Chislehurst Caves — Attraction in London

Only a short train ride away from the outskirts of London via Charing Cross, London Bridge or Cannon St this is a half day trip worth considering. Strictly speaking these are not caves. They are man made mines created in the 1800s to extract flint and chalk. As these minerals were overtaken by coal and the industrial revolution they had a different focus as a tourist attraction open to the public on occasion courtesy of its parish guardians. Then during the second world war when it became apparent it was needed as a place of refuge in the blitz it became both a shelter and it's own underground town. When you visit now you're shown an incredible range of caverns and corridors where there is a consecrated altar, a dentist, a mini hospital, and a dormitory. I won't spoil the surprises your guide might show you on either a public or private tour. My friendship group of 19 people booked a private one and we were shown around by Peter ' the passionate ' who has been visiting the caves since he was 5 and has been a guide for over 15 years. He was funny, entertaining, surprising, and extremely informative. I would call him the Attenborough atlas of this caves history. We only covered about a third of what there was to see so l will be back. I've never seen anyone so Ninja, moving backwards and every which way in total darkness holding a bunch of kerosene lamps. ( be prepared for this strange smell ) He was absolutely awesome. The best £8 lve spent in quite a while. You will only see photos of the shop s exhibits, seating area, cafe and garden because we were asked not to film. You'd have to go have a very special camera anyway to function in this environment. Be warned the surface of the ground demands sturdy footwear because of gradient in places and it's uneven throughout. It's also chilly down there so wrap up warm. I can also recommend a visit to the local pub Bickies afterwards if you want a warm or...

It's definitely a little historic gem, meaning to visit for the longest time, only 30 mins drive from home, parking ample, reception staff, tour guides knowledgeable and bubbly. If you go as a group defo book in advance for a slot, I went by myself but got in smoothly. It's a marvel of history. Shame photos weren't allowed in the caves. As I noted and see on the reviews, plenty were taken! You do need to be able to take a couple for memory alone and show people, so the proprietors need to be more linent on this matter, I would say, to get the word out. I managed to get one but felt ever so guilty 😔, I don't really see the problem. I can understand about using flashes, but otherwise, why not, we live in a digital world.

The caves are really impressive, and the venue for live music... and hosted the likes of Hendrix, beetles, and Led Zeppelin, to name a few; it's really impressive, Dr. who used it as a film set. I believe you can hire the spaces out.

Tour was short (maybe do two types, with half an hour 45 mins extra), as I think it would have been nice to go into and through some of the other interiors of the cave. Defo photos should be allowed.

There is a little theatre spot outside, which isn't advertised. They could specify a theatre show to do with the caves, era, etc.

There is a walk at Hawkwood estate,(I didn't get to do as rained down, but could have planned ahead had i known - next time - if i come with my grown children?), and if the theatre had show times, people could come back after to see it, so making a real day of it utilising the space and time.

The cafe is warming and well-earned warm soup from the caves which were cold. So if you go in autumn or winter wrap up. They even do birthday parties.

To enter was reasonable £8 for the experience and knowledge, though at times the guide can not be heard at the back, so need to be upfront, but he...

This was a very weird experience. I used to go to the caves a lot as a kid and I loved it, haven't been back for a long time but decided to visit recently and I wasn't very impressed.

Firstly, photos are not allowed. Not really sure of the reasoning of this, it wasn't explained, I can understand why flash photography wouldn't be allowed but it was a bit disappointing to not be able to take photos.

Our tour guide Peter was a tricky one to read. He did make a few funny jokes, but mostly his sense of humor was very sarcastic and made us all feel quite uncomfortable. We couldn't tell if he was joking or not at certain points. I felt quite on edge the entire time, his dry humor and the way he joked about some people in our group made me worry I would be the subject of one of his jokes! He did attempt to engage with the children in the group, but at some points was very tone deaf. We had a girl in our group who was clearly had special needs, very scared and crying. He told her to stand still multiple times (not sure why this was necessary), and told us that children were sacrificed in the tunnels.

The tunnels themselves were interesting, just as they were 15 years ago when I last went. But unfortunately our tour was rushed, a lot of time was wasted while we stood listening to his jokes - really didn't learn very much. There were bits we wanted to see but were told to keep moving. The interesting parts like the well and pool of water were just skipped over because we were running out of time.

My dad, who is originally from the area and used to go to the caves every week said this was the worst tour he has ever been on. We traveled quite far to come here but now I'm thinking we shouldn't have bothered. I certainly wouldn't go back or recommend to anyone else. I've visited several English caves and this was by far the...