They picked nothing. I mentioned carlsbad caverns to my dad because I know they haven’t been there. Is it not a good idea to do both i see its 8hrs apart but again they have no time constraints and I was looking for suggestions with stops in between over several days.

In place of Mesa Verde, I would plan to have them see Bandelier National Monument as a day trip from Santa Fe, which us a great base to see LOTS of things. Perhaps have a look at a few Santa Fe itineraries and get an idea. The drive from Carlsbad to Santa Fe is about a half day that can be broken up with a visit to touristy Roswell.

When are they coming? If it hasn't been decided yet, I might suggest late spring, before schools let out and when it should be warm enough to enjoy any outdoor pandemic measures. What are they be most interested in? I try to encourage people to visit Santa Fe, it has a lot of history. It was a European capital almost 200 years before the California Missions.

What is their travel style? Before my parents became too old to travel, my father used to want to drive over 10 hours per day and my mother wanted to drive less than 4 hours per day.

Where are they coming from? Here is a sample itinerary from Barstow (They will probably be coming from farther away):

https://goo.gl/maps/rY2qjpw1Cn9TRAgN9

But even just this is 2200 miles or almost 35 hours, just in the car, not stopping for anything. Is 10 days a hard limit? They will need all of it. This would be 10 days of 3 and a half hours driving per day, or 5 days with 7 straight hours of driving, not even counting essential stops. Plus more, if they are coming from farther away. On this route, there is not a lot that they will be able to see from the windshield or inside the car.

Not that I recommend this, but assuming they can drive straight to NM and back within two days in each direction, this would leave 3 days for Carlsbad/White Sands in Southern NM and 3 days for Santa Fe in Northern NM. I would not recommend more than an hour or two in Roswell at most.

Due to some unique bottlenecks in Mesa Verde, they will not have time for it on this trip with the time limits you have. I agree that Bandelier, near Santa Fe, makes a good substitute for MV and in some ways, I find it more accessible as well.

There are some other interesting stops elsewhere near I-40. Have they been to the Grand Canyon recently or have any desire to see it again? Sedona? Joshua Tree? If they are open to more time or more stops along the route, you might also check out the Road Trips Forum, but that is mostly for multi-state route planning.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g1-i12567-Road_Trips.html

Thank you both. The more I look into it leaving mesa verde out makes sense. They don’t really have style I think. My dad just follows my mom on her decisions if she makes them. Thats why Im being pushy for them to do something since they never go anywhere. I want them to enjoy it while they can. My dad would rather not drive more than 4-5 in a day. My mom wouldn’t care but she wouldn’t be doing any driving.

Ill look inyo a santa fe stop.

They are traveling from San Diego. I was thinking first stop in Sedona for 2 days then onto Santa fe or Albuquerque. Where would be good place to stay for Carlsbad Caverns. ruidoso or one of the random hotels closer to caverns? Would November be crazy. I was thinking mid November even or after Thanksgiving. Spring would be fine too I just wanted to plan something so they do something than stay home all day babysitting. I would probably plan something else again in a couple months. I am going to Joshua tree in December and they were going to come maybe a few days. My mom doesn’t like to go to the same place twice even if she barely just drove through it so most of the California places are out.

I definitely get not going to places you have already been to, when there are so many places see that you haven't.

Two nights in Sedona sounds good, 460 miles from SD is doable.

400 miles to Santa Fe is also doable.

Some areas of interest between Sedona and Santa Fe include, Sunset Crater Volcano, Wupatki Ruins, Meteor Crater.

Normally I recommend Santa Fe more highly than Albuquerque for first time visitors, but one night in the Old Town area of ABQ would make for a shorter day if they spend a lot of time stopping along I-40.

The drive from ABQ to SAF is an hour on the freeway or slightly longer on the Turquoise Trail going through the ghost towns of Madrid and Cerrillos.

I usually recommend at least 3 nights in Santa Fe for exploring the city and nearby areas such as Bandelier, Los Alamos, Valles Caldera, Taos, Chimayo, Abiquiu, etc...

300 miles to Carlsbad should be a fairly easy day. Roswell makes a good, mid-trip break. If your parents are into this sort of thing, they may like the somewhat goofy exhibits at Alien Zone, a few storefronts down from the UFO museum.

Carlsbad Caverns has two lodging choices: the town of Carlsbad and White's City. Carlsbad doesn't have a lot of amenities, but definitely more than White's City, but White's City is much closer and the one motel there is perfectly adequate for most people.

White Sands is really too far away from Carlsbad to visit the same day as the Caverns. The best times to visit the dunes are near sunrise and sunset. I would plan on staying overnight in nearby Alamogordo,

From Alamogordo, 750 miles is probably too far to make it back to SD in one day. The midpoint would be somewhere near Tucson AZ. So you are still looking at 10 nights. Modified route:

https://goo.gl/maps/xeBhTdagGgYAkdfk6

0 San Diego

1 Sedona

2 Sedona

3 Albuquerque Old Town

4 Santa Fe

5 Santa Fe

6 Santa Fe

7 White's City/Carlsbad

8 White's City/Carlsbad

9 Alamogordo

10 Tucson?

11 SD

This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity.