Cave of the Mounds

We spent the day with a group of 8. We toured the caves (beautiful) and the made a tail gate style lunch. It was a really fun day. The caves are really beautiful and amazingly old and pristine. Great family thing to do. Every Wisconsin family should go at least once!

I hadn’t been here in years. Probably 20 or so. Came here with my gf, her sis and her sister’s fiancée. The nice thing is, they have other things to do than just the tour. You can dig for rocks, crack open a geode, go on different walking trails and do the can’t-miss cave tour. I really like cave tour and have been on several in my life. This one is pretty cool.
You start out with a 10 – 15 minute intro video on the history of the cave. Then they take you down. The only drawback is you can hardly touch anything, and what it makes it even more tempting is when they remind you of that. There is one little spot where you can touch stuff, so take advantage of it! There is a lot of good spots for pics and a lot of neat rocks and other things within the cave itself.
I’m not sure $ 17 for adults is worth an hr tour (with only 45 min or so of it spent actually inside the cave), but bc it’s such a great tourist attraction as well as a national natural landmark, I guess I’ll forgive. I’m sure I’ll be back later on in life with my kids.

This place is definitely a hidden treasure!!! We have lived in WI for 3 years and had no idea it existed. The grounds it is located on a truly beautiful. I will start with the caves themselves. They have tours every 15 min and the guides are very entertaining. It starts with a short very Cheesy movie for about 10 min. Its entertaining only because it was filmed in the early 80’s with a pHD who speaks english like a 10yo and has teeth yellower than most of the caves.
From there you descend into the caves… interestingly, unlike most caves there is no elevator or steep incline, the caves are only about 80ft underground. I love the way the tour slowly builds from kinda boring area to very cool cave area. It lasts about 1 hr and it is best to wear a light jacket and pants since it is pretty wet and cold down there.
There are two gift shops and both are nearly identical. Make sure to get a goede and have them break it open for you… it very cool to all the crystals on the inside. If you want to make sure you get one with crystals, pick one with a hole or that is lighter…
Overall we had a great time, and the kids had a blast. There is not much to eat besides ice cream and popcorn, so bring food for a picnic. They have lots of tables set up picnics and the setting is ideal. There is also a huge area around the caves that kids can explore and are great places for pictures.

This is probably the closest I will get to cave exploring. I knew it, this was so much fun. There is so much natural beauty below us. The different type of formations, the water, and different chemicals delighted us with a wide array of colors. It was good to see, and learn, about the different crystal formations understanding the how and why they existed only there. I wish we had more time to explore some more.

My family and I have been here twice and each visit, we had a fantastic time. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable. Our tour guide on the last tour was great with the kids. She teased them about the cave crocodile that nobody ever sees. When she turned off the lights in the one section, she encouraged the kids with light up shoes on to stomp around and put on a light show. My daughter loves to go digging for treasures after the tour. The grounds are beautiful. We’d like to go back in October for the tour by candle light. Definitely a must see.

Had a fantastic time touring Cave of the Mounds! The staff is friendly and knowledgable. What a beautiful treasure!

The cave tour was great for kids and adults alike! We loved our trip here– it was informative and something you don’t get to see everyday.
We went as part of a family vacation. The tickets are for sale in the main visitors area, but the tours start in (the nearby) gift shop. They ARE timed tickets, so we just missed getting on the 3:30pm tour. That tour was packed and we lucked out– our tour was quite small.
The tour starts with a REALLY dated informational movie. It was hilarious when they kept having this professor saying that it was the most exciting place in Wisconsin. Our tour-​guide, however, was great. The tour was informational, you were able to see a lot of the cave, and everyone enjoyed it. There are also free hiking trails and a butterfly garden. This would be a great daytrip for a couple or family!

While visiting Madison we decided to mosey off the beatin’ path and headed to the Cave of the Mounds.
The scenery is/​was beautiful and the drive was also pleasant. We did the tour which we thoroughly enjoyed and also liked browsing through the gift shop.
My only complaint is that some of the gifts and souvenirs seemed over priced…$ 9 for a magnet is a bit much so we skipped on spending too much money.

Had a really great time! Staff were friendly and informative. They did confuse carbonic acid (which is what is dissolving the limestone and hence forming the caves) with carbonic, which is not dissolving anything, but no one really cares except us science geeks.
Yet the guide was engaging, friendly, and seemed actively to enjoy his work.
The caves are very nice to see. Not spelunking, but also not for the claustrophobic.
Take some time, take the kids, have a great day! I wish I had had more time to visit the beautiful grounds, especially the restored prarie!

We decided kind of spur of the moment to go see the cave after reading an article in the newspaper about the planned 75^th anniversary festivities. After spending some time looking around the gift shops (or tickets were for the tour 45 minutes after we purchased them) the tour begins with a short video about the history of the cave. The video is fine but is a little dated (although many of the styles in it are becoming popular again.) The best part of the day was our tour guide Mark, he was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the cave, which made the whole experience very enjoyable! It is definitely worth checking this cave out, especially if you have any interest in geology, we did it in an afternoon which seemed to be the perfect amount of time.

Very neat experience! This was our first time here, and our family really enjoyed it. My kids snapped photo after photo and were quite in awe.
We specifically had to go look for the mine shaft across the road once our tour was over.
One tip: If you are claustrophobic — this isn’t for you. Extremely obese people may also have an issue in one particular area that is close quarters.

We had a fun and educational family day. Mark, our tour guide, is still really into his job and obviously enjoys giving tours. We enjoyed the nice weather that day walking the grounds. The kids liked «panning» for gems and fossils. It was busy with a lot of families. I’d say best for ages 6 and up.

Great summertime destination for the family. Beautiful grounds to explore it have a picnic and obviously amazing caves. Would definitely take visitors to the area.

Glad that we made the trip to the Cave of the Mounds.
While you would think that my favorite part of our experience would be the natural splendor of the Caves themselves… no, it was definitely the ten-​minute introductory video we watched before entering the cave. IT WAS HILARIOUS. Here we are in a dark room with a bunch of strangers, watching this «Welcome to the Caves» video, and I’m laughing so hard that tears are streaming down my face. And I was shaking the whole time from keeping it in. (If you’ve seen any of the «experts» on Ancient Aliens, you’ll know what I’m talking about. The characters interviewed in this video are pretty hilarious.)
The tour itself was nice — but claustrophobics beware! There are some tight spots, and they turn out the lights behind us as we go, so there’s this black hole following us the entire way. Scary, in a way, for sure.

Only my second cave tour, so that being said, I thought this was very cool. Tour guide was very knowledgeable about the geology and history of the cave. She sounded a bit rehearsed, almost as though she was reading from a script at times, but she did break out and «talk» to us often. Natural beauty right from Mother Nature!

Great little tourist attraction.
The cave tour was a lot of fun. Cold and marvelous. The tour guide was very informative.
Great little trails for a nice walk.

If you live in WI and haven’t been to Cave of the Mounds. SHAME ON YOU.
GO, GO NOW.
Just a short drive from MKE awaits this underground oasis of beauty.
The tours are thorough, informative and quite interesting.
If you are claustrophobic this place AIN’T for you!

The Cave of the Mounds is a National Natural Landmark that contains some neat cave features and has a fun history. Tours are one hour long and depart every 20 – 30 minutes, but there are also activities above ground if there is a wait. They’ve done some amazing things with the landscaping — gorgeous rain and butterfly gardens, restored prairie and savanna, and you can go view above ground features of caves on the Karst Trail, which also provides a great view of the area.
For heading down into the cave, be aware that it is 50 degrees year round and this one has a lot of «cave kisses» — it is one of the drippiest caves I’ve been in — but, there had been a lot of rain lately, so it’s possible that contributed to it. Just before you go down, there is a short video that explains the formation and discovery of the cave. Our tour guide did a great job explaining the features and keeping everyone interested and engaged. The cave itself has a nice combination of features, including large open caverns and small winding areas developed by an underground stream.
Great activity — entertaining for both older kids and adults!

I grew up in SE Wisconsin… how come I never went on a school field trip here!!!
The tour lasts about an hour and start every ½ hour or so. You buy your tickets based on the time slot you will attend, there is a limit number of people that fit in each tour group. We arrived just before 1pm and the earliest available was the 1:30 tour. Adult tickets were $ 16. There is a little bit of walking both up/​down stairs and through narrow passageways while on the tour but it’s not bad, it did not look to be handicap accessible.
Very cool tour with lots of interesting things to see. We used our panoramic photo feature a TON to capture the entirety of the cave on this tour.
Probably best for kids OVER the age of 5, school aged children will understand more. So, please parents leave your ornery infants, kids that are afraid of the dark and kids who believe the boogieman lives in caves at home with a sitter.

Landmark Review:
Caves in the midwest? I had no idea these existed and I am glad that my wife made me go check out these caves which are a hidden wonder of the midwest. They give one hour guide tour through these caverns filled with spectacular stalactite formations. Careful walking through the cave as some areas are slippery. Great for family and kids! Also as you will learn no matter what the weather is outside it will be 50 degrees inside the cave so dress accordingly based on personal preference.
Hidden deals:
If you really love caves buy the season pass for 5 dollars more.