Discover the Mammoth Cave Historic Tour: A Journey Through Time

The Mammoth Cave Historic Tour is a moderate tour that covers 2 miles in 2 hours. It’s perfect for those interested in a moderate-difficulty cave tour with 540 steps at an affordable price.

Prices for the Mammoth Cave Historic Tour are as follows:

• $20 for Adults
• $15 for Youth
• $10 for Senior Pass holders
• $10 for Access Pass holders

Mammoth Cave National Park offers several cave tours. Find a complete list and make your reservations by visiting Recreation.gov. Cave tours sell out weeks in advance. I recommend making reservations.

The visitor’s center is located at 1 Mammoth Cave Parkway, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky 42259. View the interactive map below to learn more:

What to Expect on the Mammoth Cave Historic Tour

This is the general flow of this tour at Mammoth Cave:

1. Make reservations online at Recreation.gov
2. Arrive 30 minutes before your scheduled tour as there may be many people trying to check in and that takes time
3. Check-in at the Visitor’s center
4. Meet at the designated Shelter (we met at Shelter A)
5. A National Park Ranger will go over all the important information that you need to know
6. Make a short walk down to the entrance of the cave
7. Enter the cave after walking down concrete steps and walking through the cave’s gated entrance
8. Follow your tour guide for 2 miles and 2 hours as they take you through the cave
9. Your tour guide will have lots of interesting information about the cave
10. Once the tour is over, walk through the wet mat to protect against the spread of the white-nose syndrome
11. Enjoy the rest of your day at the National Park by visiting the gift shops, getting your National Park Passport stamp, going hiking, or walking through the self-guided tour within the gift shop

What Can I Bring To Mammoth Cave Historic Tour?

Leave behind the following:

• Flash photography or videography
• Child backpack-style carriers
• Walking sticks, tripods/monopods, strollers
• Backpacks higher than the shoulder or that are longer than the hips (i.e. large trekking packs) and metal-framed backpacks
• Firearms and other weapons
• Pets (there are day-use kennels available for rental at the Lodge at Mammoth Cave. Proof of vaccination is required upon entering the kennel. Find out more about pets in the park.)

Mammoth Cave National Park Facts

• Designated a World Heritage Site & International Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1981
• Over 420 miles of discovered cave
• Mammoth Cave National Park is located in Western Kentucky
• This National Park is in the Central time zone
• Entrance to the cave only permitted with a ticket
• Other types of tours available include a wheelchair-accessible route, short and long walking tours, lantern tours, and adventurous crawling tours
• The deep cave temperature is 54ºF (12ºC) year ’round so you may want to bring a light jacket or hooded sweatshirt
• Mammoth Cave’s surrounding forest supports over 1,300 flowering plant species
• This National Park encompasses 52,830 acres of wilderness
• 60 miles of backcountry hiking trails and 30 miles of rivers exist within Mammoth Cave National Park

My Experience on the Mammoth Cave Historic Tour

On May 12, 2022, I had a surprise guest visit me in Kentucky from Texas. And that guest was Ron from the YouTube channel Ron Sees America.

We made a reservation for the Historic Tour. We barely made it to the park on time!

However, once we got there, it was straight to Shelter A just outside the visitor’s center.

There we found the others who had also signed up for the tour. And the Park Ranger who gave us our briefing. We headed to the entrance of the cave. It was a nice downhill walk on a paved pathway.

No flash photography or videography is allowed in the cave. This made creating video content and photographs very difficult.

If you are going with a DSLR or mirrorless type of camera, I would recommend pairing your camera body with a lens with the wide-open aperture you have. There is not much light in the cave after all.

Also, a reminder that no tripods or monopods are allowed in the cave.

After we emerged, the nice & easy walk down was now a moderate uphill walk. Luckily, there were a few benches along the way.

Overall the Historic Tour at Mammoth Cave was a great time!

Calling All Creators!

Are you a YouTube content creator? Do you enjoy traveling to National Parks in a camper van, converted cargo van, box truck conversion, minivan camper conversion, travel trailer, or RV? Or are you aspiring to live these types of lifestyles?

If so, learn more about collaborative, informative, and entertaining meetups happening all over the United States and Canada by clicking the button below: