Is Mammoth cave's worth visiting? (Bowling Green, Cave City: for rent, hotel, restaurants)

[tomocox]

Originally Posted by Brent85

Thanks guys. I'm def. going to take this trip. Probably one night near a distillery and two near Mammoth caves.

Naw, go the other way.. two or three in Bardstown, make Mammoth Cave a day trip. You won't regret it.

[rnc76]

^^^Kind of argree with you tomocox. I would probably stay in Bardstown the whole time and just go to Mammoth Cave for the day. It is only about an hour away. The problem with the Mammoth Cave area is that there are no decent hotels or restaurants in that area. Being such a big tourist attraction, you would think there would be some nice places to eat and sleep, but there really isn't.

[lexingtongal]

It depends on how much you want to entertain the child. The Mammoth Cave area offers more family friendly things to do. I think a child will get bored with the distillery tours. I've gone to Woodford Reserve and it is beautiful. It made me wish I liked Bourbon. However, I didn't see many children there.
Google Cave City and you will see all the different things you can do in that area.
We have gone to the area for 2 day trips several times. Book your cave tours in advance as they sell out. You can book them online. Sorry I don't have the website address but search under Ky State Parks. I believe there is a direct link to buy tickets there.

[kygman]

Everybody has you going north of Cave City. You won't be far from the Corvette Museum and Assembly plant in Bowling Green. The museum is really something to see.

[missymomof3]

My husband and I went down to Mammoth cave park to walk (didn't go to the cave) and saw a pair of deer right at the side of the road. They didn't care we were there, they went about their buisness and we just took pictures

[safetygirl-16]

There's an exit right before Mammoth Cave that has a State Park Lodge. It has golf, indoor/outdoor pool and a little train that takes you on a tour around the mountain. (it might be Cave City) Anyway, you can three tours. The diamond cave, the reg. tour, and the nite tour with laterns.

[dixiegirl7]

I agree about spending most of the time in the Mammoth Cave area. There is so much to do and see. You will enjoy the cave. There is also a boat tour that goes down the Green River where you will see a ton of wild life. Last time I went we saw beavers building a dam, which I know is a nuisance but it was so cool. Kentucky Down Under is at Cave City and is an interactive Australian animal park which kids love, Dinosaur World is a really interesting park also with life size dinosaurs, and Guntown Mountain is an old western town with shows and shootouts in the street and it has rides.

[KYcoyote]

There's coupla decent Cave City restaurants. One excellent steak house on the road to Glasgow (rt.150?) just after the Star Motel. And very good barbecue pit is behind the go-kart track. Down the road is Horse Cave, home of Kentucky repertoirey theatre also the national cavers museum. Search the web for Theatre productions and times. Best decent reasonable hotel weekly rate is at Horse Cave, clean accomodations, friendly people. And takin the Mammoth Cave tour is like natural air conditioning during summetime heat. They usually tell ye to bring a jacket because it gets cold down below. Finally you've got canoe rentals for paddling the river at Munfordville, next town up from Horse Cave on rt.31W. Then ye can take day trip straight up 31W into Bardstown for distilleries and Civil War museums - with lots of interesting antique shops and roadside markets along the way. Yep, you can easily spend a week seein the sights outa Horse Cave / Cave City.

[kygman]

My wife has trouble walking long distances because of a disease. ON the Mammoth Cave website, she checked out each underground tour and saw how many steps there are going up and down in the caves. I remember taking the 4 hour walking tour while in high school and we ate lunch in a huge dining area 400 ft. underground.

As far as the distilleries, the only one I went to in Bardstown was Jim Beam. We didn't take a tour but what we saw was pretty interesting. They had samples in the house but I stuck to the lemonade outside. If you get a chance, eat at Talbott Tavern. Oldest tavern west of the Appalachian Mountains.

[InLondon]

Originally Posted by Brent85

Coming from Michigan would it be a good trip to visit Mammoth caves for 2 nights, this summer? I've never been on that side of Kentucky. It would be my brother, his wife, and kid. I've heard it's interesting, but other people say it's not. Also I'd like to take a tour of a local wiskey factory, maybe Marker's mark.

Oh man, yes it's worth visiting. The thing is huge and very cool. Not sure about tours of Maker's Mark, but that sounds like it would be interesting.