I took my 7 year old grandson and he and I both enjoyed it tremendously We thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride through the cave and the green water for St. Patrick's Day was awesome The Scavenger hunt was lots of fun for my grandson read more

The atmosphere and how pleasant everyone that worked here was absolutely wonderful. We enjoyed all the trails and the views. Our boat guide was Bri and let me just say, I 100% recommend her. She was informational, funny and we just had a fantastic time with her being our guide. The cave was really neat to see and experience along with some of the history that goes with it. We will definitely return and bring our kiddos next time. read more

Located in Bowling Green KY,this area offers hiking,family activities such as zip lining as well as a 7 mile cave system. Due to flooding,the cave area was closed so we just hiked the trails. The trails were well marked and they had an upper and lower trail that were connected. You will see sink holes,creeks as well as many types of plants and birds. There is an admission fee to explore the caves when open but no fee to hike . Parking is free read more

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Trails are easy to navigate and somewhat circular but are mostly crushed gravel so hard on the feet if you aren't wearing good shoes. Birds were in abundance although part of the trail has some road noise. You can pay for a guided tour but we did not do it. The butterfly house opens May through October. I enjoyed the walk. read more

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Had a great time on this tour. Interesting historical information and a beautiful cave. Well worth the time when you are in Bowling Green Kentucky. read more

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We made a trip to Kentucky, specifically to see this cave, after we saw an article about it in the NY Times in August 2025. When we were trying to figure out what time to schedule our hour-long cave tour, we were told that Lost River Cave is about the only thing to do in the town of Horse Cave so we should not arrive terribly early for our tour. We got there a few minutes after the 11 am tour left. The guides at the counter made sure we were able to join that tour, rather than wait an hour for the next tour. They do have the American Cave Museum (FREE admission) with exhibits on karst geology, groundwater, archaeology and the many uses of caves. For most folks, touring this museum would NOT take an hour. Because the cave occasionally floods, some forms of development have been impossible for this cave. There are concrete steps and paths, as well as dirt ones, and some lights inside. Parts are quite dark. There is an impressive suspension bridge over some deeper parts of the cave, which is reportedly the longest underground suspension bridge. Mud gets deposited over most surfaces when flooding happens and must be washed away for tourists to return. Sunset Dome, the last dome one sees on the tour, is one of the largest free-standing cave domes in the United States.The cave is fairly clean now. It used to be used as a garbage dump. Raw sewage used to seep into the water and forced the closure of the cave for fifty years. The stench was so bad in the 1960s -1980s that we were told that pedestrians typically avoided the entrance, which is a sink hole. In 1990, the Friends of Lost River was formed as a non-profit organization with 501(c)3 status in an effort to rehabilitate the site. The Lost River valley and cave site is now owned jointly by Western Kentucky University and the non-profit Friends of Lost River. The cave reopened to the public in 1997, and most traces of abuse are now gone. We liked the tour and it was worth the trip. read more

The cave tour was great. I made a reservation early and was led down to where we met our guide. Only recommendation is to bring a jacket or hoodie because it gets pretty chilly in the cave. read more

Lost River Cave - Cave inside - Boat Tours Near Me - Bowling Green, Kentucky

Great tour guide. Interesting caves with a LONG history. They also have a butterfly area and great hiking trails. read more

Lost River Cave - Lost Cave - Boat Tours Near Me - Bowling Green, Kentucky

We really enjoyed our visit, our guide was so sweet. The scenery was amazing. They were setting up for a wedding so bonus for us it was gorgeous. read more

Lost River Cave - Boat Tours Near Me - Bowling Green, Kentucky

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Fun place to come and see a unique Kentucky Cave! When I was looking up caves to go visit while in the state I thought this one sounded different since you get to go in a boat and see a river inside a cave. The tour was very fun and it was so cool to see and hear about the history of it. It had a lot less walking than I thought and there was no walking inside the cave it was all in the boat. It was a cool experience and now I'm ready to go see more caves next time I'm visiting in the area! Thanks to our tour guide Olivia for a great tour :) read more

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Blue hole which is the water body in the start of the cave, is being dyed green today by some leprechauns. Believe it or not, there are parts of the city of Bowling Green under this 7 mile cave. The boat ride is slow but informative. Saw a lone tiny tiny bat inside the river cave. You get to see the tiny stalactites. read more

Lost River Cave - Boat Tours Near Me - Bowling Green, Kentucky

This was a cool adventure. The grounds themselves were gorgeous and inviting. We went on the tour which was fun and informative. We started at the meeting point and walked down to the cave area hearing all about the river and history of the cave. Then we got on a boat and traveled into the cave. At one point we all had to duck down low to prevent our heads from hitting the rocks. It was gorgeous in there. We even saw some crawfish in the water. They were prepping for a wedding when we were there, which looked like it was going to be a great time. There was also an area for Halloween festivities on site too. It also had a cute gift shop area. Definitely check it out. read more

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As a BG native Lost River Cave has always been a fun escape from the city with beautiful trails, a greenhouse filled with butterflies, something for the history buffs, gem mining, and a chilly cave! It is free to walk around and they have a beautiful gift shop with lots of local goods. They have a huge outdoor play area for kids as well. Great place to go for a hike in the woods or even run/walk on their paved trail. Unlike how it was when I was growing up, you can't walk all the way to the cave without a tour guide, which is a shame but I am guessing it is for safety. The boat tour costs around $25. I wish they would let folks walk around the cave like they used to for free. Great place for events - they host a lot of weddings! read more

Great cave tour Olivia was hot and great tour lots of interesting facts.Not a very long walk.

We had a great time at Lost River Cave and definitely give it 5 stars! The price was very reasonable -- just $24.99 for an adult ticket -- and well worth it for the experience. The tour starts with a 15-20 minute walk to the cave entrance, guided by someone who shared interesting local history and fun facts along the way. Then we boarded a boat and went into the cave itself, which was such a cool and unique experience! The guide continued sharing stories and history during the ride, making it both fun and educational. After the cave tour, we explored the trails, visited the butterfly garden, and saw three of the natural blue holes on the property -- all beautiful and peaceful spots. We ended our visit at the gift shop, which had a great selection and surprisingly reasonable prices. This was such a fun and different stop -- perfect for all ages. Highly recommend if you're in the Bowling Green area! Thankfully, we had purchased our tickets in advance. There was a man at the counter asking for same day, walk-up tickets and they were out, so I do highly recommend purchasing your tickets before arriving and arriving at least 30 minutes before so that you can check in and walk down to the area for the tour to begin. read more

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Our tour guide Olivia was amazing and very educated on the history of the cave, not to mention quite knowledgeable on how caves are formed and the wildlife therein. She threw in just the right amount of snark and we loved it!! She has a terrific sense of humor. The cave itself was simply beautiful. My husband has a tv show called History Highway and did a Jesse James Lost River Cave episode (S1 Ep 6) two years ago, so he already knew some about the cave, but learned a lot more! Saw the Venmo tip board...it made me feel so guilty that I didn't have enough to tip her bc if I did, I would've. Spent most of my money eating out for our anniversary!! We absolutely ADORED the gift shop! Sorry Olivia, we'll be back hopefully next year because I'd def wanna revisit the gift shop since they have so many unique gifts. There's tons to do in BGKY, so go here if you wanna get away from the hustle & bustle! read more

Lost River Cave - This gorgeous mural is painted on a shed right outside the gift shop! - Boat Tours Near Me - Bowling Green, Kentucky

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excellent! wonderful! from the "blue hole" to the boat to the head-ducking to the beautiful cave all was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Mammoth cave was closed due to the government shutdown, so we were looking for options and found the Lost River Cave boat tour. We were in a RV, and happy that they had ample parking for us. The tour operator did a great job, and the boat tour was fantastic. I was glad the Lost River Cave was open, and happy we went there. read more

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We had a great experience with the boat tour. Beautiful scenery and nice hearing the water sounds including the history of the Lost River Cave, and more. Gift shop has a lot of nice items too. read more

Fun trip in an underground large military issue John boat. Amazing rock formations. Tour guides informed and fine boat drivers in tight spaces. A "don't miss" in Bowling Green Ky. read more

Lost River Cave - Lost River - Boat Tours Near Me - Bowling Green, Kentucky

This place rocks! ;D If you're interested in learning about cave formations, take the Lost River Cave tour. Booking was easy, and the tour guide was enthusiastic and loved her job! The clean and beautiful Lost River area is curated and taken care of by funds from the Friends of the Lost River. According to the tour guide, at one point the place was used as a trash dump, and 50 tons of trash has to be removed over a decade, with 1000s of volunteer hours. It's truly beautiful what natural formation exists in Kentucky, and we should honor our beautiful Earth by keeping it clean. Shoutout to Kentuckians, my experience was all positive. Check out their store too for rocks and other cool novelties. read more

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Fun adventure with friendly staff. Pretty scenery and trails. Gift shop interesting. Worth going.

Our tour guide, Drew, was phenomenal! Very informative, kind, and patient with our crew. Unfortunately, on our way back to the car we encountered an unpleasant employee. A kid on our tour had asked about "cave kitties," so when we spotted one on our way out, we stopped to take a photo to later share with her. An employee walking by, without acknowledging us personally, shouted at us to leave the cat alone --- repeatedly, despite us remaining on the paved walking path at a significant distance. So, here's that lady's acknowledgement: perhaps great with animals, not with the general public. And that will be our lasting memory of this place! read more

Lost River Cave - I zoomed all the way in to capture "cave kitty." - Boat Tours Near Me - Bowling Green, Kentucky

Drew, our boat guide was wonderful. He was very engaging and combined humor with his delivery. Kristen at the front desk was another story; far from the interaction with Drew (tour guide). Kristen was rude, not interactive at all (as you would think someone who is in a position to be the first face of the organization; she was very disappointing. Again, just rude! read more

so much fun! learned lots of interesting facts about this Cave. It is so cool that this can still be a venue for special events. It was a nite club back in the day. Thanks for saving this read more

Very interesting experience. Not sure it's worth $23 but it was fun. Definitely fun for kids if you're looking to kill a couple of hours. Probably not for older kids or toddlers. Definitely not for people who are claustrophobic! The story behind the cave & the tour is worthy the stop. **Not at all recommended for those who have trouble walking or easily winded. read more

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Stopped here as it was on a travel path. It was a nice cool cave boat tour. Some of our photos were full of wedding stuff as they were preparing for a wedding. Butterfly wings photo op on the side of the building. read more

This place was absolutely beautiful. The cave tour is really cool, you can tell the tour guides love their job. Their butterfly sanctuary was also very pretty. WKU helps maintain the area and they do a great job. read more

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This tour was good, not great, but a nice stop if you have extra time near Mammoth Cave. This was the only truly wet cave we ventured to. It was a nice albeit short boat ride through the cave. Our tour guide Emma-Claire was so passionate and informative. You could tell she was interested in what she was talking about, and did a great job of inserting humor in with the history. The cave is very pretty and the gift shop has a good selection of trinkets and handmade goods from local artisans. This wouldn't be a tour I would repeat, and think the price doesn't necessarily match the length and overall experience. Based on length and overall tour, shouldn't be priced higher than $12pp. You can head to most other caves and spend almost double the time for the same price. read more

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Nice tour that takes about an hour. Very informative guides. The property is nicely kept with plenty of green space to enjoy above the cave system. Good addition to a Mammoth Cave vacation!! read more

Lost River Cave - Boat Tours Near Me - Bowling Green, Kentucky

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Our travels brought us into town a little early, so I took my kids to see Lost River Cave after looking at a few reviews and pictures. The entrance to the place is friendly and welcoming. I love what they have done to the surrounding area to make it look rustic. There is an excellent gift shop with plenty of items to browse. Tickets for my two teenagers and I ran about $71. This is on par with many show caves, so it must be pretty big. After all, Mammoth Cave ran us $24. The young lady we purchased tickets with was "all business..." not much small talk, but rather scripted. We joined our tour guide at the bridge entrance a little ways away. She showed up with a mini speaker around her neck and a headset. She discussed some safety and general information about the cave before we started. The entrance to the cave is a little different than others, and it shows off its uniqueness. We had a large group, so our guide said she would split the group in two, and another guide would meet us shortly, as she was off to boating with the first half. It took about 15 minutes for that to happen, and it felt disorganized. Once our guide showed up, we got into the boat and were on our way. The boat is rather long, with a motor in front and rear. As we got underway, the guide warned us to all duck our heads as much as possible. This is because the entrance is LOW, so they call it "wish rock." If you don't duck your head, you will "wish" that you had. Anyone who ignores these instructions will likely be talking out of their rump for the rest of their life. The guide said that Jesse James hid out in this cave. Jesse James must have loved caves because they also say the same thing in many of the Missouri caves. The entire boat ride lasted about 30 minutes at maximum. Was it worth over $70? A more fitting price would be about $25 for the three of us. It was a beautiful area, and the cave had some neat history, but it was short and did not woo us seventy dollars worth. I am glad I took the kids so they could see it, but it will probably be a "one and done" type of thing." read more

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It's an ok tour. Talk of history is longer than the boat tour. It starts with a very low ceiling that you have to really bend over in your seat to avoid hitting. Tour stops a couple times to show you things in the bigger room. Guide was knowledgeable and funny. Some nice history to learn dating back to 1800's. There are nice trails to walk without paying for the tour. It was a cool experience and most of money collected goes into preservation and there are geological studies being done. Was told cave floods about 130 days a year on average. read more

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Lost River Cave was one of the best and most affordable adventure places we have visited since we moved here. We purchased our tickets online to the underground boat cave tour. The tour is popular, and the tickets sell fast. Online purchases are recommended. It is about $25 for an adult. They will give you a discounted refund in person if you show your military ID. Our tickets were reduced to $15 a person. The hiking trails are fun and gave a good mini workout. The boat tour was about 45 minutes. The walking portion is 20 minutes, and the boat ride was 25 minutes. You sail inside a 350 million years old cave and learn a lot of amazing facts about the cave. Our tour guides were Austin and Caroline. They were easy to listen to and kept the group entertained well. We were pleasantly surprised by the butterfly house and garden. So many beautiful butterflies! Many of them flew around me and onto the ground...like something out of fairytale. This was one our favorite parts of Lost River Cave. read more

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The short drive up is definitely worth this cool little adventure. We weren't sure what to expect going into it, but once we arrived we were pleasantly surprised. While waiting for our 4:30p boat tour, we visited the large, nicely stocked gift shop. The shop had tons of items to choose from including home decor, books, children's toys, and of course, beautiful geodes. Since we had some time, we bought these bags of sand they sell at the gift shop and took them down to the panning stream to "mine for treasures". Honestly, I don't think it was worth it; it was kinda pricy for literally seconds worth of entertainment for the little ones. Unfortunately our 4:30p boat launch turned into a 5:30p launch. We're not exactly sure why the hour delay; it was a bit bothersome since we had kids, a toddler and a baby in our crew, but we kept a positive attitude. They finally gathered our group and walked us down to the boat launching area. The guide had a portable microphone, but must have forgotten to turn it on cause we couldn't hear a thing. Nonetheless, once we received our seat/floatation devices, the adventure began. The cave was awesome! The best part was by far the wishing rock. I'll let you experience that surprise for yourself. The actual boat ride was fairly quick, maybe 20 minutes round trip. It was my first time in a cave and worth the wait. It was fun to experience with our kids! Pro tip, walk down towards the bridge and boat loading area. There's awesome natural landscaping and more shade for you to wait under. read more

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It's well worth the trip! The cave was awesome! We went on a Monday and the crowds we low!

I went after a large wind storm so they were one of the few with power that wasn't flooded. The cave is very small and the tour doesn't cover much. They take a large group through so you can't hear the guide and the amount of children make it loud. Glad I had the opportunity to do a cave tour while I was there but I would not chose to do the tour again. Didn't do the zoo and after looking around a bit it didn't seem worth. read more

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This was a return visit to Lost River Cave for us. The area is managed by Western Kentucky University, and we had a very friendly tour guide who is a student at the university. This cave has a long and storied history and is featured on the National Register of Historic Places. It also has recognition as being a famous nightclub in the 1930s and 1940s. The tour takes you past one of the big visible blue holes aboveground as you head down to the cave entrance itself, though it was looking a bit green on our visit due to a recent large rainfall. There's a nice trail through the woods that lets you see some of the others, as well, to do before or after your cave tour. We really enjoyed the boat tour, which is the feature that really drew us back. It does start with needing to bend all the way over "like you're tying your shoes," as our guide said, as you have to go under a very low hanging rock until it opens up into the beautiful cavern space. It's really nice to see how much they've preserved the space, which was trashed in the time between when it was a nightclub and when the university took over. There's also a very nice natural play area and a gift shop. Fun place to visit! read more

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This was a true treat. I really enjoyed all the history the guides shared throughout our tour. The cave tour was educational and enjoyable. We hiked through the trails and it was tons of fun! It is great for kids and adults of all ages. read more

We loved it. Best attraction in town for sure. Can't believe there used to be a club here. It says no flip flops on the reservations but the college students running the place didn't enforce that thankfully. I'm not sure why you'd need "sturdy" shoes anyway. Easy paved walk to the boat ramp. Some stairs down to the water. Most of the cave water is ankle to waist deep only but life vests are available. There is a place you have to duck because the ceiling is really low. Booking online was super easy and plenty of availability. The cave can flood inside but I think it must be rare as I saw a sign saying they do go in the rain too. Olivia was our boat operator and she was cool. The reservation says come half an hour to 1 hour early. But after checking in at the gift shop and signing waivers (waivers can be signed online in advance too) you just end up waiting for the tour to start. I'd say 15 minutes in advance is fine. read more

Lost River Cave - Boat Tours Near Me - Bowling Green, Kentucky

Olivia was a great guide and this is a wonderful experience! You should see the old underground "night club" from the 30's!