Looking for something different to do with your family in Indiana? Plan a day trip or weekend getaway to Southern Indiana, where you can find many of our state’s amazing caves. Visiting caves is a great way to explore the region while staying active and experiencing something completely unique. Every cave has different formations that make them special. Kids will be so engaged in the exciting spelunking experience that they won’t even realize they are learning tons about Indiana’s geology and history.
Things to Consider
- Caves are amazing places to visit no matter the weather! The shelter provided by the cave itself and the consistent temperatures inside means that cold and heat outside shouldn’t affect your experience. Some caves may occasionally be affected by flooding.
- Please be aware that caves are naturally full of tight spaces and uneven surfaces. This often makes it impossible to navigate with wheelchairs, walkers, and strollers. Check with the cave directly to inquire about accessibility.
- Cave tours often include large changes in elevation and require climbing up and down significant flights of stairs.
- White Nose Syndrome has devastating effects on bats, killing off large populations. To protect the bat inhabitants, some caves will ask that you walk through a decontamination surface.
Pro Tips
- Make sure you dress for the activity. Caves are naturally around 50 to 56 degrees Fahrenheit year-round, so in the summer, bring a jacket and pants to change into. Caves have slippery and unlevel surfaces so make sure you wear good shoes that are slip- and water-resistant.
- Some cave tours include a moment when your tour guide will turn off all the lights so guests can experience total darkness. Prepare your little ones for this, if necessary.
The Indiana Cave Trail
Marengo Cave
400 East State Rd 64, Marengo, IN 47140
Not long after Marengo Cave was discovered by two children in 1883, tours began and visitors were able to explore the natural wonder. Marengo Cave is a U.S. National Natural Landmark and offers daily walking tours of two different areas of the cave. Both walking tours are easy in difficulty with minimal steps and the passageways are well lit.
Crystal Palace lasts about 40 minutes and you’ll experience formation-filled rooms and see huge flowstone deposits. Dripstone Trail is an hour long and showcases skinny soda straws, totem pole stalagmites, helictites, and Penny Ceiling features of the cave.
Tour Prices
Please verify the current pricing with the attraction.
Crystal Palace Tour: $12.95/children 4-12, $21.95/ adults 13+, children 3 and under are free
Dripstone Trail: $14.95/children 4-12, $24.95/adults 13+, children 3 and under are free
There is a reduced rate if you plan on doing both tours.
Adventurous Options
If you are looking for more adventure, Marengo Cave offers more advanced spelunking packages, including overnight options. Age recommendations are provided for each tour.
Explore Some More
Extend your trip by camping at a creekside site or staying in one of Marengo Cave’s 4 rustic cabins. Amenities include a playground, fire pit, grills and picnic tables, a gift shop, and a modern bathhouse just a short walk away. There are other on-site attractions such as gem mining, pedal karting, glow-in-the-dark putt-putt, a 5,000-square-foot maze, a 30-foot-tall spiral slide, and a cave simulator wooden maze.
Blue Spring Caverns
1459 Blue Springs Cavern Rd, Bedford, IN 47421
Beginning mid-March and operating seasonally until October 31, you can tour Blue Spring Caverns with an hour-long boat ride on the Myst’ry River. You may even run into some local cave wildlife, including bats or cavefish, along the way. Note that occasionally tours will be unavailable due to area flooding.
Tour Prices
Please verify current pricing with the attraction.
$12/children 15 and under, $22/adults
Please note that the tour is not recommended for those under 4 and is not handicap accessible.
Adventurous Options
Blue Spring Caverns offers an Overnight Adventure for sponsored youth groups of 15-95 guests, ages 9-16. Participants spend 12 hours overnight camping 100 feet underground in Canyon Hall and explore undeveloped parts of the cave that are not available on the daily tours. Another unique experience that Blue Springs Caverns offers is a kayak adventure. Groups of 4-8 people are accompanied by two experienced guides who lead a 3-hour tour on Myst’ry River, America’s longest underground river.
Explore Some More
Besides cave tours, you can hike the half-mile nature trail in the Ruth & Emery Bolton Natural Area. Guests can also mine for gems and fossils in the gemstone mining sluice and enjoy the amenities of the Colglazier Visitor Center which has a gift shop, restrooms and a picnic shelter.
Indiana Caverns
1267 Green Acres Dr SW, Corydon, IN 47112
Indiana Caverns in Harrison County features a 75-minute cave tour where you descend 110 feet on a steel walkway and stairs to the underground river. From there, you explore the cave by boat. During your tour you will see different cave formations, a waterfall, and one of Indiana’s largest deposits of Ice Age bones. As you make your way up out of the cave, you’ll pass through the Big Bone Mountain Room and finally take a ramp to the Visitor’s Center.
Tour Prices
Please verify current pricing with the attraction.
$14/children 4-11, $25/ages 12+
Save money by bundling your tour experience with other attractions offered at Indiana Caverns.
Adventurous Options
Indiana Caverns has an immersive cave experience called the Deep Darkness Adventure. During this 4-hour experience, explore the cave system by climbing and crawling through the cave until you get to the underground stream. At this point, you explore via kayak. Note that due to the physical demands of this adventure, Indiana Caverns requires participants to be in good health to join the tour.
Explore Some More
Indiana Caverns Family Adventure Park offers more than just tours of Indiana’s longest cave system. Kids who want a taste of serious spelunking can try the Cavern of the Sabertooth caving simulator. In this mudless experience, participants crawl 375 feet underground to see the Sabertooth’s Lair filled with golden skulls and more. Children under 6 will need a parent or older sibling to accompany them and helmets with lights, along with kneepads for adults, will be provided.
Visitors can also take advantage of fun family entertainment, including attractions like a 50-foot quick drop, two themed escape rooms, a Pygmy goat play area, gem mining, and a 603-foot steel zip coaster.
Squire Boone Caverns
100 Squire Boone Rd SW, Mauckport, IN 47142
Squire Boone Caverns is named after Squire Boone, who discovered the caverns with his brother, Daniel, in 1790 and now calls the caverns his final resting place. The caverns are known for their unique cave features, including stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, waterfalls, and America’s largest public rimstone dams that cover the interior of the cave system. Cave patrons can take the tour that travels 1/3 of a mile through lighted, paved walkways and steel bridges and completes with a 73-step spiral staircase. The times of the tours change during the different seasons, but they are offered daily except on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Day, and New Year’s Day.
Tour Prices
Please verify current pricing with the attraction.
$14/children 4 -11, $24/adults and youth 12-59, $22/seniors 60+. Children 3 and under are free.
Explore Some More
For an additional $5 added to your cave tour admission, you can purchase a combo ticket that includes a small bag of mine rough for the gem mining sluice, as well as a barnyard food cup for the animals at the Squire’s Barnyard. Other attractions at Squire Boone Caverns include Boone’s Kitchen and Candy Shop, a rock shop that offers various gems and minerals for sale, zip lining, candle dipping, and the historic Boone’s Mill. This restored grain mill from 1800 uses water from the caverns to power the mill’s wheel.
Indiana State Forests and Parks
You may want to consider an annual entrance permit/Indiana State Park Pass when visiting these locations.
Harrison-Crawford State Forest
7240 Old Forest Rd SW, Corydon, IN 47112
Not for the casual cave tourist, experienced spelunkers may want to pursue permission to explore the caves at Harrison-Crawford State Forest. There are many caves throughout the forested area, but access is not available to just anyone. In fact, for safety and preservation reasons, DNR personnel and the State Forest employees cannot divulge information about the location of cave entrances or other karst features in an effort to make sure only those who are authorized visit the caves.
The Division of Forestry allows limited access to forest cave resources through a registration portal. This is where adventurers register to visit the caves. Goups should include at least one experienced caver. This skilled group leader should have knowledge of all required equipment, make trip safety preparations, and follow the guidance set by the National Speleological Society.
Spring Mill State Park
3333 IN-60 E, Mitchell, IN 47446
Public cave tours at Spring Mill State Park are offered during the summer through mid-October. Visitors can take the Twin Caves Boat Tour, or access the dry side of Donaldson Cave from hiking trail 3. Twin Caves Boat Tours are offered daily from Memorial Day weekend through mid-July, and then on weekends from mid-August until mid-October. Ride a boat 500 feet into the cave before it returns, giving guests views of the cave formations and a chance to search for cave animals, including the endangered blind cavefish. Tours run on the half-hour and reservations must be made the same day, in-person at the Twin Caves shack.
Tour Prices
Please verify current pricing with the attraction.
$3/person. Children under the age of 3 are not permitted.
Adventurous Options
Spring Mill State Park also offers public access to select caves inside the park. In partnership with the Indiana Karst Conservancy, self-guided groups can register for special access to these caves. Access may be permitted to Donaldson/Bronson Cave year-round, the DNR portion of Upper Twin Cave from November 1 to May 15, and Endless and River Caves in Cave River Valley Natural Area from May 1 to August 31.
Explore Some More
This state park is also home to a working pioneer village. Guests can step back in time to experience a historic grist mill powered by the cave springs. The village also includes a blacksmith shop, tavern, schoolhouse, saw mill, homes, gardens, and more. Families can also rent canoes and kayaks, visit the nature center, or see the Grissom Memorial honoring astronaut Gus Grissom. Make a weekend of your trip! Spring Mill State Park has both camping and a modern inn on-site.
O’Bannon Woods State Park
7234 Old Forest Rd, Corydon, IN 47112
At O’Bannon Woods State Park, you will find the Wyandotte Caves. The caves are open for tours seasonally from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Be aware that tours are only offered on holidays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
The Little Wyandotte Cave tour takes you through the smaller cave, where you will find flowstone and dripstone formations. This trek is considered easy in terms of difficulty and lasts between 30 to 45 minutes. The tours of Little Wyandotte are open to all ages.
The Big Wyandotte Tour is a two-hour, rugged, 1.5-mile headlamp/helmet trip through the deeper sections of Big Wyandotte Cave. You’ll see the “Monument Mountain” and unique cave formations like helicities, along with gypsum, epsomite, and prehistoric flint quarries. For this tour, you must be in good physical health and able to navigate steep terrain and many stairs. No one under the age of 6 is allowed on this rugged excursion.
After the tour, you will be required to walk across a rough decontamination surface near the cave entrance as you exit the cave to prevent the movement of the fungal spores that cause White-Nose syndrome in bats.
Tour Prices
Please verify current pricing with the attraction.
Little Wyandotte Cave Tour: $4/children 6-11, $8/adults and youth 12+, free for ages 5 and younger.
Big Wyandotte Cave Tour: $9/children 6-11, $18/adults and youth 12+
Indiana Karst Conservancy
Sullivan Cave, Wayne Cave, & Robinson Ladder Cave
Request cave access and locations from the IKC
Indiana Karst Conservancy is a nonprofit group that works to preserve Indiana’s karsts and caves through active conservation. As part of their work, they also manage several caves in Indiana including Sullivan Cave, Wayne Cave, and Robinson Ladder Cave. To gain access to these caves, cavers and groups must be granted permission from the Indiana Karst Conservatory. To protect the integrity of the cave and the species that inhabit it, cavers must follow the guidelines set forth by the IKC. Visitors must use proper caving equipment and protect the cave by following the motto “leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but pictures, kill nothing but time.” To find out specific information about the caves and how you can visit, contact the Indiana Karst Conservancy.
Spark a love of geology by introducing your kids to the astonishing, underground world of caves in Indiana. Whether you are a casual cave tourist or a dedicated, experienced spelunker, you’re sure to find something to awe and amaze you right here in our home state’s caves and caverns.
For more fun learning opportunities around Indiana, visit some of the state’s children’s museums!
