Summer vacation - Mammoth Cave?

[Sarahkay]

We're looking for a family vacation on the cheap. Could this be it? Ideas? Suggestions? Worth a family visit? Cheap places to stay for a family of four? How long to stay? Thanks!

[sheryl]

Last July, after we visited family in OH, stopped off in KY at Lexington Horse Park, we also went to Mammoth Cave.

 

We all enjoyed MC. A few things to note:

 

There are a few hotels about 30 min away. Those would be closest. Restaurants are not great....McDonald's, Wendy's. It's quite a drive to enter the MC property and then it's a drive still to the main building.

 

There are about 15 (give or take) tours you can take at MC. There is a max number allowed for each group. Some tours are more popular than others so those go first. Each tour may be conducted a couple of times a day or more....depends on length of tour. They may have more tour times for shorter tours...more can be packed into a day. However, they try to accommodate for the more popular tours too.

 

IF you want to do this, you may want to buy advance tickets using your credit card. We did this and so glad we did. If they sell out and your time is limited there and you needed to go on a tour at a certain time, it's your problem if you didn't order tickets in advance. With that said, you can wing it, but no promises for getting the tour you want. Still, you can wing it and if you don't care, then you can arrive and sign up for any tour and one will be starting within an hour.

 

We took the historical tour....very popular. Awesome! We're talking of going back this summer and taking the New Entrance tour also very popular and suppose to have a beautiful opening along the trail.

 

Tickets were about $15 per person. Prices do vary according to the tour name.

 

During the week is advisable b/c there will be less people to contend with. During the summer and weekend - I can't even imagine.

 

Caves are cool - around 60 degrees or high 50's. It will be cool even in middle of summer. Once you start hiking you'll warm up. Light layering will be good and not heavy material as you'll be hauling it. ;)

 

Wear good, thick, absorbent socks. Good quality shoes - walking shoes or hiking boots like Timberlands.

 

From the time we left our hotel to the time we returned was approx 6 hours: drive time there, parking, buying tickets. When we arrived we had to wait about an hour for our tour to begin. The tour itself was about 90 min. duration with a 10 sit down break in the middle. Finish tour, visited gift shop and drove back.

 

Plan your time. If you are NOT used to hiking/distance walking and towing little ones, it may be more difficult and tiring. Also, there are age requirements for the tours, I believe. That may limit your choice.

 

This is waaaaay too long. HTH.

[SweetPea]

We are heading that way this summer and staying in Bowling Green. We're going to the cave and also the Corvette Museum ($25 for a family) - my 1st grader is a total motorhead and is anxiously awaiting this!

 

We might try to see some sites in Nashville also.

[annlaura]

We're going next week. We decided to stay in a hotel in Cave City. If the boys were older and I was sure we'd do lots of hiking, we would have stayed on the grounds. We are planning to go to Kentucky Down Under too while we're there.

[mom2abcd]

We found the cave tours to be more costly than many cave tours. The one we went on wasn't all that great either. But at least we got to go into the caves. It was worth doing one tour just to have been in these Mammoth Caves. We enjoyed our tours of caves in Hannibal, MO (Mark Twain) and the one at Branson's Silver Dollar City and even wild caves in southern Illinois much more and they were less expensive.

 

The park has some beautiful spots above ground and you could enjoy that without extra cost.

 

We have been to many national parks and we were quite unimpressed with this one compared to others. I'm sure you could have a great time just camping and exploring above ground, though.

 

Try picking up a copy of Free Kentucky by James Bilodeau. It is a guide to all the best free things to do in the state.

 

Kentucky Down Under isn't cheap, but I've heard good things about it and it is not far from Mammoth Caves. http://www.kdu.com/visit.html

 

Abraham Lincoln was born near Hodgenville, Kentucky. This is a National Historic Site with a building resembling a Greek temple that houses as reconstructed log cabin (not the original cabin, though). http://www.nps.gov/abli/ We really enjoyed this and it was very inexpensive if not free.

 

Keep driving north and you will find our very favorite thing from that vacation-- the Creation Museum near Cincinnati. http://creationmuseum.org/

 

From someone else's post:

<<A fun lodging option near Mammoth Cave is the Wigwam Village in Cave City. (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/KYCAVwigwam.html)

They are actual stand-alone hotel rooms, not tents. They are from the old days of cheesy road side motels. They aren't

I would choose to visit Bardstown that last day. Bardstown is about an hour from Mammoth Cave and on your way back north. It has a nice, historic town center with shops, antiques, an old fashioned drug store complete with a soda counter. My Old Kentucky Home, the Stephen Foster Story musical, Maker's Mark Distillery tour (15 minutes away in Loretto) are a few of the other attractions. The Jailer's Inn (http://www.jailersinn.com) is truly an old jail that has been converted into a B&B. What 9 year old wouldn't think spending a night in jail is cool? If you didn't stay there, I think they offer tours too.

Another option would be to go on to Lexington for horse related activities among other things. Tour a horse farm, go to the Kentucky Horse Park, visit Keeneland... Lexington has a nice children's museum as well (http://www.explorium.com). Lexington is about 2 hours from Mammoth Cave.>>

 

Finally, don't forget this fantastic resource:

 

http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/index.php?option=com_quickbase&Itemid=299&c=1

 

I'd love to hear fun and affordable things you come up with! Have fun!!!