“The only underground boat tour in KY”
Kentucky's ONLY Underground Boat Tour and the enchanting Butterfly Habitat await you at Lost River Cave. Daylight disappears from view as you board the boat on the river that Ripley's Believe It or Not claims is the shortest, deepest in the world. A comfortable 57 degrees year round, the boat tour offers a visit into the timeless world of a Kentucky Natural wonder. Lost River Cave is open year round, but does close for Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Day and closed at noon on New Year's Eve. Currently, our tours start at the top of every hour from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm Summer tours are normally every 30 minutes. Reservations are not required. Tours are on a first come, first serve basis. Tours in July do sell out. If your travel plans are not flexible it is recommended that you purchase your tickets early in the day. There are about 2.5 miles of nature trails to explore, featuring 3 blue holes, a spring and a diverse variety of urban wildlife habitats. At the end of May, our butterfly habitat will be open for visitation. The rock and mineral sluice, where visitors young and old can experience panning for precious minerals like in the old days.
My husband and I decided to check this out for my birthday, and it was a beautiful drive out, and a very nice place! Remnants of the old tourist cabins remain on the edge of bluff, they have an amazing gift shop with great prices, and a place for kids to play. The best part is the scenery, however, and the walk by the Blue Hole. The Blue Hole made it into Ripley's in the early 1900s because people thought that the hole was 427 feet deep. Civil War soldiers and entire wagons were said to have disappeared into it. Turns out that it was 16 feet with a strong current. The water is the prettiest color I have ever seen, and you can see to the bottom in shallow areas. The boat tour was very fun, and there is cave writing about the legendary Jesse James who allegedly holed up in the cave with Frank and the gang after the Russleville bank heist. A local doctor is said to have been kidnapped to tend to a shot Jesse. The previous commenter is correct: you do have to bend at the waist to pass under the low roof, but it adds to the experience as long as you don't have back issues. Only complaint is that it's not a longer boat ride (25 minutes or so), and there's a cement ledge where they stop to turn around.
This was a really neat experience as you.get to go inside the cave and the tour guides are very knowledgeable.
The history and cave are interesting. It's a quick tour so you could squeeze it in if you were visiting family or just passing through. The nature trail is beautiful. Military get in free, last time I went on the tour. They've also added a lot of children's activities at the gift shop area. It looks fun and kids are always out there playing now that it's warm.
Beautiful area and the caves were cool.
This attraction is worth the stop if you are passing by. It was a lot of fun. My family and I all enjoyed it very much.
When the water is high, you have to bend over in the boat as it passes under a low cave roof for about 50 feet. Not fun if you're seriously claustrophobic.
We visited this cave tour as a stop on our failmily road trip in late May. It is a shorter cave tour, but the tour guides did an amazing job and had everyone on the tour involved! My husband is claustrophobic and after the short low area in the entrance, he felt completely safe! The cave itself was amazing and we ventured onto one of trails and ended up at the butterfly enclosure which was also beautiful! It was a great stop!
This is a great tour! It doesn’t take much time but you get to see this little hidden gem up close and personal. Our tour guide, Jacob was informative and entertaining. They have a really nice gift shop too! If you have 1-2 hours to spare, don’t miss it!
Exceeded my expectations! Really beautiful grounds, and the tour guides were excellent! Plus, hearing the story about how they saved this cave from becoming a dump site made me glad that we put our money towards helping preserve the site.
Call ahead could not make our trip do to flooding! But we will another time.
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Lost River Cave
Hours
- Mon - Sat: 9:00 am - 11:00 pm
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Parking
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Pets Allowed
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Restrooms
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Wifi
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Wheelchair Accessible
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Credit Cards Accepted
- Reservations
- Does not take
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Bar
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Dinner
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Lunch
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Outdoor Seating
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Takeout
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Waitstaff
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