Bristol Caverns — Attraction in Bristol

Having visited many caverns across the country we decided to visit this one that was a short distance off US 81. Although it was a small cavern it was chock full of many beautiful and ancient flow formations. The entrance is located a short walk from the Gift Shop/Ticket Office, that gets you ready for the stair challenges ahead during the tour. There are great surprises as you travel throughout these cavern rooms. They take many forms from; the various eye-candy formations, to headache rock, the cardiac stair challenge, the ancient flow stone creature (I didn't see it until I was preparing to post my pictures, I don't know if the owners know about this feature) and the little water falls to name a few. These caverns rooms have a good percentage of active formations, as well as ancient ones, including water which flows freely through this cavern system. The staff was friendly, helpful, informative and their prices are reasonable.

We were thoroughly satisfied and enjoyed seeing this cavern system and would have given this attraction 5 stars, but there were two items that need attention in our opinion, in order for us to do so: 1- Handrails, because they are in a very moist environment they pitted, rough and vary in height and need maintenance to correct these issues. 2- Algae growth on some of the formations and areas where lights are placed. This issue threatens the long-term beauty of the formations in your cavern system and the satisfaction of your visitors who come to enjoy...

I enjoyed the tour today, I wished there was more history given and it felt slightly rushed. It lasted about 45+ minutes and a good 5 minute walk to the cave, close to an hour I'd say. I wished I was able to get more photos. I was also watching my 4 year old son so I may have missed a lot of what the tour guide said during the tour. The gift shop is nice and I bought myself some crystal/ fossils and my son a few things and the people working there are really nice and we enjoyed it. There is a few steep steps in the cave, one goes straight up and they are slippery and narrow steps. It is completely opened to the sides of you so if you have fear of heights or a toddler don't do it. They can fall! It goes high up there. My son was scared of those steps. Toddlers need to be able to walk well and hold make sure to hold their hand so I'd say at least 3-4+ but I don't think a toddler will enjoy this because my son had no interest and was scared sometimes. He did like the areas shown with water more then anything. There was several steps throughout but only one set that made me a little short of breath and I walk at least 5 miles a day so you need to at least be a little in shape because the steps are steep. Thankfully I'm 5'6 and 150. I used to be over 200lbs. I still have 20 pounds to lose. I'm nearing 36 so not as fit as I used to be in my 20's especially with arthritis and spine surgery but I did it. :) That being said, the cave is absolutely beautiful and I would probably visit...

Our tour guide was a really nice young guy (Joshua I think was his name but I’m bad with names, could have been a Joseph?) who gave us plenty of time to look at things or take pictures and was happy to answer questions, he seemed knowledgeable about the cave and its history but he wasn’t dry about it like a script which was very nice. The cave was beautifully lit so you could see everything but not glaringly bright either. I kinda wish I had brought a flashlight just to look closely at some rock formations because they are so sparkly and interesting up close. It seemed like this cavern might not get that busy or crowded although I can’t imagine why, it’s really cool. The tour takes place in the first ~mile of the cavern (it’s actually three miles long but the rest is more narrow). The first half of the tour is pretty easy going in terms of the path, there are some very steep long narrow steps about 2/3 of the way through; although I went up them just fine if I was less able bodied I would have taken the offer to go around the back way where there were more gradual steps which is a nice option to have. Deserves to be a more popular cavern...