This is a good tour to do before or after visiting the Big Room. It gives you more information about the cave and cave formations. It is a very relaxed tour. I was able to do it wearing sneakers while I had to wear hiking shoes for the other tours due to the rough terrain.

Especially if you have seen the Big Room already, this will make your visit a little more interesting.

Besides the self-guided Big Room, this tour allows you to hear stories from a Ranger and to get closer to the action. It was really quite fun and you feel that the beautiful cavern stalactites and stalagmites are even closer to you. Worth the extra cost!

Ranger Lee lead our group of about 40 visitors on an interesting tour of King's Palace. He told stories of the history of the cave in a balanced and engaging way, and he included all ages of the group's members. We were with our eight year old grandson, doing a self-guided tour of the Big Room first and then taking the tour of King's Palace. I wish we would have done the Natural Entrance when the park opened, taken the 10:30 tour and then finished up with the Big Room. When we take our next grandson, that is what we'll do - and allocate a whole day to spend at Carlsbad Caverns. You just can't do it justice in a morning, alone. One of the best experiences in the King's Palace tour is when the lights are turned out and you experience complete darkness.

Besides the big room, natural entrance, and the left turn tour, we did the King's palace last. If you are going to pick just one ranger led tour, the would be my choice. Great formations that were very impressive. The guide was informative and passionate. Highly recommend!!