Wabasha Street Caves

It’s worth a gangster or ghost tour. Neat to say you know what the St. Paul caves are all about and you know the secret stories, but once you have seen it you have seen it. The event area just isn’t rustic enough for my taste.

Absolutely beautiful venue! Went here for the Red Bull Crashed Ice Welcome Party and had an absolute blast. They even included the Gangster Cave Tour, which was really cool! Its so interesting learning about the history of a building/​location and this was no different. The tour was really great and the tour guides were so knowledgeable and fun!
The atmosphere of the caves is beyond perfect. I can see why it is used as a wedding reception venue.
I would easily do a proper historical tour here when it isn’t booked out for a private event. If you look at their website they have different activities throughout the months so there is always something to give you a reason to get down there and check this place out!
I am from Plymouth so it is a bit of a drive to get over there, but I can tell you the drive was well worth it.

I really enjoyed the live music (it was very loud though, so bring earplugs if loud isn’t for you) and the atmosphere was fun! People of all ages spanning from 17 – 90! I felt like if you left your jacket or bag while you were dancing it would be fine.
The venue was nothing to write home about. A winding, cavernous… cave.
The lack of customer service was really atrocious and left me feeling very disappointed. I’m not eager to or interested in returning.
We went for the first time last night for swing dancing. It was a special occasion — my birthday! Upon arrival, we were stared down by a stranger in the parking lot which immediately made me feel uncomfortable. We found a parking spot and got out of the car and this man rapidly approached us and briskly said «You can’t park there.» I asked him if he worked at the caves — just to be sure. He said «Yes. And I tried to get your attention when you drove in here.» Staring my group down got my attention in a negative, creepy way, but he wasn’t directing traffic, he didn’t put a hand in the air to wave us down — nothing. He did nothing to indicate that he was there to help or guide.
We went inside to get tickets and I walked up to the box office to meet a miserable fellow at the window. No hello, no greeting. He barely made eye contact and told us the price for admission. We found a place to park our coats, etc. at the bar where we ordered a drink and glass of water. Two of my party guests, both adults in their 40s were quietly dancing behind us and a man swooped by and barked at them «No dancing here. People are walking to get to the bathrooms.» Mind you, this is in a passageway that is 60 feet across. The 7 feet a dancing couple takes up is negligible. My guests were noticing that all night people had been treating us like we were children.
Given that all of us in our party work in customer service, we have a keen sense of awareness and social tact. Tact was sorely lacking in last night’s staff. I didn’t have fun and was really deflated about having spent my birthday at a place where we didn’t feel welcome or respected by the hosts.
*I looked for an email to directly contact the venue to share my experience, but couldn’t find one on their website.

Nice venue for events but the tour wasn’t great. There isn’t a lot to look at and the information was un stimulating.

Super neat tour and pretty cool history. It would be cool to come on a Thursday for the 5 pm tour & stay for swing night at 7 pm.
The tour guide was nice but super paranoid about people taking video when they are in fact taking a simple photo.
Other than that I loved this place.

Wabasha Street Caves had an interesting tour and I learned some thing about St Paul that I probably wouldn’t have known otherwise (unless I spent some time researching).
Why if it was interesting and informative did I give it 3 stars? There wasn’t much to see in the caves. They are man-​made caves carved in the sandstone hills.
I think the tour is worth the $ 6, especially if it’s a cold, rainy day in the Twin Cities. If it’s a nice day, you can probably find better ways to spend your time.
Also, make sure you have cash! They do not accept credit cards bc they can’t get an Internet connection inside the cave. They do have an ATM outside if you need it, though.

I went here with my girlfriend and two friends on swing night and we had an amazing time. Definitely something to go to with a date or a partner, somebody who’ll be willing to dance. The lessons before were perfect for starters, and taught us just enough to have fun for the rest of the night and feel like we knew enough of what we were doing. The music was super good. My only complaint was that it was a little packed.

Our 13 yo is learning about the St. Paul gangster scene-​as in the 1920’s. We took him and our 9yo to the caves for the basic tour.
The woman tour guide was funny, had good stories and didn’t ramble. You know those tours where they ramble on and on? This was just the right amount of story telling drama.
The tour was about 45 minutes-​some standing and sitting which was a perfect combo.
I don’t want to give anything away so I’ll give some pointers
–Kids under 8 or 9 probably won’t like it or understand it.
–There are bathrooms once you get inside.
They have a swing dancing night which sounds fun. A dance lesson beforehand followed by live music and dancing.
If the décor was true to the period, this place would really shine. The fake flowers and pearls in vases are pretty cheesy.
The basic tour is a must for out of town visitors!

Best place for some great swing dancing fun!
They have amazing big bands and dancers abound. From beginners to pros, all are welcome.
And did I mention it’s in a cave?
Fun for all!

I found myself at the Wabasha Street Caves during a professional conference, our closing banquet was held within Caves 1 and 2 of the historic Wabasha Street Caves. Historians and lovers of old stuff alike will love the unique history and atmosphere of the caves.
We started our event with a cocktail hour in the bar area, which provided ample space for mingling and conversation in the cozy, dark, space. The dinner itself was catered and overall was above average and the catering staff was very good. We enjoyed our table being located right next to the historic fireplace — which turned out to have quite the story of its own.
After our dinner, we had the full tour experience. I have to admit, our group of historians liked to keep our tour guide sharp by asking all kinds of random questions. But, he was extremely knowledgeable and I can honestly say it was one of the best historic site tours I’ve experienced.
I would highly recommend the Wabasha Street Caves for an event… especially for those who enjoy learning about history!

When reading these reviews, keep in mind, there are several things offered at this location;
1) A 1 hour guided tour of the ‘caves’
2) A bus tour covering «mob» related sites of interest in the area
3) A catering hall
I only am discussing item #1. I showed up here about 15 minutes early and talked with the friendly staff. I thought I would be the only one on the tour, but within a few minutes of 11AM, approximately 10 more people showed up for the tour. Our tour guide was knowledgable, energetic, and loud enough for the whole group to hear. His presentation was very interesting and quick-​moving. It really didn’t feel like we were there for a whole hour.
There’s some talk about a mob hit, ghosts, and other blood-​n-​guts topics, so just beware if you are sensitive to that kind of stuff (though the guide did ask parents of young children if it would be OK before he got into it).
After having done the tour once, I don’t see a need to do it again for myself, but if I come back to the area with my kids, I would bring them… And the cost is only $ 6!

Way better than I expected!
I had been to the caves before for a tour as a wedding venue. It is a really cool space, but didn’t do it for our upcoming wedding.
Fast forward a few months and I’m an organizer for a big group of women in town for the weekend. One of the other organizer suggested this tour. I just went along with it, but I’m glad I did. We did the basic cave tour for $ 6 and it was totally worth it. Not too long, not too short. I sometimes have a short attention span, but the length was good.
Our tour guide was informative and quite animated. I learned plenty of things I didn’t know prior to this.
I think the place kind of smells and I’m not crazy about the temperature inside, but it’s a cave so I get it. The smell and the broken up layout of the space is what lead me to not choose it for the wedding venue, but for a tour it’s pretty darn fun.
I do recommend getting there early — at least 20 minutes before the actual tour starts. We arrived 25 minutes early and the line kept growing behind us. We were part of a group of about 40 with another 25+ behind us.

During my time in St. Paul this was one tour I really looked forward to. It did not disappoint at all. We really enjoyed the tour which lasted only 40 minutes, but provided enough story and information to keep us entertained. I would highly recommend this tour to families, and understand they do specialty tours like ghost tours which I would love to return and take at another time. This also appears a great place to have a wedding, etc.

This was a fun event for a group of us to go and do on a Saturday morning. Tickets were $ 5 each to do the tour. We all waited outside for the tour. There was about 30 people who were in each tour (which I was surprised to see I didn’t know it was so popular).
When we did the tour I appreciated the history that they shared with it. There was an option for a gangster tour (2 hour bus ride) which I would have loved to do — that is a different day since the group were more concerned with lunch and bloody mary’s :)
The guy who was touring us had bad jokes, but it was still fun and informative. Only about 45 mins for the tour and worth the visit if you like to explore the city.

Meh… we went on the cave tour and it wasn’t what we were really expecting. It didn’t look much like a cave since it was man made and there was a lot of catering junk laying around. And wait for it… a garage door that opens into the cave… what the ???
I wouldn’t recommend it if your looking to impress out of town guests. If your really into history then check it out but it wasn’t impressive to me. The guide was funny and good but there just isn’t much to say about it and the gangster stories weren’t that interesting… I’d say it’s a pass unless your really into this sort of stuff.

I went to the Wabasha Street Caves about a month ago for a wedding reception — what a great choice for a venue! I’d been in the caves once before to scout for an event years ago, and wasn’t sure what to expect since the space was empty, dark and cold at the time I’d first seen it. But it was decorated beautifully and the curved walls, low ceilings and dim lighting (not to mention the cool indoor temps in late July) lent themselves really well to the late evening soirée. There was space for dancing, they had a slide show going in another nook, and several different «rooms» to choose from if you were looking to sit and enjoy some drink or food. All of the different areas flowed into the next and it was sort of fun for the first hour or so trying to get your bearings every time you went back to the bar… the hosted wine certainly played a part as well…
I wasn’t expecting the food to be much more than your typical catered fare, but was pleasantly surprised that what was served in the buffet tasted fresh and was certainly above par — plenty of vegetarian options and some really tasty pasta dishes. The bartenders weren’t stocked to do much more than beer, wine or a simple mixed drink (couldn’t get an old-​fashioned — yes, we’re THOSE people). But we could have cared less, they were friendly and prompt — especially considering the ratio of guests to bartender was somewhere in the ballpark of 100:1.
Finally, the cave tour was the coolest part. I didn’t think that they did them for private parties so I was pumped when they announced them! They gave two tours, and we went with about 40 or so other guests on the first one. The two guys who dressed as mobsters and gave us what turned out to be an extremely interesting history lesson on the caves were hysterical. They worked the crowd and held everyone’s interest — from the middle aged men to the tween girls to the five year old boy whom they chose as their assistant. It was really cool to hear about what the caves had been used for over the years and the various scandals that had gone down within them. If I ever had a reason to throw a party here (there are plenty of cool themes that come to mind) I would in a heartbeat. May have to come back to check out one of their dance nights!

Went here for a work party. The space is pretty cool actually, and very spacious.
The cave tour sounds a lot cooler than it actually is. The story is pretty cool, but the guy who did it was just trying too hard to be funny, or something, but he failed. I was pretty bummed during the tour, because I ran out of wine to numb the pain. But really, it’s a cool history, except it’s told while you stand in a little space they call a cave.
I guess overall the place is a good space for an event, but if the «historical» tour is optional, do yourself a favor and opt to not do it. Somehow I felt that the space deserves 3 stars.

This part of my review is just for the cave tour. I’d actually like to give it 3 ½ stars. Our tour guide was informative and animated in her presentation. If you’re somewhat of a history buff, you’d enjoy hearing the of local stories. This is a nice way to spend an hour discovering a little uniqueness in your own community.
We also took the St Paul Gangster Tour. Our guide was in character as Baby Face Nelson, accent and all. He is clearly a big fan of this topic, which for me added to the tour. 3 ½ stars here too, as this tour was about ½ too long for me. Again, if you’re a history buff you’d really like this tour-​I did! A great way to learn some new things about our capital city’s somewhat sordid past!

My significant other and I went on the Caves, Graves and Ghosts tour last night. I was very disappointed. Save the extra $ 5 and skip the caves! All you do is sit in the entrance and look at about 7 photos of the caves on a garage door. Also, when you go on the bus tour at that time, it is still light outside, so the bus tour isn’t as spooky as the later ones. A lot of neat stories about St. Paul.
For sure not for kids or anyone who doesn’t like swearing or bad mouthing. Lots of cuss words/​adult language as well as making fun of over weight people walking on the side walks.
I went about 5 years ago, and then this year. I think I will be waiting another 5 years before I go again. Don’t expect a whole lot and you will probably like it a lot more.

Eh, it was so so to be honest. $ 5 and nearly everyone on the tour had gray hair. The tour guide was great and told good stories with entertaining voices and you could always hear her well.
however if tours go through there regularly you’d think they would clean up some stuff, there is old catering crap everywhere. and the place is pretty dumpy in the main hall, i couldn’t believe they hold weddings there (sorry if anyone had their wedding here) but seriously it would be a cool location if it didn’t look like a bad VFW event hall. Either go with the cave theme or clean the place up.
The tour was pretty short and you make a big loop through the main parts of the cave. Interesting but i didn’t love it.