What to Know about Visiting the Mammoth Cave National Park

The Mammoth Cave National Park is a very unique national park, as the bulk of what you’ll visit is underground. This is also a great way to get out of the city and see some of the unique natural splendors of the area.

How to Get to Mammoth Cave National Park:

The park is located about halfway between Louisville and Nashville. It’s approximately a 90 minute drive in either direction.

About the Mammoth Cave National Park

The Mammoth Cave National Park is located in central Kentucky. The park is free to enter, but the cave tours and other activities have associated fees.

The caves became a national park in 1941 due to its extensive cave system and its usage with the different inhabitants of the region throughout history. This is the largest known cave system in the world, and is also a UNESCO heritage site.

When visiting Mammoth Cave National Park, give yourself some time to check out the visitor center exhibit to learn more about the cave and surrounding parkland. Within the park there are many miles of trails for hiking, biking and even horseback riding.

About the Mammoth Cave National Park tours

There are 15-20 different cave tour options to choose from depending on time of year and availability. Most last for at least 2 hours. Learn more about Mammoth Cave tours here.

It’s recommended to purchase your tours ahead of time to guarantee you get tickets for your preferred type of tour and reservation time. Buy your tour tickets here.

If you, or anyone in your group, has limited mobility I would not recommend taking a cave tour. There is quite a bit of walking, hundreds of stairs involved, as well as some cramped spaces in part of the tour. Also, the elevator was out of order when we visited, which meant the accessible tours were canceled.

I would not recommend the extended historic tour for children. There were a few groups on our tour with kids from 7-13 and ⅔ of the way through most of them were over the tour and started to complain and act up, which really ruins the experience for everyone else.

About the Caves

This is a dry cave, so don’t expect to see many stalactites or stalagmites, but you will be awed by the size and scale of the caves.

The caves have a consistent humidity and temperature of approximately 54-56 degrees fahrenheit year round. Make sure to bring layers as it can be a little cool when you’re in the less active part of the tour.