Carlsbad KOA Holiday — Hotel in Carlsbad

We loved it! First night there we was tired and after unloading and getting settled we ordered the BBQ, plus the wind was way too high to try to cook. So we ordered the beef sandwiches 4 with french fries, and 2 with chips. It was good but it did seem like it was warmed up in the microwave. The 2nd day we went to the Caverns which was an hour away, but not a bad drive. After we got back we learned that our cabin(K4-Poni) and the one next to ours wasn't made to have a grill on the fire pit, we also didn't notice that we shared one with the cabin next door (K3 & K4). They each have their own grill but shared the fire pit. So we were gonna cook meat on the pit like we are use to doing since you can cook more than the little grills. The wind was too strong so we gave up after an hour. We couldn't even keep our propane stove lit. So we ordered BBQ again and pizza this time too. We got the 3 meat and this was way better than the first night. Bobby (the manager) told us the BBQ was fresh since they ran out the night before but either way we enjoyed it. The kids loved the pizza as well. Then the 3rd day comes and we went fishing down at the Pecos River.... and caught one fish!!! Wasn't too happy about that since I had heard such good things about this place, and instead of the fishing license being 12 per person it was 17.00 so whatever you read online at the NM state parks site is wrong because it doesn't tell you that even though you aren't at an offically park you still pay a park entrance fee plus 1.00 to Wal-Mart. We gave up after about 7 hours and went to Chilis to eat... and the service was terrible. We would of been better off splitting that one little fish up to feed us all... if we could get a fire started. We had done everything we came to do and was ready to leave... one problem we had paid for another night, so we asked the office if we check out in the morning (a day early) if we would get that money back, and the answer was NO. So other than loosing another 50 something dollars, no fish, no cooking out, and bad service at chilis this place was decent. Actually it was one of the nicest KOA's we have stayed at. I loved the coffee, my kids loved the game room, and the pool (it was cold so I'm not sure how they could swim like that), basketball, volleyball, and the grounds are very well kept. I do have to say everyone in the office was so nice and helpfull. The bathrooms were great as well. I don't think we will ever be back but thats due to we have no reason to...

I stayed at this KOA a few days ago NOV 2012 and I can honestly say that all these good reviews were (for the most part) true from what I could tell. The staff was very polite and helpful and the entire property seemed to be maintained well and very clean. This particular KOA caters a bit more to RVs, you can see this if you look at their location on google maps. I personally don't believe that's camping... but thats another story. Anyway, I stayed at the tent village because it was only about $5 more/night than ordinary camping spaces with no electrical hook-ups, or shelter. As far as I could tell, everything was well maintained except for the little storage cabinet that comes with each tent village space -but that was okay because i didn't need it anyway. One thing I was really pleased to see was that the prices in the KOA store were fairly reasonable. Carlsbad KOA sits about halfway between Artesia and Carlsbad and is literally in the middle of nowhere so you'd think store prices would be retarded but they're really not. The reasonable prices on goods in the store was a relief from having to make that drive into town. The bathroom and showers were maintained very well and were all well kept and clean. This KOA also has a quarter laundry which looked well kept but I didn't use it. I didn't drink the water here because i read the other reviews and heeded that advice, i did wash my dishes with it however. During my stay I did forget to pay for my last night because of the time i left at (8 PM). I didn't realize that I had to pay for another night. The staff was really nice about this too and I wasn't charged late fees or anything like that, I just talked to them and we worked it out.

All in all I enjoyed my stay. The highlight of my stay was the Living Desert Refuge and you'll see that on your right if your driving into Carlsbad from KOA. If i could improve upon anything it would be that the television room be kept open a bit longer. :P On monday i had to quit watching monday night football because they were closing up at around 6 or 7. arg. Also, being that this place is out in the middle of nowhere I would suggest stay mindful that there is wildlife around these parts i.e. snakes, coyotes, mice, rabbits, etc. i did hear coyotes but never seen anything. Just keep that in mind and you'll be fine. All in all, great KOA...

Pros and cons but overall we enjoyed our stay. The non-electric site was big enough for a 10 man tent, 3 man tent and 10ft square pop-up canopy. It came with a non-anchored plastic picnic table missing one of the planks going across the table. The "grass pad" on site T6 was 70% bald with a giant ant nest almost in the middle and several smaller ant nests. You don't get to pick your site when you arrive and we (two families) were assigned the baldest sites with ants. Because we thought the other sites were going to be filled we didn't ask to switch but for our entire stay 6 out of 9 sites were empty and those other sites were FULL GRASS. We intentionally arrived early to make sure we could get sites next to each other and we did, but when I look back on it why did we get the worst sites?! The "fire pit/grill" is a 20"x20" metal square with 4 rusty rebar rods for the "grill". The RV sites have a nice little round rock pit for their fire pit, I was kind of hoping for that. The website states "quiet setting; no planes or trains; sleep under the stars". What they didn't mention is it's just off a highway and you can hear cars at night. The tent sites are right next to the entrance so ALL the traffic coming in and out will pass right next to you, and there's plenty of light pollution from street lamps and the site buildings. It didn't ruin our stay, just something to keep in mind as we thought it would be nice and dark and we could "sleep under the stars". We also didn't know that check-in wasn't until 2pm which really rained on our plans (check-out is 11am). No where does it say that on the website except for the email confirmation you get after paying. That is necessary information to know when planning a tent camping trip 3.5H away from your home. The amenities kind of made up for it. There is a pool, playground, giant chess/checkers, VERY CLEAN RESTROOMS/SHOWERS open 24H, laundry room open 24H. There's propane and air as well. We left the site to watch the bat show at the caverns and came back and none of our stuff had been touched or taken, they patrol the grounds regularly. It's about 1H from the caverns, 1H from the waterfall and 45mins to the nearest gas station on the way to...