The Mammoth Cave Historic Tour is one of the most popular and iconic tours offered at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.
Historic Cave Tour Trail Basics
2 Hours
2 Miles Roundtrip
Loop
420 Feet with
540 Steps
Duration: 2 Hours
The Historic Cave Tour is a ranger-guided tour that takes about two hours to complete.
Distance: 2 Miles Roundtrip
There are many different tours available at Mammoth Cave in varying lengths. The Historic Tour is a 2-mile hike.
Type: Loop Trail
There is only one main entrance to the cave that is open to visitors of the park. The tour walks through the cave in a loop and you end up back at the same set of stairs that you used to get into the cave.
Elevation Change: 420 Feet with 540 Steps
Throughout the tour, you will ascend and descend a total of 540 stairs. Overall, the elevation changes is about 420 feet in a little time.
Season: Any
Mammoth Cave National Park is open year-round except for Christmas Day. The temperature in the cave stays at a steady temperature, so unless there’s so much rain that the cave starts to flood, pick the right tour for your family and go explore the cave any season of the year. Although there are fewer tours available in the winter since that’s the off-season for the park.
Time of Day: Daytime
Each of the tours is offered at specific times of the day, so make sure you check the available times for the tour you want to take. The Historic Tour is one of the most popular, so it is offered many times throughout the day.
Amount of Shade: Underground
Almost the entire tour is underground except for the paved hike from the visitor center to the entrance of the cave. You don’t need to worry about sun protection while on one of the cave tours. But if you plan to do some of the above-ground hikes while at the Mammoth Cave National Park, you will want to bring some sunscreen with you.
Difficulty: Moderate to Strenuous
Overall, most of the Historic Cave Tour Trail is a pretty easy hike. But the steep slopes and the amount of stairs make this a moderate to strenuous hike for most people. Although, that said, we did this hike with four kids ranging in age from seven to ten years old. Only the youngest started to get tired and was carried for a little while in the larger parts of the cave.
What Makes Historic Cave Tour a Great Hike?
This tour provides visitors with an opportunity to explore some of the most significant sections of Mammoth Cave, which is the world’s longest known cave system. It’s one of the only national parks with a variety of cave tours available with a ranger guide. We had a great time exploring the cave and seeing all of the tight spaces the early explorers went through when mapping out the caves.
The boys kept hearing about the Bottomless Pit and couldn’t wait to see that. It’s not actually bottomless, but goes down 105 feet with the bottom not visible even with the electric lights that have been placed throughout. We also liked to see the underground river and take a walk through Fat Man’s Misery.
Our tour guide gave us an in-depth look at what parts of the cave looked like when explorers came through. At one point, they showed us just how dark it is in a cave without artificial lighting by turning the lights off for a moment. It’s so dark that your eyes would never adjust because there’s absolutely no light coming into the cave system.
Scenery on the Historic Cave Tour
Start of the Trail
The hike starts by going through the historic entrance. This is a steep paved quarter-mile trail that leads to the cave entrance. Once you enter the cave, the tour arrives at the Rotunda, which is one of the cave’s most well-known rooms. The room is about one-quarter acre in size and has a circular ceiling 40 feet above.
Cave entrance
Pathway in the cave
On the Trail
As you walk through the caves, your park ranger tour guide will point out all of the named areas in the cave and the unique formations. Look out for wooden structures that are remnants of the original mining that took place in the cave.
End of the Trail
Near the end of the trail, there will be a few staircases to climb inside the cave. Don’t worry, after going through a few tight spots and ducking and stooping through the cave, there’s a large area, the River Hall, that has many stone benches to rest on before you finish your time in this beautiful cave.
Notable Places on the Hike
There are so many named features along the trail. From the moment you start until the end of the tour, there is something to see the entire way.
- Houchin’s Narrows
- Rotunda
- Saltpetre Vats
- Entering Broadway
- Salpeter Pipes
- Methodist Church
- Broadway Avenue
- Giant’s Coffin
- Wooden Bowl Room
- Descending Deeper
- Black Snake Avenue
- Historic Signatures
- Side Saddle Pit
- Bottomless Pit
- Fat Man’s Misery
- Great Relief Hall
- River Hall
- Stairway Leading Up
- Sparks Avenue
- Mammoth Dome
- Mammoth Dome Stair Tower
- Butterscotch Falls
- Little Bat and Audubon Avenue
Bottomless Pit
Sign for Fat Man’s Misery
Historic Cave Tour Trailhead Information
Park Name: Mammoth Cave National Park
Mammoth Cave National Park is located in central Kentucky near Bowling Green, Glasgow, and Leitchfield. The park is about halfway between Louisville, Kentucky, and Nashville, Tennessee. There are two main ways to get into the park. If you go through the south end via Mammoth Cave Parkway, you will end at the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center which is where the different cave tours start. Those coming from the northeast on Green River Ferry Road will need to build in a little extra time because you will have to take the ferry over the Green River. This is a very short ferry ride but can take about 10-15 minutes if the ferry is on the other side of the river when you get there.
Finding the Trailhead
When you get to the visitor center, check in with the park ranger at the information desk. This is the only way to redeem your cave tour tickets. They will tell you what your tour time is and when you need to be at the meeting location. For most of the tours, this is the covered pavilion just southwest of the visitor center and park store building. From here, your knowledgeable guides will direct the group to the steep inclines that take you to the mouth of the cave.
Markers Along the Trail
A few of the features are marked with small signs. Otherwise, there are very few markers on the trail since the tour is a guided walk.
Nearest Restrooms
Make sure to use the restroom before you meet your tour guide at the covered picnic shelters outside of the visitor center building. While you are on the tour, about halfway through your tour, there is an underground restroom available with flushing toilets. My sister and I both used the restroom and I was surprised they were flushing facilities that far underground.
Parking Area
The visitors center has a large parking area available. This is where most of the cave tours start, so the area gets busy, but the parking area has plenty of parking spots.
Other Trails at this Trailhead
A number of trails start from the visitor center, both the underground cave tours and the above-ground hiking trails. Note that some of the cave trails require a short bus ride to the start of the trail while others are crawling tours that go through some of the smallest places in the caves.
Cave Tours
- Star Chamber Tour
- Trog Tour
- Introduction to Caving Tour
- Wild Cave Tour
- Domes and Dripstones Tour
- Great Onyx Lantern Tour
- Grand Avenue Tour
- Violet City Lantern Tour
- River Styx Tour
- Frozen Niagara Tour
- Mammoth Passage Tour
- Discovery Self-Guided Tour
- Gothic Avenue Tour
- Cleveland Avenue Tour
- Accessible Tour
- Extended Historic Tour
- Wondering Woods Tour
Hiking Trails near the Visitor Center
- Amphitheater Trail
- Cabins Trail
- Dixon Cave Overlook
- Dixon Cave Trail
- Engine No. 4 Trail
- Old Guides Trail
- River Styx Spring Trail
- Ridgetop Walk to Sunset Point
Tips for the Historic Cave Tour
- During certain times of the year, there is a self-guided tour option if you want to take your time. This does not allow you access to the entire 2 miles that the Historic Tour offers.
- The Historic Cave Tour is the most popular attraction at the park. It's a great tour with small children without going long distances. Make sure to get your tickets early.
- The National Park Service offers free admission to Mammoth Cave National Park, although there is an entrance fee for one of the cave tours. Tickets can be purchased up to two months in advance at recreation.gov.
- Dress in layers as the cave stays at a steady 55 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. Also, try to wear shoes that have not been in another cave to help prevent the spread of white-nose syndrome to the bats that call Mammoth Cave home.
Accessibility Information for Historic Cave Tour
Paved with Steps
Paved
Trail Type: Paved with Steps
The Historic Cave Tour is not one of the accessible trails in the park. There are many steep hills, narrow spaces, and 540 stairs. There are no alternative routes through the cave system to avoid these areas.
Parking: Paved
The parking area outside of the visitor center is a large paved parking lot with multiple handicap-accessible parking spots available.