Raccoon Mountain Caverns: Crystal Palace Walking Tours
Description
The Crystal Palace Tour is a 45-55 minute guided walking tour through the first 1/4 mile of the cave. This section of the cave has been modified to include lights, pathways, steps, and handrails. Education is the focus of our tours and your guide will explain how caves form, provide a history of the cave, and point out a wide variety of formations such as stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, and much more, including rare shield and helictite formations! Guests also have a chance to view cave wildlife including bats and salamanders, as well as ancient fossils. Photography is welcomed, however you must keep up with the group. As a reminder our cave is not wheelchair or child stroller accessible.
Tour Options
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
Reviews(35)
This was a fun, easy walk through a beautiful cave. Our guide was great. It was SO hot outside and this was a perfect activity for a hot summer day. The gift shop and check in was nice and easy. I think it would be beneficial for the business to upgrade the entrance to the cave. It appears that nothing has been done in many years and the entrance to this beautiful natural wonder is very dated and honestly pretty run down.
It was great and the kids also enjoyed it. Rachel was a great guide.
My family of 6 ( 4 kids ages 5-14) visited today and we loved it! Highly recommend! We have been to Ruby Falls a few times and wanted to see something new. This was perfect. Much less crowded and "touristy". Our guide Cory was great and very knowledgeable. We would definitely visit again!
Amazing tour and the falls/caverns were awesome. Our guide was amazing and offered so much information. Highly recommend these falls over the highly advertised ones.
When we entered the gift shop, the staff was incredibly friendly and explained the various tours available. They also provided information about the weight and height restrictions for the crawling tours. Our guide, Cory, was exceptionally friendly and attentively listened to all my siblings’ stories. Once we reached the cave, he proceeded at our pace, answering all our questions and pointing out the unique formations and various insects.
This place was amazing. Our guide Casandra was great. She was engaging, made it fun, and explained everything in great detail. It’s lit up beautifully and the cave itself is really cool. It was fun for all of us and our ages ranged from teenager to senior. High recommend as a must do
The cave is chilly so bring a sweater if you get cold easily. If you have kids, check out the gold mining area. My kids are 17 and 13 and had a ball mining for gem stones and artifacts!
Best value for the money out of all the places we went to for our anniversary. Devin was a great tour guide and she was highly knowledgeable about the science and history of the cave. It was a little less than an hour and was way more relaxing and entertaining than Ruby Falls. The caves highlight each of the major stages and types of cave formations, and they have campgrounds nearby that allow for other activities. We had only eight people in our group. So we were able to go more indepth on the tour than would normally be the case elsewhere. If you're looking for a nice educational activity that is not too far away from Chattanooga I would highly recommend it.
Devon was fantastic! She gave us a lot of info and we really enjoyed the experience. Take some photos with the nighttime setting on your camera for some cool effey. It was cool in the cavern. I needed a light jacket but my husband was fine with a T-shirt. Definitely recommend.
We had the best time. Our guide was AWESOME. Very knowledgeable with a great sense of humor. Fun times! I highly recommend!
