Mammoth Caves, KY - Help!

[iheartdisney]

It's been 40 years since I've been to Mammoth Caves, and back then I was too young to pay/plan the trip. I could barely hold a phone to make a reservation! But we're taking our boys and have no idea what the area is like. We're staying at a nearby hotel (the National Park lodge will be closed for the season but the park/cave is still open)

What is in the area? Where to eat? Other things to do?

Any guidance would be so appreciated!

Thanks!

[Katzateer]

There is a lot to do I would look online for nearby attractions. The area has been been built up and lts of fun things to do. Hope you have a great time!! Love Mammoth Cave!!

[Strmchsr]

No worries. Plenty of restaurants around the exit. Also, you'll want to go just a short drive up I-65 from there and check out Kentucky Down Under, which is an Australian zoo right in the middle of Kentucky. It's a lot of fun, too.

[buzznwoodysmom]

We toured Mammoth Cave about 5-6 years ago. We were staying at Fort Knox and took a day trip to do this so we didn't do a whole lot in the immediate area. However, something we all enjoyed, that isn't too far away, was the Louisville Slugger Museum. I have two boys so anything sports related is right up their ally, but it was something we all enjoyed a lot.

[CleveSJM]

Just went to Mammoth Cave this summer. Take the cave tours. They are not too strenuous. If you can walk Disney all day... Really the most strenuous is like climbing 4 or 5 flights of stairs. Around the park is pretty much tourist trap stuff. I'd stick to hikes and tours I'd say. Bowling Green has a nice restaurant called Mariah's we like very much.

[1DisneyNut]

We just did Mammouth cave this past summer as well. At certain times it can be extremely busy and the popular time slots can sell out, especially around holidays. You can make reservations for the time slots you want in advance through their website if you would like.

There are two major tours. One you walk right out back and go down a path and enter and the other you take a short bus ride to the entrance. We did the one right out back but I can't remember what it is called off the top of my head. We are going to drop in and do the other sometime in the next year or two.

While you are there, I would recommend running over to the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green. Even if you aren't a corvette enthusiast, it is very interesting. They have very rare corvettes from each iteration (C1-C7) and have chassis without the bodies showing the engineering/technological advancements. It is very cool. Right now, you can probably still view the ones that fell in the sink hole and they pulled back out.

[Janmac]

Some cave tours we've done that were fun are the Trog Tour, I think it's called, which is just for kids up to maybe 12 years old. They get rigged up with knee pads, hard hat and head light and squirm around in small cave areas for a couple hours. Our two youngest grandkids (boy and girl cousins) had so much fun when they did this about 14 years ago. They had to give back the pads and light but kept the hard hat. This may not be going on in the off season.

We've also done the main tours, one which involved a lot of stairs. DH was not impressed. :D

And we did a lantern tour in a part of the cave without electricity. This was pretty cool. We road a park bus to another part of the park and then walked down into the cave - no squirming but some stooping. Every third or fourth person carried a Coleman lantern. This was 8 or 9 years ago. Maybe they do battery lamps now instead of those hissing dinosaurs.

We camped at the campground in the park but DH and grandson did go out to go kart on our last visit. Mostly tho we enjoy doing whatever park activities, especially the ranger led ones, that we can get.

Jan

[iheartdisney]

Thank you,all! We leave tomorrow - so I'll report back and let you know what we were able to accomplish!

Thanks again! You all rock!

~Maureen