kartchner caverns state park

We went to Kartchner Caverns State Park and it is a must see. The Caverns are amazing! Such beauty and history it is truly worth going to see. The Throne Room was astonishing it was a type of beauty that you have to experience for yourself because there are no words in the English language that could ever describe what we saw.

The guides are extremely knowledgeable about the cave, formation, and history. If they don't have an answer, they will seek it out. Well done tour. It's a repeat visit for us, and we are glad that the music volume at the end of one tour is reduced allowing for more enjoyment of the experience.

We toured both caverns - The Big Room and then The Rotunda/Throne Room in that order - and both were just great. We were fortunate enough to have Audra as our guide for both tours. She was excellent - very knowledgeable, personable, and interesting to listen to. We did the tours in the order stated above as the result of a suggestion from an earlier tripadvisor review and were glad we did. Combining the tours with the 15 minute video and the displays in the Visitor Center, we felt we left with a pretty good handle on the geology of the caverns & mountains as well as the historical piece (the incredible discovery story etc.) and also the ecology of the caverns and surrounding area. Both tours are highly recommended! We stayed in the campground at Kartchner Caverns State Park and it was excellent. Large sites, well separated, and very quiet. There are some good hikes right from the campground as well.

We made reservations before we even got to AZ, to check this place out, and it is mind blowing, a must visit if ever in Benson AZ. the park is great, there are hiking paths, campgrounds, and the discovery center with awesome exhibits, and history of the caves and state park. the Park rangers are very professional, helpful, and lots of fun. A lot of care is taken to preserver this natural wonder, We will definitely check out the tours when we are back in Benson Az

The tour was a lot less scary than I thought it would be! It has a nice paved sidewalk with handrails. It is dark in there & pictures aren't allowed, but other than that, the natural formations blew my mind! I'd suggest having gum or a hard candy to keep your mouth from getting parched. Given the humidity in the caves and the rule of not carrying anything, definitely made me VERY thirsty by the end!

We only had time to take one of two tours that are available. We plan on returning to take the other tour. The State of Arizona was very careful to protect the natural state of the caverns and at the same time to allow access to view and understand this natural wonder. The tour guides and park rangers are excellent. They gave a great historical timeline of the caverns' discovery and a excellent layman's understanding of the scientific background of the caverns' geology

I visited Karchner Caverns in February, taking both tours and really enjoyed it. I have been to many caves (Carlsbad, Wind Cave NM, Mammoth, Luray, etc.) and this is really one of the very best.I took both tours, and on both you will see a lot of stalagtites, stalagmites, soda straws (huge numbers), cave bacon, draperies, flowstone, etc. Each of the two tours has a different highlight, the highlight of the Rotunda/Throne room tour is a huge column (about 70 feet tall), the highlight of the (longer) Big Room Tour is a large flow-stone formation that looks like a big scoop of strawberry ice cream. This second tour also has cave eggs and cave popcorn, is longer, and is more "scientifically oriented". (It is because of the length and the scientific orientation that they don't allow children under 12 on this tour - I asked because I couldn't figure out why.) The Big Room tour is also where bats roost in season, so they close it from April to September, and you can only take the Rotunda/Throne Room tour during those months. Be that as it may, if I had to chose just one, I would probably - depending on the weather in part believe it or not - chose the Rotunda/Throne room tour, especially if you are a first timer or near to it, as the formations are "right there" and it is shorter. Terrific tour, you'd basically see everything you'd want to see in a cave. The Big Room might be more interesting after it rains, as these are "living" caves, with the formations still growing as water drips in. According to the guides (and the videos) when it rains, these caves can get a lot of water in them, and the Big Room Tour would have small waterfalls, pools, and water just pouring off the formations. (The Rotunda would have water in it too, but not to the same extent, and it would be more of a river). But you can not go wrong with either one.As an FYI, the two tours actually start off at the same place, and are the same trail to start before veering away from each other. You exit the Rotunda/Throne room where you came in, but exit the Big Room at a different place. Both trails are handicapped accessible, well paved and maintained trails, you can get a small wheelchair through either one and I noticed people doing that. They don't allow strollers and such because they get too big, and the trails, since they are a bit wet could be a little slick for folks with canes or walkers to be aware. According to the guide (I asked), they don't allow pictures basically because they don't want folks backing up the tours, don't want people backing into formations to take pictures of stuff in front of them, and don't want people blinded by flashes from cameras. They take being clean and not touching very seriously here to leave the cave as pristine and clean as possible and not upset the formations. If you have things that might have a lot of fuzz on them they ask you to roll them up, and you walk through a "mister" to damp/tamp down threads on your clothes, dirt, etc. They also ask you to let them know if you touch anything accidentally so they can tag it and have it professionally cleaned (really). If that seems a bit of overkill, again, this is a living cave to touching things, especially when wet, can have an adverse effect on formation growth and the caves.A couple of other items - nice museum, and there is a place to get food (can't take it into the cave obviously). Reservations are smart, I had reserved several weeks in advance and the Rotunda/Throne cave tour had been sold out. They work with folks though, I didn't know how long it would take to get to the caves/park from my hotel, and when I got there early (as they request), they shifted me to earlier tours which means I didn't have to wait around and that they'd freed up a spot for late arrivals. Both tours had about 20 people. The shorter Rotunda/Throne Room tour is about and hour and 15 minutes, the longer Big Room tour is about an hour and 45 minutes. This does not include any time you spend wandering around the museum or getting something to each and such, so give yourself several hours even if you are doing only one tour, and most of the day if you are doing both.Really worthwhile experience though. I would very highly recommend it.

Great experience and guide was excellent. Glad someone is taking care of this wonderful natural beauty. Give yourself time to tour museum and see movie. Reservations recommended as you do not pay park fee with reservation. 72 and humid in cavern so no need for jacket. Walk is not bad and wheelchair accessable. Great day trip from Phoenix.

The Kartchner Caverns are the best preserved and most spectacular caverns we've visited to date. We did both tours in one day and would recommend that visitors do the Big Room tour first and then the Throne room as the latter was the highlight of the visit for us.

Have been several times and have done both caverns. Just beautiful and so much care take to keep the caves healthy! They are a must see for all ages and out of town guests will appreciate going. What a marvel and right in our "own backyard". There is camping there as well as picnic areas for day trips. They do have a little "cafe" for snacks and drinks. Nice gift shop also.

Recently discovered caves have become a wonderous state park. Our guide/ ranger Rachel was very informative and the music and light show in the Throne room cavern was awe inspiring.

The formations and feel inside the cave is great, especially when you can see water dripping/running over some of the formations. There is a long list of rules about what you can/can't bring inside. We just left everything in our car except for my wallet. The museum before you go into the cave is nice and they have a movie that shows the history of the cave. The tour guides were nice and were able to answer the questions that the group had. The only downsides were that you can't bring a camera inside and the entire path is paved. It does make it easier to walk, but I feel it takes a little away from walking around in a cave. Still worth a visit.

I went to the Caverns with a friend. We were there probably 2 or so hours. We did tour the Visitor Center - and glad we did as it did give us some information re: a living cave. We took the first tour of the day, so we had like 10 people in our group. You do take a tour mobile like bus to the caverns from the visitor center. When you go in, you are asked not to remove any jackets etc. If you want to remove something, you are asked to fold / roll your jacket and then tie it around your waste. we are loaded with bacteria etc, and since this is a 'Living Cavern' they want to minimize the impact. When you first go in, there are a series of doors you enter and then are immediately closed - as they want to maintain the same humidity level. Also, you walk under a mist, in attempt to keep bacteria and the like from falling to the ground. It was interesting to hear how the Caverns were found and how long it remained a secret - which I am glad they did. We did see 2 rooms - there are at least 4 rooms in the caverns, you do not see them all - again, they want to minimize the impact of humans into the caverns. I woudl recommend my frends to see the Caverns if they are in the area.!

This is a DEFINATE MUST!! We have never been so captivated, these caverns are truly beautiful, every corner you turn the tour gets better and better and more beautiful.

We heard about the caves from a friend we were visiting in Tuscon, AZ and are glad we checked it out for ourselves! There are two tour options and we did the one they recommended. I would have liked to have seen both. They tell you to get there an hour early which is not necessary. You can view the 15 minute movie before or after your tour. The staff is very friendly and the tour guides are very knowledgable.