Appalachian Caverns — Attraction in Bluff City

We went on the Cave Crawling Tour and had a blast. Once you make it past the friendly faces, and through the gemstone store, you'll walk down a ramp into the cold and dark. From there you can take a basic tour and see the turtles, fish, and waterways. Or the Crawling Tour which is physical, muddy, dark, has climbing, and is totally cool. You must be prepared or your experience will not be as comfortable. Expect tight spaces, drop offs, climbing upwards, and can be hard on knees. This is an opportunity to see caves like explorers, to feel the thrill of the drop, the excitement of making the climb, and the accomplishment of the adventure. Our guide gave us lots of information on the caves history, local area and how they upkeep the caves. He was gracious, funny, patient, and made us beginners feel capable. Would recommend for adventurers to do the crawls, for families to do the walking tours. Bring cash tips for the guides, and lunches for the picnic area. See you again next season!

Update: 2023 Fall season - We're back and this time we upscaled the excursion to the wet one. We had a wonderful guide who took us on about a 2.5hr tour crawling, climbing, and getting into the water. Had a blast walking through tunnels & cracks, climbing over rocks, sliding down mud walls, and dipping into water to get into the next room. We were very lucky to have some Bats resting, since it was in the morning. So we were able to see them flying around, squeaking, and just being so gentle. There was some wonderful geology and mineralogy to look at, as well as the guide does a great job filling in with local history. We thought we were prepared this year having done this before, but still this experience was even crazier and better than last year. Highly recommended for families to do the walking tour, and to explore the gift shop, and for adventures to bring a sense of wonder while doing...

I've traveled to a handful of caverns in Appalachia, but this one is by far my favorite! Our tour guide was fantastic at explaining the cave and it's past both geological and historical. I'll definitely be back for a second look when I do a crawling tour sometime soon. In summary, it's a live (still growing/changing) limestone cave with plenty of wildlife, minor historical significance during the civil war, as well as significance to Native Americans.

Beyond the walking tour there's a very thorough crawling tour that I WILL be going on next time I visit the area! From what I was told, there's a whole other world to explore from what I was shown. Within the last year this "world" has seen some expansion as the natural erosion of the cave has opened up chambers for exploration. In other words, there's always a reason to come back.

But you know what's an even bigger reason to come back? The people. Beyond our amazing tour guide we were met with a number of other hosts who treated us like welcomed family - a testament to the good natured neighborliness of fellow Appalachians!

Before I close the review I would like to talk about pricing. Tour prices weren't at a markup. If anything, they were marked down. My friends and I were young adults and paid $15 each for a walking tour. The gift shop was also priced with consideration to the draining wallet of the traveler. For any of you who take geology as a hobby or simply collect, I was able to buy an incredible array of specimens at reasonable prices, such as my $1 kyanite specimens or my $20 sifting bag (that had about $70 of goodies when priced individually but this is just a guess).

To all of you who have read this review, wether you're looking for something different or a true spelunker, Appalachian Caverns has it for you! Never have I felt more at home at over 200 miles away!

Go give them a visit! (And don't...

The most important thing to take from this review is that you should go to Bristol Caverns instead!

I can say that when we arrived at Appalachian Caverns, other groups seemed to be having a great time.

Shortly after entering the store, a gentleman whose name I never knew greeted us. My group (3 women, 2 in our 40s and our aunt) was having a conversation amongst ourselves. He chose to insert himself and make a sexist joke that was derogatory towards women. At first we let it fall and no one responded. He persisted in trying to engage us. At which point I stated that no one liked a smart aleck (insert the curse word version of aleck).

He seemed to be just as offended as we were, because he said if that's how we were going to be, we could leave. We continued looking throughout the store. My aunt who was unclear about exactly what transpired walked up and attempted to buy a tour ticket. He informed her that we were not going through. She asked him why to which he responded the smart aleck comment. She asked him what about what he said to start the issue. He told us to leave the property or that he was going to call the law.

That's EXACTLY what we did. We took the $100 plus that we would have spent in his store and headed over to Bristol Caverns. The owners were extremely nice and accommodating in every way. We will...