Meramec Caverns

It’s an amazing cavern with far too many people going through it! I’m a big fan of the slideshow/​movie at the end of the tour. Catch a small tour with only a dozen or so people and it will be great. Get stuck in a 50+ tour and you’ll hate it.
Wear your walking shoes and remember to slouch or wear a helmet if you’re tall. 95% of the time you’re upright, but once in a while you can give your noggin a nasty knock.
There’s a «restaurant» at the entry area of the cavern that seems to specialize in clogging your arteries. The food is not recommended.

I’ve been here 3 – 4 times, usually to bring my out of town relatives here to visit. I think the first time is cool, it’s nice inside. But it gets boring after the 2^nd time, lol

Would have given this place a 3 ½, but it isn’t a 4. The tour guide didn’t make it easy to ask questions. Would have liked to have more meaty information on the formations. The cave itself had some interesting history (Jesse James, dances, president, civil war, and more).

Meramec Caverns is definitely a must see if you live in the St Louis metro area. The biggest cavern of its kind, Meramec is a great family field trip that is very educational. The walks are relatively mild with only one 58 step staircase that presents a physical challenge. There is a sizable gift shop as well as zip lining, pan handling and all sorts of other things you can do. The gift shop is kind of blah in that there are a lot of non-​cave related stuff that doesn’t have much to do with the local. Other than that, Meramec Caverns is highly recommended, even at the relatively steep price of $ 50 for an adult and three kids for a tour.

Enjoyed the tour, but did not enjoy how many people they cram into the tour (100+\-). Was to much standing & waiting. Plus leave more of all the lights on all the time so we all can see the cave.

Total price for 2 adults and 2 children $ 51. My kids 4 and 6 loved it. It was cool and so would be an excellent side trip on a hot summer day. I like the fact that they have free kennels for the dogs people might have on road trip so they won’t leave them in a hot car for 90min. We breezed in and out — probably because the weather was cruddy and the camping wasn’t open yet.
I have not been to a cave since I was a child and I found it very interesting. Yes a little silly with the stories — but what else are they to do. The guide was informative we all learned a little more. The kids could really get up close and really enjoyed seeing real life formations since we had been reading about them for a few weeks.
I would recommend this for families — my youngest was tired at the end but was able to walk most of it. There is also a flight of stairs that are optional (kind of steep and slippery but good hand rails), but if you can’t climb them you will miss a small part of the tour.
It was a nice stop on our trip out to St Louis from KC. I probably won’t go again though– once was enough.

While staying in St. Louis with a friend, we decided to go check out Meramec Caverns, as it was only about an hour drive, and neither she, myself, or my husband had never been in a cave before.
The price was a bit steep ($ 19 for adults), although you can get a coupon from their website for $ 1.50 off per admission. Not much, but it’ll save you a few bucks.
Having never been in a cave before, the formations, and just the knowledge of how long it took those formations to well… FORM is kind of mind blowing. Some beautiful formations in the cave for sure. Unlike others, I thought the lights in the cave were kinda neat. Although at the end with the ‘light show’ with music? That was SUPER duper cheesy. My friend recorded it on her phone, and we enjoyed a laugh about just how cheesy that was later on.
The tour guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. Recommend if you’ve never been to a cave before. Pretty nifty.

City boy here, so never been in a cave before. it was pretty cool. very nice looking. Great place to go with the lady or to bring the kids.
Minus 1 star for the stupid tour guide trying to be funny and just being annoying.
Minus 1 star because of the restrictions. I can’t help but feel they would get more business if they put an at your own risk and allowed people to just wander around. I understand the lights that they had to set up but it seemed like they went a little overboard and made this natural wonder look a bit gaudy… check out the photos I’m posting with the color lights

By what other reviewers are saying, I’m definitely a cavern rookie. This was the first time I’ve been to Meramec Caverns in 25 years. I do agree that there are elements of tackiness or being a bit hokey, but it is a great experience.
I took a three, five and seven year old and they were all fascinated with the cave. I have to admit, I was pretty impressed too. That being said, this is the only second time I’ve been on a cave tour and the first time was, well 25 year ago at Meramec Caverns.
To the average person who has never been in any caves, I absolutely recommend it. I decided last minute to go to get out of the house on a 100+ degree day and it was only a 45 minute trip for me. The price was shockingly high, but as a summer time activity, I was willing to spend the money.
I guess the impressiveness for me was the fact that I kept thinking, «I have hundreds of feet of rock above my head!» And the fact that it is 100 degrees outside and a chilly 60 degrees in here. Simple things like that amazes me. There was plenty of variety to see with the underground river, huge stalactites and stalagmites, the huge ballroom, the wine room and the huge curtain at the end. Also, the lighting did not bother me, I thought it was complimentary and not overdone. At times the tour did seem like it dragged a little bit and I have to admit it felt at times like I was in a queue for the old Time Tunnel at Six Flags. But overall, it was a great experience.

You have to go here with a healthy respect for tacky Americana. While the price was steep, both our young kids were 4 and under and so that actually made it reasonably priced as a family.
The kids had a blast and we enjoyed the ~80 minute tour.
If I were to consider this against other cave systems I’ve been in, it’s not at the top. The sound and light show appears to have been done off an 8 track and light switches.
That was another strange thing — does light negatively affect cave rocks? They were extremely meticulous about turning off the lights in the passageway behind them. At the prices they charge, is that really necessary?
I would have given it four stars, but as you can see from the photo, they decided to charge an extra dime for lettuce and a tomato (each). It’s ridiculous.

I’ve been to several caverns before and to be quite honest, Meramec Caverns weren’t very impressive for the price you pay to get in. It’s worth a visit once if you’re in the area, but the overall experience was just average for me.
I came upon Meremac Caverns on my way from St. Louis to Fort Leonard Wood. I did some research ahead of time and wanted to spend a good part of the day following Route 66 and experiencing some of it’s nastalgia. When I arrived at Meremac Caverns, it was completely flooded out, so I returned the next day on my way back to St. Louis.
Because of the flood, only parts of the cavern were open. The price was very steep and the young guide (granted, it was his first tour) was pretty awful. The finale is really the highlight of the tour — the visitor sit s and watches a light show set against a curtain formation in the cavern while Kate Smith’s «God Bless America» plays over the sound system. This is a longstanding tradition and I enjoyed it. I also liked the anecdote about how the James Gang used Meremac Caverns as a hideout. There’s a gift store and food is available there as well.
*** Check out Meremac Caverns if you’re in the area, but don’t make a special trip out there. It’s off the beaten path. If you go, drive along portions of Route 66 and a take side trip to Jefferson City.

I agree with Matt R. about the experience being «hokey.» I personally found it to be a bit too tacky. The lights & music. Yeah. I really wish they would open up other parts of the cave. There are places where mold is growing. There should only be a limit to the number of people allowed to tour the cave every month or year to better preserve the caverns. There could have been more lighting. Other than that, the tour guide was knowledgable. Near the entrance to the cave, they have a couple of shelves selling different sizes of geodes which was really awesome. To see a large piece of rock cut in half to reveal amethyst or some other rock was really cool.

Took my son here the other day, and while we had a good time I’m of mixed feelings about it.
First, the admission prices. Really? The tour was at most an hour, and that’s at a casual pace. It’s an extremely steep price to justify, and if it hadn’t been for that I think one could look at it very differently.
Second, having been multiple times through Mammoth caves (including one of limited access tours) I found the whole experience a little «hokey». Think Silver Dollar City or Dollywood and you’ll have an idea of what I mean. The ‘finale’ is a great curtain formation, but unlike others I thought the colored lights they projected onto it along with the music to take away from the whole experience. I don’t know, to me these extraordinary formations and caverns are all about the natural aspects, and it’s almost as if they don’t feel people would appreciate them without adding manmade aspects. The end result is that it ends up looking like something that was ‘created’ as a tourist attraction (like a ride at disneyland or something) instead of the natural glory that it is. Which, of course, is exactly what happened in the early days to almost all cave systems… it’s just that most of the others removed those aspects over time as they became part of the parks and recreation system, but not here. So I’m not really sure where all of those funds from the steep admission prices are being used.
That said, our guide was really great and memorized the names of and engaged every kid in the tour.

I’ve seen many caverns in my time and most of them start looking the same. As such I found the price for admission a bit steep for what you really get to see. You have the typical calcium deposits forming stalactites and stalagmites that become overly familiar as you venture into the deep, dark and damp spaces.
The coolest part of this particular cavern is the final destination which is a part of the cave that looks like a giant show stage with curtains. They hold a final light and sound show here which is rather spectacular considering the way the light and sound bounces around in such a space.
If you’re in the area I would recommend checking it out, otherwise I don’t think it’s special enough to be trekking out to it on purpose.