Items16The creator’s order
  1. 1Mammoth Cave National ParkMammoth Cave National ParkThe world's longest known cave system, with more than 400 miles of passages, and a choice of tours wide enough to suit almost anyone: a half-hour self-guided Discovery Tour, a fully wheelchair-accessible tour, the dripstone of Frozen Niagara with only 64 stairs, or the two-mile Historic Tour with…0
  2. 2Carlsbad Caverns National ParkCarlsbad Caverns National ParkThe Big Room is the draw: a self-guided trail of about a mile around a single vast chamber crowded with stalagmites, columns and draperies. It is the most flexible big-cave visit on this list, because you can walk down through the Natural Entrance on a steep switchback trail or ride an elevator to…0
  3. 3Wind Cave National ParkWind Cave National ParkCome here for boxwork, delicate fins of rock in a honeycomb pattern, a rare cave feature and the reason geology fans make the trip to South Dakota. Wind Cave is not a stalactite showcase, and visitors expecting a Carlsbad-style forest of dripstone can leave underwhelmed; what it offers instead is…0
  4. 4Luray CavernsLuray CavernsThe easiest richly decorated cave on this list. Luray is packed with dripstone, and the whole route is 1.25 miles of well-lit paved walkway that most people cover self-guided in a little over an hour. The entrance is step-free and takes wheelchairs, although the caverns do not describe themselves…0
  5. 5Škocjan CavesŠkocjan CavesIf you see one cave for sheer scale, make it this one. The Reka river has cut one of the largest underground canyons in Europe, and the guided route crosses it on the Cerkvenik bridge, high above the riverbed. Škocjan was the first natural site in Slovenia on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and it…0
  6. 6Postojna CavePostojna CaveŠkocjan's opposite, and the better Slovenian choice for families or anyone who cannot manage a thousand steps. Postojna opened the world's first cave railway in 1872, and today a double-track train carries visitors on a 3.7 km ride inside before an easy walk on a footpath among the formations. The…0
  7. 7EisriesenweltEisriesenweltThe world's largest ice cave, high on an Austrian mountainside, where temperatures usually stay below freezing even in summer. Nothing else on this list looks like it, and it rewards the effort. That effort is real. Getting there means a walk of about 20 minutes, a short cable car over the…0
  8. 8Cuevas del DrachCuevas del DrachThe pick for a beach vacation in Majorca. The route runs for almost 1,200 meters and reaches about 25 meters below ground, through chambers of fine dripstone, and ends at Lake Martel, regarded as one of the biggest underground lakes in the world. Every visit includes a short live concert on the…0
  9. 9Frasassi CavesFrasassi CavesItaly's great show cave, in the hills of the Marche, where the Grotta Grande del Vento was only discovered in 1971. It is best known for the Abisso Ancona, a chamber so large it is often said to have room for Milan Cathedral. The standard guided walk takes about an hour and a quarter at a steady…0
  10. 10Caves of Han-sur-LesseCaves of Han-sur-LesseA cave day out with a sense of occasion: a safari bus carries visitors through the estate's wildlife park to the historic entrance, and the guided route then follows the underground river to where it leaves the cave. The Journey tour covers about 2 km and 510 steps in two hours; the Discovery tour…0