One-Hour Cave Tour for Adult or Child from Historic Diamond Caverns (Up to Half Off)
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Colorful calcite deposits glimmer like diamonds within geological formations millions of years old
Temperatures inside caves are often cooler than on the ground, which is odd, considering that caves are actually closer in proximity to the giant tire fire that heats the earth's core. Investigate geological curiosities with this Groupon.
Choose Between Two Options
- $8 for a one-hour cave tour for an adult (up to a $16 value) $4 for a one-hour cave tour for a child, valid for ages 4–12 years (up to an $8 value)
Guides lead an approximately half-mile walking tour into the calcite-rich chambers of Historic Diamond Caverns. As guests walk along paths framed with handrails, intricate lighting systems illuminate the caverns' geological formations, whose surfaces sparkle with mineral deposits. The tour is considered moderately strenuous, with about 350 total stair steps, which prevents handicap accessibility. Strollers, backpacks, and back-mounted baby carriers are also prohibited due to the cave's terrain, though front-mounted baby carriers are allowed. Tours depart every 20–30 minutes in the spring and summer and about every 45 minutes in the fall and winter.
Need To Know Info
About Diamond Caverns
The deposits of calcite glimmered like diamonds. It was 1859, and at the bottom of a rocky valley not far from the already famous Mammoth Cave, a slave from a local estate had stumbled upon a mysterious opening in the rock. Lowered into it on a rope, he became the first person to admire the sparkling walls of what would come to be known as Historic Diamond Caverns.
Today, the guides and geological experts of Historic Diamond Caverns lead tourists into halls of calcite-laden formations whose origins go back some 10 million years. Narrow corridors, carved out of the limestone eons ago by underground streams, open to cathedral-like chambers adorned in stalactites and stalagmites, draperies, and pipe organs that represent millions of years of slowly accumulating mineral deposits. Strategically placed lighting reveals the deposits' diamond-like shimmer as well as creatures such as salamanders, insects, and crayfish, which are adapted for life without sunlight or adequate cell-phone reception. Located close to Mammoth Cave National Park, a World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve, Historic Diamond Caverns remains at a comfortable 58 degrees throughout the year.