Bucket List Sites on a New Mexico Road Trip with Kids!
New Mexico is an incredible state to take a family road trip! It is simply bursting with hidden gems and amazing things to do with kids! Here your family can climb ladders into ancient cliff dwellings, explore insanely large & gorgeous caverns, hike magnificent slot canyons, slide down pure white sand dunes and so much more!
The state of New Mexico seriously impressed our family and I would love to share with you our favorite sites!
Short On Time? Bookmark or Pin This for Later
1. Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Hidden beneath the surface of the Chihuahuan Desert in southeastern New Mexico lies one of the greatest natural wonders of the world, Carlsbad Caverns!
Explore this unearthly, underground world and marvel at its overwhelming beauty. Self-guided tours let you wander through Carlsbad at your own pace and you can even choose where you’d like to start. We started at the Natural Entrance, which took us on a steep, yet fun, descent down into the earth. But you can also choose to ride the elevator straight down and begin your tour in the enormous “Big Room.” This is a true highlight. “The Big Room” is the Largest Single Cave Chamber by Volume in all of North America and it’s Incredible! (6 Football Fields can comfortably fit into “The Big Room,” with room to spare!)
Carlsbad Caverns is truly an amazing sight and we think it should definitely be on anyone’s list of top things to do in New Mexico!
(See below for more reasons to visit Carlsbad)
Covid Update: Reservations are required prior to arrival. To enter this cave you will need a timed ticket for your self-guided tour. (As of Fall 2022)
Great Books for Kids Before Visiting Carlsbad Caverns:
Ages 4-9 years
For Ages 6-10 years
Ages 5-9 years
Ages 8-12 years
This post contains affiliate links, which means we may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Please Read Our Disclosure Policy. As always, I only share products with you that I use and love for my family. Thank you for supporting 10 Traveling Feet.
2. White Sands National Park
Discover an incredible place that is unlike anywhere else in the world! Sand that is whiter than white, dunes as far as your eye can see and more fun than you could ever imagine!
This is White Sands National Park. Here, spectacular white gypsum dunes spread out over 275 square miles of southern New Mexico creating the Largest Gypsum Dunefield in the World!
Our family had a blast running, jumping and sledding down its pure white slopes and we think your family will love it too! White Sands is so incredibly unique and we definitely think it should be on every list of top things to do in New Mexico with kids.
3. Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument
When I first saw pictures of Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, I knew I had to go see and hike in this amazing site in New Mexico myself!
Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks is an extremely impressive slot canyon, with spectacular rock formations and bizarre cone shaped “tent rocks” that line this fantastic trail.
Our family absolutely loved hiking here and Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks quickly became our favorite trail in all of New Mexico!
We highly recommend this hike!
Covid Update: As of Fall 2022, this monument remains closed.
4. Taos Pueblo
When I first discovered that there was a community in the U. S. that has been continuously inhabited for over 1,000 years, I knew that I had to visit. This is the Native American community of Taos Pueblo in Northern New Mexico.
The Tiwa-speaking Puebloan Native Americans have been living in the Taos Valley at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range long before Christopher Columbus ever stepped foot in North America. Ancient ruins show that their presence has been here for more than 1,000 years, making Taos Pueblo one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States!
Here our family learned all about how their ancient structures were made, how they cook food without electricity and where they get water for their village. (They have no running water.) Taos Pueblo is a great learning opportunity for kids and is definitely one of the top things to do in New Mexico with kids.
Covid Update: As of Fall 2022, This is now open Thursday-Sundays. It will be closed for winter though.
Great Kid’s Books on SW Native American Culture
Ages 3-6 years
For Ages 4-7 years
Ages 4-7 years
Ages 9 and up
5. Bandelier National Monument
Journey back in time, at Bandelier National Monument, to when the Ancestral Pueblo people lived here in the Frijoles Canyon of New Mexico.
Discover their ancient ruins. Climb into their age-old dwellings. And witness their petroglyph and pictograph images that were created so long ago.
Kids will love imagining what life was like for these Native Americans as they climb in and out of these ancient dwellings!
Update: A free shuttle is required until October 19, 2022 to access Bandelier between 9am-3pm. Check Bandelier’s Website for more information.
6. The Bat Flight Program at Carlsbad Caverns
Each night from April through October approximately 400,000 Brazilian free-tailed bats swarm out of the Natural Entrance of Carlsbad Caverns at sunset to search for food. Carlsbad Caverns Bat Flight Program is a completely separate activity from exploring the cave and this is why it got its own spot on our top 15 favorite activities for families in New Mexico. (Side Note: No Pictures are allowed as the bats fly out.)
This is an incredible sight and one that should not be missed!
7. Route 66 Sings!
On Route 66, located just east of Albuquerque, there is a quarter-mile stretch of road that actually sings “America the Beautiful” thanks to a well-engineered rumble strip between mile markers 4 and 5. Just drive at 45 miles per hour through this section and the highway will actually sing this song for you! It’s pretty amazing!
To find this fun attraction on Google maps, look for “Musical Highway, America the Beautiful.” To hear the music, drive Eastbound, at 45mph, and place your tires on the rumble strip that is more in the road than way off to the side.
When we visited, we didn’t find good signage as to where the musical rumble strip started, so definitely keep your eyes pealed for any changes in the road when you start to get near. This is such a fun experience!
Must-Have Gear for a New Mexico Road Trip
It’s amazing how much cooler your car will be after using a sunshade in New Mexico after hiking, visiting a museum or simply returning to your car after eating out. And it can easily fit in a suitcase! Before traveling, I would have never thought to bring a sunshade, now I won’t go to a sunny destination without one!
This is the Tilley Sun Hat that both my husband & I love! (I have the navy blue one.)
They have many sizes/ colors and it’s perfect for all of those extremely sunny New Mexico days!
This 32 OZ Nalgene Bottle, BPA-Free, is our favorite! It comes in a ton of colors, is easy to clean, you can easily see how much you’ve drank (and how much your kids have drank), and it’s made from 50% recycled plastic!
Dri-Fit Shirts
These are our favorite Dri-Fit shirt for kids! This shirt comes in 24 different colors and honestly, they are the best fitting dri-fit shirts we’ve come across. And being from Florida, our kids wear these shirts practically year-round! They are absolutely perfect for staying comfortable on hot days.
New Mexico Sights on Our Bucket List
With limited vacation time, like our family has, there’s no way a person can see everything that they want to or do everything that’s amazing in each state. This is why I wanted to add a section for the sights that are on our own family’s bucket list for our next road trip to New Mexico.
Please let me know in the comments section at the bottom if you have been to any of the sites below and what you thought about them. Also, if there are any sites you love that are not listed here, let me know. I would love to hear about them!
8. Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad
Climb aboard a coal-fired steam engine for a 64 mile trip across the high desert and journey through steep canyons as your train crosses back and forth over the Colorado and New Mexico boarder. Choose your train car (from deluxe to budget) and dine on a buffet lunch while you ride. A luxury motor coach chauffeurs you back to your starting point at the end of your ride.
This sounds like an incredible journey to me.
9. Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument
Surrounded by the Gila National Forest, explore the area containing dwellings from the Mogollon Indians who lived here in the 13th century.
Wander through their dwellings, enter various caves and see the pictographs the Mogollon Indians made here so long ago.
This looks really impressive.
10. Chaco Culture National Historic Park
Explore the massive buildings of the Ancestral Puebloan people on a self-guided 9 mile drive through Chaco Culture National Historic Park.
Chaco Canyon was the center of the ancestral Puebloan culture from AD 850 to 1200 and it is the largest excavation site of prehistoric ruins in North America.
11. Petroglyph National Monument
Up to 15,000 petroglyphs or prehistoric rock art images have been found on the West Mesa volcanic escarpment, located along a 17 mile canyon outside of Albuquerque.
This is one of the largest petroglyph sites in North America. Carvings range from 400 to 700 years ago.
12. Capulin Volcanic National Monument
Hike a 1 mile loop around the rim of a volcano and even down into it’s crater at Capulin Volcanic National Monument!
13. Plaza Blanca
An impressive geologic formation in Abiquiu, NM where beautiful white sandstone cliffs give breathtaking views.
14. Aztec Ruins National Monument
Amazing Aztec ruins where visitors can enter the only reconstructed kiva in the Southwest United States.
15. Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta
If you are lucky enough to visit Albuquerque in October, you should check out their incredible 9 day balloon fiesta where hundreds of balloons take to the sky.
I think this event would be amazing!
Great Kid’s Books for a New Mexico Road Trip
Ages 0-4 years
For Ages 8-11 years
Ages 7-12 years
POPULAR TOURS IN NEW MEXICO
I hope you have enjoyed this New Mexico road trip bucket list for Families. Please let me know in the comments section below what sites you love the most in New Mexico with kids.
I would love to hear about them!
Have a Great Road Trip to New Mexico with Your Traveling Feet!
If You Found This Post Helpful, Please Share / Pin It
Traveling with Kids & Looking for Great Books?
This post contains affiliate links, which means we may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Please Read Our Disclosure Policy. As always, I only share products with you that I use and love for my family. Thank you for supporting 10 Traveling Feet.
©10 Traveling Feet – 2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this article and/or any of its contents (text, photography, etc) is strictly prohibited.