Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, United States, is the longest cave system in the world (that we know of!) and has fantastic tour opportunities for kids and adults of all ages! We recently met up with another family and spent two days at the caves and on the Mammoth Cave National Park property.
I won't lie...I love caves! I have a geology degree because I think rocks are one of the coolest things on the planet, so visiting these caves with my kids and our friends was perfect!
The entire adventure started with choosing a tour. There are more than a dozen to choose from! You can (and should!) make reservations online in advance, especially if you are going during summer or Spring Break seasons. We went in March, so we thought we could just show up and grab tickets, which made things a little more complicated. If you wait until the day of your visit, you have to buy tickets in person at the Visitor Center. But, they sell out FAST! We showed up at about 10:30 in the morning, and the earliest tickets we could buy (for the 10 of us) were for 2:00 in the afternoon. It worked out great for us because we had a pretty flexible schedule. If you want to be sure to get a tour at a particular time, order online in advance! Here is a link to the schedule for Spring 2019! That link also describes each tour, tells you how long they are, what you can see, and how hard the hike is.
We were really excited to go on the Domes and Dripstones tour, and we decided to come back for the Historic tour in two days too!
We decided to take advantage of the extra hours before our tour and check out the area--the caves are now a National Park, so there is a ton to see on the property!
First we went through the museum in the Visitor Center. It teaches about the history and science of the caves and has a few fun videos the kids enjoyed. They also like crawling through the "cave" in the wall in the middle of the museum and touching the other hands-on exhibits. The kids in our group are 11, 10, 8, 6, 3, and almost 1 year old. The museum is relatively small and they flew through it in about 30 minutes. If they had slowed down and read every item it might have taken closer to an hour. ;)
Next we headed outside. There are gorgeous, well-maintained trails with bridges, little creeks, and other high-interest natural views! Running around outside for about an hour was wonderful! We had time to talk about how the landscape was formed, what karst landscape is and why limestone rocks lead to caves, and just enjoy the beautiful scenery.
We also walked down to the natural opening of the cave and took pictures of the little waterfall by it.
This is me with our two youngest explorers:
We also walked down to the natural opening of the cave and took pictures of the little waterfall by it.
This is me with our two youngest explorers:
Again, we could have spent much more than an hour out there, but for our group (with a lot of young kids!), an hour was perfect! You can see a list of free programs and other outdoor activities (like bird walks and nature talks) if you scroll to the bottom of this page.
Lunch time was on us and, luckily, there is a little cafe/restaurant on site! The Spelunkers Cafe had amazing sandwiches, burgers, and wraps for about $7.00, soup for about $5.00 and a kids menu for about $5.00 too. They also had sides like fresh fruit, fries, and vegetables. Everyone was very happy with lunch!
We hit the bathrooms, and then headed out to our pagoda to meet our tour.
The Domes and Dripstones tour starts with a short bus ride to a man-made entrance into a stairwell that drops about 250 feet below ground. The stairs are industrial strength and were installed during the 1980's, though people had been touring this area for a few decades before then! One person in our group did get a little claustrophobic on the stairs, but it passed relatively quickly--especially because at the bottom of the stairs is a pretty big "room" where the cave opens up large enough for a set of benches to be installed!
The tour itself includes 500 stairs, walking about 3/4 a mile, and lasts for about 2 hours. There are absolutely no bathroom services during those two hours, so if your kids are likely to have issues, I'd recommend putting them in diapers or pull-ups before you go! The tour is also labeled as "moderate" and the guides clearly warn everyone that young children may have a hard time with the stairs and distance. You cannot bring strollers or "child backpacks" in the cave. This was totally fine with us--I just carried the baby (which I normally do anyway), and the other kids walked. Our 3-year old got carried a few times by her dad, but most of the time she was so excited to be exploring the incredible cave, that she wanted to do it on her own two feet.
I would absolutely 100% recommend the Domes and Dripstones tour for families (assuming, of course, that your kids can walk a mile and handle a lot of stairs)!! The cave formations, stalactites, stalagmites, rooms, waterfalls, pools, and pathways are all stunning! We even saw a bat! Everyone loved it enough that they were all excited to come back and do one more tour!
Before we went back to our hotel, we stopped at the gift shops. Important note: they close at different times, so if you plan on "coming back" to one after your tour, make sure it will still be open!
Sidenote: I love these rock bins! There are a ton of other souvenir gifts like t-shirts, big rocks, toys, bells, etc., but I cannot help touching these little rocks!
Nashville, Tennessee is only an hour away, and we had plans there the next day. Two days later, though, we were back at Mammoth Cave for one last tour!
The Historic Tour is also 2 hours, but has 540 stairs, and includes 2 miles of walking. Again, the kids all did great. This tour includes the parts of the cave system that first made it famous, and you can recognize some of the rock "rooms" in the pictures in the museum. Again, no toilets, strollers, or "child backpacks," but just like before, the kids and adults alike loved it! Really, I don't know how you couldn't love being hundreds of feet underground in huge caves with cool rocks, waterfalls, and more! I would also absolutely recommend the Historic Tour (again, assuming your kids can handle walking around for two hours and going up and down a lot of stairs)!
If two hours is too long for your kids, the Frozen Niagara Tour is about half that time and has really cool stalactites and stalagmites. There are only 12 required steps and an optional 98 steps if you want a closer view. This section of the cave is included in the Domes and Dripstones tour, but is still awesome enough all on its own that it would be a super memorable cave trip by itself! There are other more accessible routes that you can see on this page.
Final thoughts: it was an amazing trip, and I'd recommend it to everyone! Here are the key points I'd consider in your planning if you're bringing young children:
1- Order your tickets online in advance.
2- Kids love caves! Keep it exciting by only scheduling one tour a day. There are other things to do at the park too!
3- Kids 5 and under are free!
4- When scheduling a tour, consider your kids' bathroom needs and ability to walk and climb stairs.
5- There is a cafe on-site, but you can bring food on the outdoor trails too. No food or drinks can go in the caves.
5- There is a cafe on-site, but you can bring food on the outdoor trails too. No food or drinks can go in the caves.
That's it--have an amazing adventure!
Disclaimer: This is NOT a sponsored post! I just wanted to share our adventures in the hope that it might help you plan yours!
Happy Educating,
Carla
I may share at any of these parties!
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