National Showcaves Centre for Wales — Attraction in Great Britain

Had a fabulous day for my little boys 3rd birthday!! The dinosaur trail was spectacular, the main cave was great too. He really enjoyed searching for gold by the water wheel and having ice cream 😁

However, I just wanted to leave an informative review so that those with littles can be a bit more prepared than we were and explain why it’s not quite a 5*. We have a 3yo and a 9mo. We arrived at 10:30 and did the first cave at 11am, very cold as described, definitely bring an extra layer or two!! It was SO cold but 31 degrees outside! Baby was carried in a body wrap and 3 year old walked around with no trouble. The ground is uneven, there’s lots of steps and it’s all very wet so be careful with your footing. We took grandparents and they were fine, we just took it slow.

The dino trail was completely inaccessible for a pushchair. Steep doesn’t even come close. We had to leave the baby with grandparents in the cafe because they were also unable to climb such steep hills. I’m talking, baby was almost vertical in the pram and very upset about it. Could have kept her in the body wrap but it was BLAZING HOT and my back wouldn’t have coped with it lol. 3 year old was ok, slow and steady, very exciting displays, SO MANY dinosaurs, it was amazing for us but a shame that the others had to miss out. I don’t think website explicitly states that prams are a stupid idea here lol but please know, they are. We didn’t do the other two caves so can’t speak on them. The bone cave requires wearing a hard hat and our little boy wouldn’t wear one and was a bit leery of going in, it’s a very dark and low canopy. My husband is 6ft 4in and had to really watch his head in the main cave and would definitely need a hard hat for the bone cave.

The disappointing part of the day were the timings. We did the main cave first, the dino trail, stopped off for some (expensive but nice!) food, did the museum and gift shop and it was pushing 2:30 by this point. We made our way to the farm area lower down and as we got in, saw the free roaming birds and some sheep, a lady told us they were closing this area… at 3pm?? So the children’s playground, the farm and stables were no longer open. It felt like they opened at 10:30 and closed at 2:30, not sure on official opening times. Asked a staff member when they closed and they said they ‘aim for 2-2:30 but it depends on how many people are still in the caves’ so… not sure if that was signposted anywhere but had we known, we would have made better use of our time, not get food or something so we could have visited the lower area.

All in all, a fabulous day, a very happy little birthday boy - I just wish the information was clearer! It all closes earlier than you’d think and DO NOT plan on taking a pram to...

I went with my family to the cave centre during a school holiday half term with unsettled weather. We booked tickets in advance to ensure entry. The timing slots seemed to be there to ensure there aren't too many people in the caves at the same time - there wasn't anyone checking times as you go in, and the cave tour is self-guided, not led. You are funnelled straight into the first cave fairly promptly on arrival. All this means that numbers in the caves are fairly well-managed. The caves, small museum and café are basically the only things indoors, so don't plan to do this on a wet day as there's a fair bit of walking between these things. The map on the official website does indicate this fairly well. We enjoyed our visit here, but I think I'd summarise the whole centre as 'in need of investment'. The information in the first cave was delivered by stereo speakers occasionally at really absurd moments - at one point there was a speaker near a waterfall as well as (obviously) a number of people around. In an echoey cave that made it impossible to hear what information was being shared. In the second cave, music was being played to add to the atmosphere, but my wife and I both felt it actually diminished it. Across the site, whether dinosaurs, cave people or zombie-hyenas(?!) some of the models really feel old and tired. Some of the dinosaurs felt fairly cartoon-y, and I could imagine 10 year olds being unimpressed with some of the models (though, on the flip side, it's not too scary for very small children). Some were animatronic, which was fun. Though some of the dinosaurs were really great! There is only one toilet location on the whole site (including play area as far as we were aware) which is tricky to manage with smaller people when you have to trek across the site just to get to the loo. However, the caves (our main reason for going) were really stunning. Really amazing to look at. Improving the information available and quality of props would improve this site in my opinion. Gold panning was a great activity for children, and the space for them to run around near the farm was...

Really well put together experience

There are 3 different caves that you can wander around at your own pace. Throughout the caves there is commentary from the people who first discovered the caves, so no queuing to read a sign, just find a good spot and look around while you listen. There are steps, but not that many. It was cold inside so take a fleece. The number of stalactites, stalagmites, curtains and flows is not that high compared to other show caves but as you wander you will keep finding more. The second cave on the tour, cathedral cave is probably the most spectacular and also has waterfalls you can walk behind.

Possibly the best bit are the dinosaurs, they are by far the best presentation I've ever seen with quite a lot of them having small amounts of movement like heads moving around and tails moving, don't worry they don't run after you. They are also outside in amongst the plants, some of which probably need a trim, but it does give it a more real feel. There are a few in the museum at the end that are more delicate and could not be put outside, and for a bit of fun you can even use a computer screen and projector to colour in one of them with a design of your making. Throughout there is a nice humour like the dinosaur that had escaped last night and been recaptured and put in the naughty corner. And if that wasn't enough, you can do gold panning (fools gold not real gold) and the shire horse centre which is more of a farm with lots of different animals. Finally the shop, a good selection of dinosaurs related things and a surprisingly good selection of socks.

The number of people is controlled by tickets and time slots, so it didn't feel that busy which was really nice, but that does mean you probably should book a slot before going, but once in just go at your own pace, there was no feeling of needing to see everything...