Mammoth Cave National Park

I took the Grand Avenue tour and it was very fun and cool. These caves are very large and interesting to walk through. There’s enough lighting to keep the journey interesting and the tour guides are very knowledgeable. They seem to have many different tours for different ability groups and desires. The ground in the cave has padded dirt and even concrete in some places. If you enjoy nature or exercise this is a must see. There’s a lot to do in the surrounding area and even cabins to rent at the park so you can enjoy an extended stay.

Underrated National Park! The cave is wondrous, of course, and the rest of the park is beautiful. Lush, dense green woods, ample wildlife, and historical churches and cemeteries. The Welcome Center is excellent. I went on the River Styx tour, and our ranger Alex was phenomenal.

This was a really different feel for a National Park but it was very comfortable. They have a grill and bar onsite, a starbucks, the visitor center, a cafe, and a camping store not too far. The free wifi in the main lodge made it very easy to communicate with family and get work done on the laptop. The staff and rangers were super friendly as well. The cave tours are a must. It was an amazing experience on top of the hiking they have around. Highly suggest getting tickets in advance for the tours since they sell out day prior usually. We stayed at the historic cottage which made our stay ten times better. It was updated and had more amenities than I thought. Working shower, toilet, great AC unit, and a fridge too.

The tour of mammoth caves was literally cool in temp, in the 40s which was great when it was close to 100 outside. The tour guide was great. The cave was well light, easy walk, with maybe a total of 130 stairs round-trip. Very easy for all ages.

My friends and I traveled from the Chicago area to get away for a few days, and this is where we chose to go! The trails here are beautiful and the wildlife is amazing. We did two cave tours and all the Rangers were great too! We stayed on the National Park grounds (which I highly recommend doing) I would definitely recommend going there and I for one, will be back to explore more in the future!

We visited in May 2025 and loved our stay at Mammoth Cave. We stayed in one of the historic cottages and loved being at the park for easy access to the cave. The historic cottage was perfect for the two of us and had everything we needed. We did 3 different tours while we were there. The Historic Tour, the Frozen Niagara Tour and the Gothic Avenue Tour. If you are at all worried about the number of stairs for any of these tours, it is not nearly as challenging as I thought it would be. I did train for a few weeks leading up to our trip by taking the stairs at work from the bottom to the top several times a day. This was plenty to prepare me for the hikes. The Historic Tour had the most stairs and the most small spaces but it was still a great tour that I would recommend. The Frozen Niagara Tour was great because it was a short trip to see some stalagmites and stalactites that are not seen on other tours unless you opt for a more strenuous adventure. Our favorite tour hands down was the Gothic Avenue Tour. It is mostly open space with a few hills up and down. The rock monuments and writings on the ceiling were awesome and something I was not expecting to be as cool as it was. Of all of the tours, I highly recommend the Gothic Avenue Tour. Great National Park in Kentucky!

We loved Mammoth cave! Campgrounds were nice with coin operated showers and laundry nearby! We love the Intro to Caving Tour! We have a great evening ranger program as well! This park has great hiking as well! Much of it is handicap accessible!

Really cool cave. You can pay for the self guided tour but I recommend doing one of the guided tours. I did the extended historic tour (2h15min and 540 stairs). Thought it was going to be more difficult than it was. The guide (a park ranger) explains a lot of cool things about the cave and you go through huge chambers and small passages where you have to bend down. Overall amazing tour!

Everybody already knows how gorgeous Mammoth Caves is. I'm here to applaud it for something probably only parents of small children would notice. In the family bathroom, it had one of those little seats you can strap babies and toddlers into when you're done changing them and need to use the bathroom yourself! I've never seen one of these in the United States before. Way to go, guys!!

We did the Historic, Gothic, and Drips and Domes tours. The last was by far the best tour. They were all informative and well structured. If you're looking for beautiful formations, these caves are not that. Because they are mostly dry caves, they don't have the beautiful stalactites and stalagmites that wet caves have. It's also the reason this cave is the world's longest. Definitely worth visiting. Personally, three tours were a bit much for me but my buddy really wanted to do the tours.

I feel like this is more a man made wonder where the mining paths created something for you to view. May be there are other experiences that are amazing that the self discovery tour. I did this experience followed but Carlsbad Caverns and I personally liked the experience in Carlsbad. Note the experience is great, however within a span of 20 days doing 2 national caves, I definitely preferred the other one more.

A 1.5 drive from Nashville. Worth it if you have a day to kill. We drove out to the Mammoth Caves on our last day before our flight in the evening out of BNA. It was an easy drive, you also can say you visited 2 states since you go from Tennessee to Kentucky. HIGHLY RECOMMEND you book a longer tour that visits more of the caves. We did the self-guided tour which we booked last minute, all the tours with the park rangers were sold out. The self-guided tour takes about 30-40 minutes and you only get to see a small glimpse of the cave system here. It was fun but I felt like I didn't get to see enough. Be mindful that the entrance to the caves is a small walk down a paved hill (bring walking shoes) and a light sweater if you get cold easily, and bring water. I wouldn't recommend the caves if you're injured or need assistance walking around because the ground is uneven inside the cave. There's ton of free parking, no cell phone signal in the area but there is WiFi inside the visitor's center. There are bathrooms, a gift shop, tour guides and rangers, small cafes, so you do not need to bring much. There's also a Mammoth Caves lodge across the bridge that has the same amenities. I enjoyed the caves, I wish we could have booked a longer guided tour though but since we needed something to do on our last day before we left Nashville, this worked. Along the drive from Nashville to the caves you'll find a lot of restaurant and city stops for fast food and bathroom breaks. There are a few Starbucks along the way for those of you who want those Kentucky coffee mugs for your collection. If you're a Sam's Club member and need gas for your rental like us, there's a Sam's Club gas station not too far away. Save a few more bucks on your fill up. Be mindful of the speed traps on the highway, we saw 2 speed traps.

We stopped here as we were driving through Kentucky. No entrance fee but there is a fee depending on the tour you want to take. I would advise getting tickets before you go to make sure you get the tour you want. We took the domes and dripstones tour which was a two hour tour through the caves. There are tight spaces you have to walk through at time and would not be ideal for someone who is claustrophobic.

We've driven past the Mammoth Cave National Park several times and planned to finally stop there for a tour. After doing some research, I discovered it's best to pre-book tours through their website because the tours sell out, especially during summer months. We did the domes & dripstones tour. The stairs descending were a little treacherous. But the remainder of the tour was fine. There were a couple stops that had seating, which was nice. These tours have way too many people in my opinion. It would also be better on the more difficult tours without children. It ruins the experience. The cave is beautiful, the visitor center is very nice and there are food and snack options. Parking was a bit limited for the amount of people and tours that go through here.

Fantastic National Park with a variety of tours to experience. The caves are amazing to see and full of history

The Historic Tour is mind-blowing. The guide said there are 415 known miles of tunnels.

Really wonderful state park! Very kind rangers, and beautifully well kept & maintained. The wildlife is not afraid of humans at all - we had many encounters with wild deer and turkeys within arms reach and they never spooked, it was truly crazy how close we could get because they never were hunted or trapped. The caves were also beautiful. Definitely worth a visit if you ever are in Kentucky!!

Cave New World Many adventures are begun with a simple question, and the question that led us here to Mammoth Cave NP was when Carissa asked her youngest: If you could go anywhere in the country, where would it be? A few months later, we're driving across the country and end up here in Central KY. It's easy to see why Mammoth Cave would be on many bucket lists to visit, as it has many amazing features: *At over 400 miles, it's the world's longest cave system known to man. *Some parts of the cave date back as far as 10 million years *Almost every type of cave formation is present here. *Surrounded by thousands of acres of pristine forest with a unique biodiversity. But, in order to visit the cave, one needs to book a tour either in advance online or at the visitor center on your date of arrival. Pro Tip: Book ahead if possible, as on the date of our arrival almost every tour was booked but we had, fortunately, booked our tours in advance. There's a plethora of tours available (including a free self-guided tour), and each one is a bit different and costs fluctuate. Here's a review of the two we did: 1) Mammoth Cave National Park Historic Tour ($20/adults $15/Youth [under 16]): If you only have time for one tour, then this should be it as you'll get a really good idea of the immensity of the cave, and you get access to some of the cave's best features. This is a mildly strenuous tour at two miles over 2 hours and 540 total stairs, but it's worth it. 2) Mammoth Cave National Park Violet City Lantern Tour ($25/adults $20/Youth): This tour was really unique as you make your way thru the cave using only a lantern. Yes, you read that right. I mean, obviously, you're with a trained ranger guiding you thru the cave, but definitely not for the faint of heart. But if you're up for an adventure and a short three miles and 200 stairs over three hours, then this tour is for you! The park classifies this as "difficult," but I found it to be anything, but. TLDR: Fantastic park to visit, but make sure you plan and book ahead to get the tours you want.

We love our national parks and were happy to have the opportunity to visit this popular one. We weren't sure we were going to be able to go, so we didn't buy cave tour reservation tickets ahead of time, which is highly recommended. By the time we arrived, there was only one tour that still had tickets, the Mammoth Passage Tour. It was a fairly short, fairly easy tour, but maybe not the most interesting one. They had several others available if you'd booked ahead. The caves were chilly, so I'd suggest taking a jacket with you, even if it's warm outside! Beautiful area, and we enjoyed the deer munching on grass around the parking lot when we were getting ready to leave.

Awesome NP! Historic cave tour was amazing. 2 hours. Easy to do, minus a few strenuous parts with lots of stairs. Pretty wide open tour, with a few parts that were still fairly easy for my claustrophobic husband. If he can do it, anyone can. Good times.

I visited Mammoth Caves National Park, the world's longest mapped caved system, on May 29, 2023 and it was an extraordinary experience. The park's natural beauty and historical significance left a lasting impression on me. In particular, the Historic Cave Tour and our tour guide (I'm hitting my head trying to remember his name!) made the visit exceptional. The Historic Cave Tour was an awe-inspiring journey. It's 2 hours, and is highly recommend to book from rec.gov in advance! We ventured through the labyrinthine passages, we were mesmerized by the stunning geological formations and the sense of mystery surrounding the caves. The tour offered a perfect balance of educational insights and captivating storytelling, giving us a deeper understanding of the park's geological and cultural significance. Our tour guide deserves special recognition for his knowledge, enthusiasm, and genuine passion for the caves. His expertise was evident as he effortlessly shared fascinating facts and anecdotes along the way. His engaging storytelling kept us captivated throughout the tour, making it an immersive and unforgettable experience. I highly recommend the Historic Cave Tour and encourage visitors to engage with the knowledgeable guides who bring the caves to life with their expertise and passion. The pictures no not do any justice - you have to see it to truly appreciate it. Make sure to visit the gift shop, too! Lots of great park and Kentucky souvenirs!

We visited Mammoth Cave for one day as a stop on a road trip of national parks. The cave system itself is over 400 miles long and you must schedule a tour in order to see it. There are multitude of tours available, including lantern - lit tours, which looked very cool, but must be booked far in advance to secure a spot. My two young boys found this to be their favorite of the national parks. The stories that the tour guides told along the way were very interesting and entertaining, and the cave formations were very cool to see. make sure to do the junior ranger program with your children, it is a fun experience and they get to earn a special badge at the end that they can only get visiting the park. There are also some nature trails above the caves and a river nearby that you can kayak in. Neighboring town of Cave city and Park city are quaint to explore.

100% WORTH IT!! We did the self guided tour here. First just know that you can explore all the trails for free. The visitor center has a lot of cool information and pretty cool souvenirs for you to purchase and bring home. The self guided tour was about half the price of the guided tour. We had a walk down some steps, but after that, it was relatively flat throughout the rest of the cave that we explored. I was very excited to learn about the history of the cave. It was significantly colder inside the caves than it was outside, so you may need a jacket.

This would've been a 5/5 but unfortunately I can only give 4/5, please hear me out. Having come from visiting Carlsbad caverns, I have certain expectations of what huge caves would be like. Mammoth Cave, touts that it is the longest cave system in the world so my expectations got higher. The tours offered during the winter were few. I wasn't sure which one to choose thinking that the historic may be bit too much with the stairs, so I went with the Mammoth passage tour. Once the tour started, we descended on our only flight of steps, which is by the entrance. That was all the stairs we were going to do. Based on the description it was 125 something steps. It really did not feel that way at all. The number really threw me off. As we walked in, we saw a large cavern. Then we proceeded into another large cavern and pretty much that concluded the entire tour. If I knew that I was going to pay money to come down here just to walk around in a circle, I definitely wouldn't have signed up for the tour. The Ranger gave us information that could've been found on Wikipedia, or even in the museum. I thought tours were more about exclusive information that only tour guides would know? In summary I don't think the Mammoth passage tour should even exist. I think you're going to have a better time doing the historic tour. This park is not handicap friendly unlike Carlsbad cavern.

We stayed overnight at the Lodge. Clean rooms. Very quiet. It was nice to be in the park after almost everyone left. We hiked all the trails around the visitor center. All easy. The hike to the River Styx entrance, overlook of the Green River and the Dixon cave were probably the best. The cave is what you really come for. We did the historic and the domes and drip stones tour. The last was the best.

I'm on a mission to get to all 50 states and 63 national parks so when we went to Kentucky last month, I was able to add a new state and NP to my roster. I didn't expect to love this NP since I'm not into caves, but this is now one of my fave NPs. We booked the Historic tour and had a fun time with our guide who shared that this is the longest cave system in the world! Make sure that you book your tour in advance especially if you're going on a holiday weekend. We went on Memorial Day, 5/29, and I first tried to book a tour the day before but everything was sold out except for the Cleaveland tour. The morning of the 29th, I went on the NP website to see if there are any openings and luckily there were! Long story short: book your tour early on so you don't miss out! I highly recommend the Historic tour but I heard the other tours are cool, too!

On a guided Park Ranger tour, we had a fantastic morning exploring Mammoth Cave National Park. It was fascinating to journey inside the longest cave system in the world and learn about these unique caves. Make your cave tour reservations ahead of time because they offer a limited number of daily tours. The caves are only about 54 degrees, so bring a jacket during your visit. Thank you for a fun day!

Ranger Jake and Ranger Parker were excellent on our Frozen Niagara Tour! I loved every minute of it, and they were so knowledgeable about everything! We also greatly enjoyed the on-site museum, the gift shop, and the restaurant. We'd love to come back to complete another tour and highly recommend it!

I mean...it's MAMMOTH CAVE NATIONAL PARK!!! Besides enjoying Yelp, I am an avid geocacher. I planned to attend an event in Owensboro, KY and realized Mammoth, an OBVIOUS bucket list, was along my route. Prior to flying up I did my research and booked the four hour underground tour. I arrived a few minutes early and enjoyed browsing through the two shops. Then the REAL fun began. We met our ranger at the designated spot and off we went. Four hours flew by. I was lucky enough to hold the "torch" when my group crossed the River Styx. After the four hours underground, I hiked a bit on the above ground trails before heading out. Epic adventure.

We took the 4-hour Grand Avenue tour. It's definitely an intense walk through a cave (a good thing I enjoy!). 4 miles, 1700 steps and massive caverns as well as really fantastic narrow passageways. So much to see. I do recommend being in decent physical shape. We had a group of 80 folks and 2 Rangers. Both Rangers were very friendly and helpful (Jeff and Nolan). Nolan really watched for folks in the back to make sure everyone was ok and Jeff lead the tour and was entertaining and informative. There are several cave tours you can choose from so I would encourage you look it over to find the one that suits you the best! Thanks to all!

If you want a motel within walking distance to the visitor center, Sunset Terrace is the place. There will be bugs in your room from the outdoors - spiders, mosquitos etc. The tub looked dirty but I realize it's because it's old. Parking is right outside your rooms. Check-in staff is kind and provides you with maps since it's confusing to get to the rooms. I've stayed in the cottages previously and appreciated my upgrade to TV and air conditioning in this lodging instead. The park itself is one where you don't pay admission, but pay for each tour underground. I've done the lantern tour a few years ago and the Historic Tour this time. I enjoyed that each had its own stories, and that more was visible during the historic Tour since there were lights. But I still felt satisfied with one tour each visit. You see one rock, you see them all.. it's the stories that make the tours.

Like most National Parks, Mammoth has everything organized well. There are a variety of cave tours available, many of which overlap in terms of coverage at some points. I took the Violet City tour, which ran three hours and was conducted under lantern light (don't choose this one if you are big on photos!). Guides were informative. The caves can be a relief on hot days! Parking is at a premium on busy days at the visitor center.

If you visit Mammoth Cave National Park I would highly recommend doing a cave tour. It takes two hours, and they seemed to over exaggerate some of the tighter spots of the cave, but we did not find them to be too challenging. It was surprising how large most of the cave was.

Mammoth park was an awesome stop on our cross country trip. We camped at Maple Springs campsite and utilized the ferry to go back and forth to the main park. Spent the morning hiking 5miles of trails with our dogs. Trails were well maintained and well marked. In the afternoon we went on the Domes & Dripstones tour with Ranger Alex and Ranger Cameron. Alex was an incredible tour guide. Very knowledgeable and passionate about the caves, the history, as well as ongoing conservation. I do recommend you reserve your tours ahead of time as they sell out days in advance. We were very lucky to be able to get last minute tickets the day before. Rangers in the visitor center are helpful in picking the perfect tour for guests.

We did the guided cave tour on a Sunday afternoon. Entering the cave was breath taking and felt unreal. Our tour guide was a little hard to hear, but overall it was a quite easy "hike" (slow walk). Overall, the caves were magnificent. The gift shops and the weird make shift food stand are quite unnecessary. I will say that our tour specifically had almost 100 people in the group and many screaming kids below the age of 5. In addition to that, many of the parents had zero control over their kids allowing them to throw rocks, kick the side walls of the caves, and scream at the top of their lungs. It really took away from the overall experience considering you're stuck on a guided tour in a cave. I really think parents should reconsider bringing their young children to tour a cave that requires 2+ miles of walking. if you are attempting to avoid screaming children on your guided tour, I'd highly recommend choosing a week day not during summer months.

I was looking forward to visiting Mammoth Cave, and although my visit was brief, it did not disappoint. I bought a ticket for the Domes and Dripstones tour, a 3/4 mile hike that takes about two hours and is advertised as "difficult." I'm fairly active so I did not find it difficult, however, it wasn't easy either, and my legs and back are very sore today after visiting the cave yesterday. This tour starts with a descent 180 feet down into the cave on man made steps that aren't very wide, and often you are maneuvering under and around rocks jutting out from the cave walls. I was concerned that the entire cave might be like this, but thankfully it is not. There are three legs to this tour, with the beginning being most difficult, and the beginning and ending containing the most spectacular sights. Ranger Nolan, our tour guide, did an absolutely excellent job of narrating the tour at several stops along the route. I have been in other caves in the US and Mexico, and they have all been uniquely beautiful, amazing, and interesting. my only regret is that I wish I had planned to spend a few extra days exploring Mammoth Cave. I absolutely loved the experience and I will definitely return to see some of what I didn't get to see this time! Two tips for future visitors (you may not like them): 1) You're going to be in a cave. There are a lot of tight squeezes and small spaces, and a lot of people packed together. It is cold down there, but you may start to sweat a little bit **For the love of God and everyone around you, please wash your stinky butt before you decide to take this tour.*** 2) I strongly believe that parents and their babies have every right to be on airplanes, trains, buses, and in many other public places, and the rest of us should practice kindness and patience toward them. I do NOT, however, believe infants belong on "difficult" cave tours...I can't believe they're even permitted. Think about it...you cannot excuse yourself and go outside or to another room, there are no restrooms. If there's an emergency, help is literally hours away. If you have a child who is not yet capable of easily maneuvering through a 3/4 mile cave on their own two legs, then hire a babysitter, leave them with a family member, swap out and go in two separate groups, or opt for the self-guided/non-narrated cave. When you're inside a dark, damp cave trying to listen to a narrated tour, there's nothing more disturbing/upsetting than having an uncontrollably screaming child with (or even without) a soiled diaper right next to you.

Chris, Hayley, mills, best guides ever for intro to caving tour today. Awesome time, challenging but so fun!

Ive been waiting since 3rd grade to tour here. It lived up to and surpassed my hopes. I highly rec the extended historical tour.

We took the domes and dripstones tour, which was recommended to us. It seemed like a good mix to go with and wasn't as long as some of the other tours, but showed you a lot. I wanted to see some water in the cave with some fish or something, and you don't get to see that on this tour. You have to pick the longer tours. There are so many tours to choose from that it is a little daunting. Our tour guide was from Americorp and not fun. You can be super into safety, which I appreciate, and still be somewhat fun and entertaining. This guide we had was not fun nor entertaining. There are some tight spots descending into the cave and your thighs get quite the workout, but it isn't as bad as all the warnings throughout the website and the reviews. If you are afraid of heights, like I am, the stairs were not that bad, just keep telling yourself that if older people and kids can do this, you'll be fine. If you are afraid to lose the group, make sure you go to the front of the line, as the back can keep up with the pace. The visitor center is nice. Lots of items for sale, as well as a museum and bathroom facilities. The parking lot is large too. Although you don't need to pay to enter this national park, you do need to pay for a ticket to see the caves for safety reasons, so definitely do that. Also, remember to wash your shoes to save the bats.

This park was very easy to get to and park to enter. Lots of options to be able to do tours. Lots of them are sold out so make sure to pre book your adventure/time beforehand. If you wait you might not be able to get in when you want too. The national park has junior ranger books for the kids to do while they are looking around the museum and cave. I definitely recommend that for the kids as they will also give the kids a badge when they are completed with the book. The cave tour was a huge group so I wish it would have been smaller as sometimes we didn't hear everything the ranger said bc the people in front of us had been slow. I had three kids with me 3,6,7 and they did great. The 3 year old had to be held almost the whole tour but we expected that. So overall go and see and experience the caves it's a great thing to do in the area!!

Like all the national parks, Mammoth Cave made for a phenomenal visit. There's no admission to the park itself, though cave access requires purchase of a tour. Most tours run around $20 per person. The grounds are beautiful, with lots of flat trails for casual hikes, as well as some campgrounds. But the real draw here is the caves. It's absolutely worth the cost to buy a ticket for a guided cave tour, both because it's required for access, and because the rangers are incredibly knowledgeable. We were able to do a bit of sightseeing and the Historic Cave Tour in about half a day. If you want to explore more of the grounds outside of a tour, I'd say a whole day is needed. Definitely worth a visit!

Who wants to visit the longest cave system in the world? With over 400 miles and counting, Mammoth Cave NP is indeed a wonder! We took the Violet City lantern tour. Ranger Hailey and Mike were our guides and they were fantastic! This was a unique experience, where most of the tour doesn't have electricity so you're using gas lanterns to light the way! It's a unique experience, similar to the tours they would have offered back in the 1800s! The tour is rated difficult and I would agree with that. It was three hours and three miles of hiking, stairs, and steep switchbacks. There were a couple kids on our tour and they did great! Impressive. No fees to enter the park, but there is a charge for the tours. You can purchase tickets on recreation.gov. Make sure you reserve ahead of time because most were sold out when we arrived. Located about 1.5 hours from Nashville, this was an easy day trip.

We had an extremely enjoyable visit, both above and below ground! The visitor center has a number of exhibits about the history and geology of the cave. Some displays are being updated, but there was still plenty of information available. There is also a very nice park film that has very neat viewing space, with model cavers around the room. It's also a nice touch that they have clocks throughout the exhibit space so you can keep an eye on the time if you're trying to make a tour. The visitor center also offers a desk to purchase tour tickets (though they recommend you purchase in advance because of how quickly tours sell out), an information desk, and a couple of little souvenir shops. If you collect passport stamps, we found those inside the souvenir shop closer to the entrance by the parking lot. Junior Rangers, the information desk had the badge - you can purchase the booklet for $2 in the souvenir shop near the parking lot. We purchased tickets for our two cave tours in advance online - the Historic tour and the Domes and Dripstones tour. It was a great combo, because the Historic tour gave us a good background on how the cave had been used in the past and significant figures in the process - and gave us a chance to enter/exit through the classic historic entrance that has been used for years. The Domes and Dripstones tour, on the other side, had us entering and exiting through the "New" and "New New" entrances (new as compared to the historic entrance), which were blown up to access and now resemble tiny doors and aren't nearly as impressive as the historic entrance. It does, however, let you see a section of the cave that contains cave formations, including the well known Frozen Niagara. We were fortunate that this section reopened in time for our tour, as they have recently finished a year long effort to restore the trail that was originally put in by the CCC in the 1930s. Both tours were about 2 hours. Aboveground, we love to see where the underground rivers come up, but unfortunately, we found out that a tree fell on the final boardwalk to the River Styx and you can't actually see it coming up. We had more success viewing Echo Springs, where there was also a lot of wildlife to be seen, and the parking area is right by the Green River Ferry, which our bus driver for the Domes and Dripstones tour had recommended. The ferry takes two cars at a time, and it was a fun little adventure.

We visited Mammoth Cave this past week and loved it - we went on the Wondering Woods tour - which drove us through the park into a nearby woods which held a beautiful cave with tons of formations inside. The tour was about 1.5 hours and wasn't too much walking. The rangers were friendly and knowledgeable, the park is small enough to where after 1 day we had seen a good amount of it! We camped at the Mammoth Cave Campground. While there wasn't much shade in our campsite in Loop B, it was pretty private, and they have coin operated showers on the grounds, as well as beautifully kept restrooms - they are air conditioned too!

This was my first experience with caves and I think it has ruined all other caves for me! We did the historical tour which was a good mix of exploration and teaching. There were certainly some tight squeezes so if you are too claustrophobic you probably won't love it but most of the tour was in larger caves. Personally I thought the history of how the caves had been used (tuberculosis patients?!) and how they gave tours before all the infrastructure was in place was the best part but the caves themselves are also awe inspiring. It's also awesome when they turn out the lights. I've never seen total darkness before! There were lots of kids on the tour so it's certainly suitable for all ages so long as you can walk a decent amount and are ok with a good number of stairs! I would definitely recommend a stop for anyone in the area.

To start, if you're interested in a cave tour, make sure to book in advance. We came on a weekday 11:00a tour and noticed every option was booked. Only self-guided tours were available. We chose the Domes and Drip Stones tour. In total, 2 hours, which included a bus ride to and from the cave entrance. Two park rangers were assigned to our large group to ensure no one went off the path. The park rangers did warn us of the tour being strenuous. They spoke of a long dissent of over 250 stairs downward and then a path that would slope back up. And still -- I was surprised at how much energy this tour took. Some of the crowd brought younger children. I can't imagine having to have guided them along the path with their shorter legs or even worse, carry them. The path can become quite narrow as well. You must be willing to twist and bend to get through. Thankfully they do have a couple of areas for the group to sit and listen to the tour guide share facts about the cave and answer questions. Overall, I'm happy that we visited. Mammoth Cave is the longest cave and its story of discovery is intriguing. The Frozen Niagara section is beautiful with its shapes. This section is quite brief in comparison and you're mainly looking at large sheets of broken rock. The dirt path is bumpy and it's wild to think that young men were paid $1/day to make the path for visitors. Wear layers in the cave. It is cool but you will get warm walking through. Wear shoes with a grip. Some sections are wet and slippery. A mask is currently needed on the bus ride. They do have them at the information booth at the visitors center. The visitors center offers a small exhibit about the cave, good for before or after. There's also two gift shops, one for the cave and another for the national parks. Lots of restrooms and the space is nicely kept. Everyone working there gave offers to help, whether it was about the cave or another site around Kentucky. We found a shack outside that offered food and drinks, and another gift shop. You can see the lodges and camp site as well. Driving into the visitors center you'll spot hiking trails and picnic areas. Check out their website for more specifics about activities.

We chose to do the Historic Tour at Mammoth Cave. Tickets were sold out when we arrived (we purchased a few days prior) so I recommend purchasing in advance. The tour itself was 2 miles and 2 hours long. It was ALOT of walking including a fair amount of stairs but it wasn't difficult. The MOST NOTABLE PART was our guide, Ranger Eric. His enthusiasm, sense of humor and overall knowledge made the experience top-notch! If there is a way to request a ranger, I would 100% recommend Ranger Eric to assure a great visit to Mammoth Cave.

Mammoth Cave doesn't exactly require much of a sales pitch. In terms of tourist attractions, there aren't many better-known natural wonders of the world out there. It's well-trod ground, and before the modern policy of allowing only guided tours, apparently quite a few people managed to scrawl on cave walls. It's not the easiest thing to photograph something without light, but there are interesting sights to be seen, and the experience will challenge all the senses (particularly when they turn the lights out). The tours are probably not far off of the capacity the cave can manage, as we certainly passed several other groups on mine, and yet it seems they are close to selling out their tickets, mostly well in advance, during virtually any part of the year other than the dead of winter. Plan accordingly.

Was a pretty cool (literally - 54 degrees and figuratively) place to visit. Was a bit disappointed they don't charge a fee to get in (National Park Pass thus negated), but charge a fee to go into the cave. So, the Park Pass was worthless for here. The cave was pretty neat, but if you don't do the guided tour, your self-guided experience will end after about 15 minutes in the part of the cave you can access. The cave is pretty empty (that's the point of a cave, right?), no stalactites or stalagmites since the cave is quite dry. Overall a nice place, but it was rainy and we didn't do a guided tour so it was over pretty quickly.

AWESOME PLACE. Well worth the time; just schedule ahead and do a tour! We did the Niagara tour because it was the easiest and got you inside the cave! Also we took our 14 month old. You will have to ride on a school bus to do any tour. The tour guides were amazing! Very knowledgeable! Our family had a blast! Check out all the pictures!

We only did the Handicap assessable because of wife's knee. It's a 1/4 mile tour with the elevator taking us down. It has you follow the tour ranger about a mile back to the entrance. Great history but you will not see the bigger rooms on this tour. Mammoth tours do different areas per tour. If you are a hiker, plan on spending a week here to do all the tours and the trails and bicycle paths. Get here well before the tour time to do the exhibit walk through. It will really help you on the cave tours. We will be back again to do the many other tours. There is a self guided tour package available between 8 am and 1 pm

Violet City Lantern Tour (up to 40 people per tour) Before even leaving to walk to the cave, Ranger Jarvis took the opportunity to tell us all the ways he would throw us in jail and prosecute us to the full extent of the federal law. It felt more like an intro for going to prison than a walk in a cave. Instead of telling us things not to do because it ruins the history and nature of the place, everything was framed as "don't do this or we'll throw you in prison", which just felt over the top and aggressive. He also made several jokes that we didn't understand and then got annoyed when we didn't get it. For being a lantern tour, only 1 in 4 people had lanterns. Our group was very large at almost 40 people, so if the ranger was talking at the front, we had no idea. The ranger at the back did not speak and was often just lurking a significant distance behind us. We had Ranger Jarvis (0/10 would recommend) at the front, and every time we stopped, our guide had the same condescending, belittling script. "Does anyone know about X?" "Didn't think so" *goes on a story that ends up being not a real story but actually a very long, poorly set up joke* Or * starts talking about his military service and somehow ends up on the world wars and telling us WRONG information about pearl harbor* "did anyone know any of that? "didn't think so" "and you all thought this was just another cave" People very quickly stopped interacting with him as most conversations were not productive, or Jarvis just used the opportunity to make fun of the person or make their comment into another poor joke. He was very rude and at least one joke was clearly racist. It was a lot of hurry up and wait, which would have been alright if the stopping parts for informative and positive, but they were not. In the periods of walking, we were not able to see anything but the footsteps in front of us, so we didn't really get to enjoy the cave itself. The terrain was uneven and quickly went from flat to 45 degree inclines so watching your step was imperative. Combined with low light, it made it very hard to enjoy the cave unless we were stopped and the rangers used their own flashlights. Jarvis frequently would stop us and say things like, "you all don't know this, but we've been passing petroglyphs this whole time, but I'm not going to point them out to you because you'll just write on them" In general, the tour itself was okay. It was very rushed, focused heavily on the Ranger's own life with poor jokes and false history, as well as not being informative on the geology of the cave at all. It would have been a salvageable experience if not for the Ranger's demeaning, belittling, rude, condescending, and aggressive tone, speech, and delivery. I would not recommend this Ranger to anyone and would highly suggest the NPS reevalute their relationship with him, considering this is not a one time issue. Lastly, I've also seen other reviews with similar comments, especially saying racist things, such as this one from 9-22-22 on trip advisor https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g143043-d146944-r858626532-Mammoth_Cave-Mammoth_Cave_National_Park_Kentucky.html "I went on the Extended Historic Tour on 9-2-22 at 4pm. The cave was amazing, however Ranger Jarvis was arrogant, rude and condescending. He took more pleasure in talking about the visitors to the park who got into trouble for violating rules than he did sharing any history of the caves themselves. He stopped three times during the two hour tour and shared very little knowledge about the cave. He told a story about the slaves mining saltpeter in the caves and but for "people with skin darker than his" we essentially would not be free today. I would argue that the countless thousands of men who died in Europe would disagree. He failed to even mention the story of Stephen Bishop, however he did manage to work in the story of the Tuskegee Airman into the historic cave tour. It made zero sense. He clearly had an agenda and talked more about HIS military service than sharing any insight into the incredible wonder that is Mammoth Cave. Truly disappointing" Overall, we give this tour 2/10, mainly due to Jarvis. No matter how pretty a cave may be, the attitude and temperament of the guide left us leaving annoyed and like we chose the wrong tour to do. (We did the Grand Avenue tour two days later and it was great. We all decided upon arriving, that if Jarvis was doing our 2nd tour, that we would just skip it. We didn't want to be held hostage by that man for any amount of time, let alone for four more hours).

This was a fantastic experience! We did the Historic Tour. I highly suggest making reservations because most of the tours were sold out when we got there (we made reservations a few weeks ahead of time). Also, if you're short and small, the tour will be a breeze. If you're taller and/or bigger, you'll have to bend, stoop and turn to the side quite a bit. I'm only 5'1", and I even had to stoop down a few times. Wear a jacket because it's cool in the cave. And wear shoes that don't slip easily. The rocks in the cave are smooth and slick. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable. It was interesting learning about how the cave was formed as well as the creatures that inhabit it. Definitely be prepared to walk if you do the Historic Tour! It's 2 hours with something like 250 stairs that you have to take both down and back up. But they're short steps so they're not too bad! At one point, they turn all the lights out, and you're immersed in total darkness. Doing a tour at Mammoth Cave is absolutely worth the experience!

May 17,2022 - Mammoth Cave is an amazing and beautiful must see place in Kentucky. We took the scenic mini tour with the least difficulty. It was 1.5 hours and one mile tour with a bus ride and a short walk in the Tranquil Valley of Wondering Woods. At the end of the hike, a short cave tour - surrounded by beautiful cave formations! After the tour, we took a small walk in the woods. We got some amazing photos and really loved this park - the perfect spring day.

We loved visiting Mammoth cave. Our tour guide was kind and very informative. Touring the actual cave is a unique and fun experience, but be sure to wear shoes that are comfy to walk in, as you'll be walking a lot!

A great vacation spot. Really happy with the knowledgeable and experienced tour guides working for the national park. Happy to be able to have such a special experience with my family.

This place was amazing. We only did the discovery tour but I'd love to go back and go as deep as I can. I thought it was cooler than the Grand Canyon and of course the rangers were friendly and knowledgeable. And I always appreciate a good gift shop that had shirts on sale for $20.