longhorn cavern state park

Longhorn Cavern State Park is a wonderful park and cavern to visit. My parents took me here when I was a child, I took my children here, now I am taking my grandchildren. Interesting and educational.

I went to the Cavern with a friend, checking to see if this would be a place to bring the grandchildren (ages 5 and 6) when they visit. The answer is yes, absolutely! The cavern tour is a bit pricey (US$16 for adults, US$12 for children ages 2-18) and well worth it! The tour is 2 hours long, and your guide will relate history and items of geological interest, as well as guiding you safely through the cavern.Most of the trip is quite easy. Wear shoes with rubber soles that do not get slippery if the cavern floor is wet and muddy in places. The cave is a fairly constant 68F-72F, Winter or Summer, so this is a great place to spend one of those hot Summer afternoons! The tour is long, so you want to wear comfortable shoes, and be prepared to spend some time bent over. I am 5' 2", and for at least 75 yards I walked in a crouch. This could be an issue for those with bad backs or hips (if you have had a recent hip replacement and still have precautions about flexion, or if you have bulging disks in your back and find bending forward painful, this trip is not a great idea). There are 52 well-built but somewhat uneven stone stairs leading down to the cave entrance, which means 52 stairs to climb UP after a 2 hour tour. You can bring plain bottled water, but no food or flavored drink items. (This is to prevent drawing wild animals into the cavern.) Anything you take into the cavern must come out of the cavern with you!Children will love this tour, but it's pretty spectacular for adults, too. Bring a camera; if you are lucky, there will be a few tiny, solitary bats (NOT the hordes of larger bats you think of in caves) you can photograph from very close up, as well as interesting rock formations. The variety of formations in the cavern is impressive to a novice, but won't seem so interesting to a veteran spelunker. They offer a Wild Caves tour...this consists of crawling through the sub cavern, in some very tight and muddy places. Not something I want to do; our tour guide (a veteran geologist) explained the other tour is more expensive and, other than crawling through some very tight places, not a lot different. It would depend on the type of experience you want, I guess.The cavern can be rented for events, and they have concerts down there on occasion. We found the concession people to be pleasant and helpful, though food was not being served while we were there (off season). I've heard it can be quite crowded in Summer; tours are at 11am, 1pm and 3 pm. They allow a maximum of 40 people per tour, so be sure to allow time if you have to wait for the next one! You can explore the grounds (very pretty and shaded) while you wait.

We took the standard tour which was a pretty easy walking tour and very informative. We enjoyed it very much, but next time we want to do the Wild Cave Tour that some of our friends took. From what they said, though, it was much more strenuous involving lots of crawling through small and dirty places. They had a blast though!

While we really enjoyed the cavern the people running the concession are in no way customer friendly. Hope they get done people in there that at least pretend to like their job!

It's definitely worth to visit this cave. They also prepare for events like birthday parties or weddings and so on.

We toured the cavern on Saturday morning. Our group was pretty small (20 ish people). The paths are well-maintained. The cave has some unique features including a dolomite dog, a 'bear nose' to rub, a 'gem' room with calcite crystals, some open spaces that have been used for concerts, marriages, and church, and a wishing well. The caverns were formed from flowing water. One of the youngest tour participants needed a restroom before we were finished with the hour and twenty minute tour. Our tour guide was new and young. She shared the history of the cave with us, but she repeated herself a lot. We also enjoyed the observatory in the park, the CCC museum, and the picnic tables.

We took a weekend trip to Burnet, and this was so cool!. We went on a daily tour, and it was supposed to last 90 minutes. Our tour guide was vocal, so we heard her wherever we stood in our tour. It was informative, and so beautiful! Our tour ended up taking an hour and forty five minutes which was a win. It was so cool, and a nice break from the ninety degree day we were experiencing out of the cave.

Be sure and take the time to tour this cavern. When guide turned off the lights I realized what darkness really looks like, BLACK.. Could not see anything in front of me but I wasn't scared because we were with a group and a guide who had been with the park for many years..

Even the road driving into the park is interesting...we called it the roller coaster road! This cavern was carved by a rushing underground river so the formations are different than other caves, kind of reminded me of Arizona a little bit. Beautiful grounds surrounding as well, nice hiking trails outside the caverns, so plenty to do while you wait for your tour to start. Tickets a little bit pricey. Lots of extra fees are added to the price that I was not aware of. Ended up being $90 for 5 adults and one 3 yr old., just to tour the cave. Cave tour lasts and hour and a half. Don't bother bringing a stroller, you'll end up carrying it around the terrain of the cave.

Went on the generic tour and really enjoyed it. Our guide gave us the history of the cave, showed us the little bats and talked about the geology of the cave. Great crystal formations, calcite I think. Would highly recommend this tour for older children and adults.

This is a cave tour that has had practical value. It's been a hideout, storage for gun powder during the Civil War, a bar during prohibition, and now a tourist attraction after work by the CCC in 1930's.

I had been to this cave years ago when my children were young. It was the first cave we had ever visited and we loved it. Since then my children have gotten older and we have visited a few other great caves. We were in the area on an extended-family vacation and decided to visit again since the kids didn't remember it all that well and so my seven year old niece and nine year old newphew could make thier first ever cave visit. We all had a great time. We even saw a small bat. This cave is really beautiful with huge areas of smooth walls because it was formed by a river and that is what makes it different from most of the other caves I've seen. I think this is a good cave for children because it isn't as slippery or steep as some other caves. You always have to be careful but this cave is very easy to walk through. There are also areas with crystals in the cave wall that are very interesting to look at. There is an old stone structure and stairway that leds down to the cave with archways and seating areas that make great backgrounds for family or individual pictures. Check their website for tour times. (www.longhorncaverns.com) There are also trails on the property, however they were closed while we were visiting. You are allowed to take pictures in the cave but not video.

I believe we've been to most caves in Texas, and this one was well worth the drive. It is much larger than we expected. It takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours to complete. You move pretty fast to get it all done, so I didn't get near as many pictures as I would have liked. My 10 and 13 year old really enjoyed this cave. The history is very interesting. Make sure you wear old non-slip shoes. There is a lot of water and mud. You do have to bend down to walk in several areas of the cave. It is very pretty and different than other Texas caves.

This cavern was carved by a rushing underground river so the formations are different than other caves like Inner Space or Natural Bridge Caverns. This one has huge "rooms" and interesting smooth passages and tunnels that are beautiful. It is also nice and cool, a great way to escape the heat.The history of the cavern is very interesting too; used as a Speakeasy during prohibition and LBJ's personal fallout shelter during the Cold War. It was cleared out of debris by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Depression and that fascinating history is also on display.There is an observation tower (not very high) that lets you see that castle in the Texas Hill Country as well as the surrounding countryside.They do offer a more advanced exploration tour for experienced cavers.This is a great area of the Texas Hill Country with Inks Lake and Canyon of the Eagles wildlife conservatory as well as Hamilton Pool and other attractions...makes a great family weekend trip near Austin.

After doing A LOT of research on texas state parks near austin so we could pick one, this one was well worth it. It was about an hour drive from the arboretum where we were staying, but the drive is very pretty, so time flies.Aside from the cavern, theres a cool watch tower, while you wait for your tour to start.What i loved the most about our tour was our guide who was not only very knowledgeable, but funny and quite charming, it made the almost two hour tour go by in flash. The tour was supposed to be a bit over an hour, but somehow we went over..... My five year old, liked it, but didnt love it. My 8 year old did love it, and so did i. Inside the cave is nice and cool, so you can beat the heat for a while. It can get a bit slippery inside the cave so be sure to wear good shoes.