Cavernas de Venado — Attraction in Venado

Unique & truly amazing life experience! 100% recommended, do not skip!

Cost vs Experience, one of the best tours we’ve ever been on.

Absolutely breathtaking. The caves, stalactites and stalagmites are just stunning. Seeing the bats and scorpion spiders (misnomer: it’s actually an insect, not a spider) was really fascinating and so so cool! Months later, we still talk about this life experience often, and tell the story to our friends.

If you are interested, but a bit nervous or claustrophobic, you do have the option of staying in some larger caves and passages. The entrance cave and first couple big rooms are like almost the size of a small movie theatre / extremely large mansion living room. So you do not have to do any tight squeezes if you don’t want to. We would strongly recommend coming, even if you are only comfy in the larger rooms. It’s still so fascinating to see. Book a private tour, and explain you don’t know if you want to do the squeezes, and want a private guide that will work with you. It would be a short tour, but for the cost, we would totally recommend seeing these amazing caves. Contact them early if possible to arrange, but if not possible, just show up with a small group and pay for a private guide yourself, it will be reasonable!! Don't skip it just because you're nervous!! Trust us!! : )

BUT, you should totally do the squeezes!! It’s the best part!! All of the full tour is designed for beginners, not for serious cavers. So the squeezes are very short in length, and then you pop out and are able to stand up again. Imagine putting a small cardboard box on the floor in your living room. Crouch down, crawl through, stand up again in another room. It’s a tiny room, like a closet, but you can stand, and feel not “trapped in”. You will end up with people both in front and behind you. If this causes some anxiety, just talk to the guide before hand, explain you need a bit of room, and for the next person NOT to enter the squeeze until you’re out to the next room.

It was a very deeply impactful experience, both from an excitement / interest perspective, but also emotionally / spiritually. We’re extremely grateful and humbled to have been able to travel these passages, and see these wonderful things.

Our guide was super cool, professional, but also friendly and chill, with a great sense of humour. He made the trip a blast, and kept us relaxed, and zero pressure all the way through. He was very supportive when one on our group had a bit of an anxiety situation, and he quickly was able to get them back relaxed, laughing, and they enjoyed the rest of the tour immensely.

Important: Strongly recommend you book directly with the owners, and drive here yourself. They provide their own, trained, on-site, amazing guides. Additional high fees for outside guides are not required. Only use one if you need their help with transportation to / from, and then, it should only be a cab fare, not a jacked up rate for a “special guided tour” !!!

Tip well!! They deserve it, after that...

Great fun and a really special experience. The caves are beautiful and there’s lots to see. They’re fascinating even if you’re not a geology fan. Its great for anyone looking for a moderate physical activity thats a bit different. Our guide Elvis was a fun person to lead us around. There’s great changing facilities as well.

I don’t think the website guidance fully prepares you for how wet you’ll get! Bring water shoes if you have them, towels, and a spare change of clothes. Its a very wet cave!

You’ll see lots of bats which is cool!!! But with that comes some bat poo, so another reason to bring stuff to wash with and change into.

There’s a lot of small spaces but the guide is good at modifying the route depending on your preferences, mobility or appetite for adventure.

I would say that anyone with fears of the dark, bats, or confined spaces, or someone who finds moderate to heavy activities difficult, this might not be for you. I’m scared of heights and I thought I’d find the confined spaces intimidating, but I really enjoyed the experience. My advice is just to have a lil think before you go! The tour is about an hour and the guides know the caves inside out, so they’ll be able to assist you if you ever feel anxious or uncomfortable.

Another tip is in regards to tour operators. The tour operator will only be providing transport. The guides all work for the caves. Bear this in mind, especially if you rent a car. I was initially going to book with a tour operator but they wanted to charge extra for a detour they’d need to make… hell no! I contacted the caves directly and Pam the owner was soooooo helpful in helping me figure out my options.

If you do buy your ticket at the caves, be aware its better to pay in cash. When we went in November the swimming pool...

First the good. This is an excellent cave, definitely worth exploring. Expect to get dirty so bring your worst clothes, and a change of clothes. You will be deep in water.

There are bats. You will be dealing with what comes out of bats but most of the cave has moving water. 'Most' being the key word here.

I do recommend this as a proper cave experience. The small group made this good. This is a terrible cave for big groups.

Recommendations for the tour company/land owners:

The guide was poorly equipped. As in, not at all. Spare masks in saran wrap got soaked and once mine got wet I had real difficulty breathing. This was an issue.

A proper cave guide should be packing a waterproof first aid kit capable of handling a sprained ankle, cuts, etc. splints, tensor bandages, alcohol prep pads, waterproof bandages are a must here. This is quite irresponsible of the tour owner. That same waterproof bag can hold spare masks. The bags made of rubber raft material with the roll up top are a must. They can be dragged on a tether for tight areas and will last for years.

Knee pads (!) and maybe palm gloves would take this experience to a better level. You will be crawling and there is bat droppings hitting bare knees. This presents a health hazard as cur knees hitting bad droppings is not great. Plus knee pads would allow you to enjoy yourself more without beating yourself up. Remember that most tourists are planning on hiking the next day.

A proper sanitation station at the exit of the cave should be installed by the property owners, including alcohol in a spray bottle to immediately treat any abrasions, and a hand sanitizer dispenser is a must.

The headlamps on the helmets have batteries that barely last the tour. Mine was...