Cosmic Cavern — Attraction in Berryville

We went on both the regular tour and the "Wild Tour." The regular tour was very good. The cave is definitely a living an active cave. There were many different types of formations which the guide pointed out with their common names while explaining how they were formed and often encouraging us to look for shapes or pictures in the formations which served both to keep the younger children engaged and to help you take a closer look at what you were seeing. The steps were steep getting in and out, but I am a 52 yr old mostly inactive woman who is about 80 pounds overweight, and although I was slightly out of breath upon climbing the stairs out of the cave, it was really no trouble at all. (I could see where bad knees could be a bit of a problem, but there are sturdy handrails on both sides of the stairs.) My husband and I also did the "Wild Tour." I had seen a review that said it shouldn't really be called wild and wasn't anything that would impress any one who had explored undeveloped caves before, so I thought it would just be walking through a part of the cave that didn't have cement walkways, and maybe climbing over a boulder or two. Wow! I don't know what cave that reviewer was in, but this wild tour was awesome! The easiest part was walking along wooden planks with ropes as hand rails, that was just a short distance, then we moved into areas that could only be accessed by climbing up the walls, or along the walls, using only cave formations as foot and handholds. It wasn't too difficult, but it was SO MUCH fun! Our guide, Shazda, went ahead of us and told us exactly where to put our feet and hands when climbing. With her instruction and demonstration I was able to follow right along. It was a little scary in a couple of places where falling would definitely result in injury, but Shazda made sure we were confident and knew how to proceed before going forward. We saw AMAZING formations that were not in the front part of the cave, and it was all untouched, like we were among the first few people going in. One part I chickened out of, because our guide said it would involve a 25ft vertical climb and I wasn't sure I was physically strong enough for it. I had seen and experienced so much more than I had expected already at that point, that I didn't mind waiting while she and my husband made the climb to another small room in the cave. Meanwhile I further explored the area I was in and imagined I was alone deep beneath the earth (although I could hear the quiet muffled voices of the guide and my husband not too far away.) It was an experience I will never forget, and I can't wait to go back! I'm going to work on building up the muscles in my arms and legs and practice some indoor rock climbing so I can go back with the confidence to tackle that upper room. Oh, there were also 2 tunnels you were allowed to crawl into. One dead ended in a small area with stalactites and stalagmites, and another lead to a 15 foot drop off that we could look into if we chose to enter that tunnel. (Be sure to bring a flashlight, the light on the helmet they provided wasn't very bright - I think the battery was going dead.) The height requirement for the wild tour is 5'2" so that you are tall enough to reach hand and footholds. If you have older children/teens who are tall enough and like to climb (trees, monkey bars, whatever) they could definitely...

This place is NOT kid friendly. My family and I did not enjoy this experience at all. We had been driving for an hour with 2 four year olds and an 8 year old. It had also rained. When we arrived, we had planned on changing shoes, restroom break, and just grounding ourselves before going into the tour. However, the owner literally started talking to us over the loud speakers the MOMENT we stepped out of the van and told us to hurry because we could go with this next group. There is no such thing as "hurry" with 3 children this age. We didn't change shoes and when we got our jackets, he told us over the loud speakers to leave them because the cave was "too hot." When we didn't move as fast as he wanted, he literally CAME OUTSIDE to tell us to leave our jackets and come in. So we rushed in, did not get to use the restroom or look at the map. He walked us down into the cave where there was water dripping pretty heavily in some spots. We ended up right under a basic slow shower while the tour guide talked. All 3 children immediately wanted the jackets he told us multiple times not to bring and different shoes that we were rushed into not being able to change. The cave was 68 and wet. So we left the cave to go do what we had initially planned to do before he rushed us in. Then we waited 15 minutes to go with the next group that was triple the size as the group he pushed us into. Once we started the tour, we realized it was NOT young kid friendly. The fencing wasn't attached at the bottom, just the top. So if you weren't taller than the hand rail, it was really just for looks. So do not let them lean on the fence or walk near the side. He even as much as told us when we could and couldn't take pictures so it wouldn't slow the tour down. So if you want to document the tour, don't go with this guy. He called everyone out who stopped to try and take a picture. He did a ton of talking and never let anyone ask questions. The group was entirely too big. So it was rush, then wait forever while he just talked about himself and his cave adventures. Still not offering to answer questions. He didn't engage with one family. The cave was AMAZING. The owner, so out of touch with large families with young children. Adults only would love this. Adults with older children, ask for a different tour guide. Adults with children 5 and younger, Onyx Cave was great for them 🙌, but...

I've been to many caves but this on disappointed me. The name "cosmic" makes it seem like there would be lots of crystals, but there were none. Only cave bacon and stalagmites/tites. This is a good cave for a beginner, but this is not a good cave for more experienced tourists.

Here's a few suggestions to earn a few stars: Limit the group size to 10-15 people We had 30+ people with 7 kids and a baby, this made the experience almost unbearable.

Have a kid's tour that's separate from adults, kids ask way too many questions and drag on the experience. And parents don't seem to know how to control their kids half the time.

Either ban babies or charge a baby fee to discourage people from bringing a screaming baby. I've been to many caves that don't allow babies for this reason.

Add a section of the tour where you turn off the lights to show us how dark it is

And here is the biggest suggestion you need to consider: Tell your guides to focus on showing us the cave and history and DO NOT ask the tourists questions, this drags on the experience. There were many times we had to stand in uncomfortable positions because there were too many of us and too many people wanted to answer the questions.

I also suggest WHEN you implement the kids tours, have your newer guides do those and reserve the adult tours for the more experienced guides. Our guide left out many opportunities to talk about the formations but was too focused on joking with the kids.

The cave is very beautiful, but the experience was not enjoyable, it's good if this is your first cave, but not good if this is...