From fulfilling a primal need to shelter to playing a starring role in fiction and on film, caves have long captured the attention and imagination of humankind. Though there are beautiful subterranean sites to visit all over the world, North America has some of the most intriguing, complete with fascinating geological features, curious creatures and eerie ambience. Read on for must-see caves, caverns and cenotes in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

Located in “the Cave State” itself, Fantastic Caverns were notably stumbled upon by Ozarks farmer John Knox during the American Civil War (although much older). He kept schtum about them until 1867, when a group of women from the Springfield Women’s Athletic Club were invited to explore them. Their names were inscribed on the walls and can still be seen today. Becoming a speakeasy during the Prohibition era and later a mid-century live music venue, the site is now known as a “ride-thru” attraction, hosting informative Jeep-drawn tram tours that follow the scars left behind by a dried-up ancient river.

The third-longest cave in the world, Jewel Cave is a National Monument situated beneath the Black Hills and covering over 210 miles (338km). As well as being home to multiple bat species, the cave system is a geological wonder, decorated with natural chandeliers of calcite crystal, stalactite, drapery, frostwork and flowstone formations. There are a few ways to experience its interior, from an accessible 20-minute Discovery Tour to the longer Scenic Tour (moderate difficulty) or the "extremely strenuous" Wild Caving Tour, only for the most fearless. There are seasonal Historic Lantern Tours too. Advance booking is recommended.

Formerly named DeSoto Caverns, the Mathis family have been custodians of Majestic Caverns for over 100 years. Lying beneath the Appalachian foothills in Childersburg, the site has welcomed tourists for more than 40 years. Its existence has been documented since 1796, making Majestic the first-known cavern on record in the US. Tours operate every hour, lasting almost an hour and providing a potted account of the cave’s 2,000-year history, illuminated by light and laser shows. Visitors can also see one of the planet’s largest fields of onyx-marble stalagmites, plus the ‘Kymulga Cathedral Room’ which is as tall as a 12-storey building.

Canmore Cave Tours leads year-round expeditions into Rat’s Nest Cave, which lurks below the Canadian Rockies. Keeping its naturally wild and undeveloped form, the cave is one of the longest in the country and still partially shrouded in mystery. Designated a Provincial Historic Site, it holds over 300-million years of natural heritage, with significant geological and palaeontological features, as well as thousands of years of human history, evidenced by the ancient pictographs of Indigenous Americans. Take the four-hour 30-minute Explorer Tour to discover the cave and its ancient sights or the six-hour Adventure Tour to experience the thrill of rappelling too.

Only accessible to the public on an official guided tour, Grutas de Juxtlahuaca is a cave system and important archaeological site with links to Olmec culture. The Olmec people were the earliest known inhabitants of Mesoamerica, and examples of their cave paintings (dating back to circa 1000 BC) can be found around 4,265 feet (1,300m) below ground inside Juxtlahuaca. They depict images of a powerful-looking man, as well as a feathered serpent and jaguars. While the exact life story of the caves remains unknown, historians have ventured they could have been used for tribal rituals, as caves were thought to be entrances to the underworld.

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Niagara Cave can be found in Minnesota and is open to visitors seven days a week during the summer season. Its canyon-like tunnels began to take shape millions of years ago, slowly sculpted by the force of water pouring into limestone fissures and widening them into the passageways you can walk through today. The one-hour guided tour of the cave includes a mile (1.6km) of subterranean hiking and 550 steps (both ascending and descending). You’ll see fossils, a range of intricate rock formations, and an underground stream, waterfall and even a wedding chapel. Booking online in advance is recommended.

This network of ancient caves and caverns was formed by glacial ice hundreds of millions of years ago in an area of the Niagara Escarpment that was home to the Petun First Nations community. Now an UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, the site falls under the care of Scenic Caves Nature Adventures, which operates a number of attractions for thrillseekers in the area. Access to the caves is included with general admission to the park and, once inside, there is a self-guided trail to follow through the underground labyrinth. Allow at least two hours.

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Part of The Lost Sea Adventure experience, this cave surrounds America’s largest underground lake and is a registered National Natural Landmark. Open 363 days a year, the cave can be visited on daily guided tours that last an hour and 15 minutes, beginning with a walk through the caverns that details their long history and geological development (be sure to look out for rare 'cave flowers') before a boat takes visitors onto the Lost Sea itself. With tours quickly selling out, it’s advised you book well ahead of time.

Arkansas’ largest privately owned show cave, Cosmic Cavern, is also the warmest in the Ozarks, maintaining a balmy 18°C (64°F) year-round. It is home to otherworldly rock formations, like a nine-foot-long (2.7m) soda straw (hollow hanging mineral deposits), as well as two seemingly bottomless lakes inhabited by blind trout. Visitors can either take the standard walking tour, lasting around an hour and 15 minutes, or sign up for a ‘Wild Cave Tour’ which ventures into some of the cavern’s lesser-explored passageways. There is also a gemstone-panning activity, where you can sift for precious stones and keep anything you find.

The Lava Beds National Monument comprises 24 caverns forged by volcanic eruptions, ranging from 'beginner' caves that have established trails and comparatively high ceilings to the more challenging and compact. In order to enter any of the lava tube caves, you’ll need to obtain a free caving permit on arrival from the Lava Beds visitor centre, which ensures the conservation of this geologically, historically and ecologically important site. Due to damage from wildfires in 2021, some caves are closed. There may also be sporadic closures in place to safeguard the resident bat population.

Situated within Horne Lake Caves Provincial Park on Vancouver Island, this site boasts over 1,000 caves and offers different small-group tour options to visitors. The Riverbend Cave Explorer (lasting an hour and 45 minutes) is the easiest of them all, taking in some of the caves’ history, speleothems and fossils with no squeezing, crawling or vertical climbing involved. The two-and-a-half-hour-long Multi Cave Experience moves things up a notch, with ramps, ladders, cave slides and even the opportunity to climb a subterranean waterfall. It’s possible to upgrade any of the tours to private ones if preferred.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park lies within the Guadalupe Mountains in the Chihuahuan Desert, with its namesake cave being the biggest draw. Carlsbad Cavern features an impressive limestone 'room' that stands as the largest single cave chamber by volume in North America. Whether you choose to explore by following one of two self-guided routes or on a ranger-led tour, you’ll see rock formations and areas with intriguingly mystical titles such as Devil’s Spring, the Whale’s Mouth, King’s Palace and the Hall of the White Giant. There are also dawn and evening bat-watching programmes, allowing you to witness the cave's inhabitants in flight.

Hidden within the basin of a huge sinkhole, Makauwahi Cave on the island of Kauaʻi is accessed by a snug entryway requiring visitors to scramble in on their knees. It's both the largest limestone cave and the richest site for fossils on the Hawaiian islands, as well as being an important habitat for blind cave-dwelling creatures. It forms part of a larger rewilding reserve, with sedimentary rock in the area charting at least 10,000 of natural history; layers of cooled lava, marine deposits and peat mingling with animal bones, teeth, ancient artefacts and shells. Free guided tours run on Sundays and by appointment on other days.

Also known as ‘The Living Cave’, Blanchard Springs Caverns lies beneath Ozark National Forest and can be enjoyed by visitors on three different tours. The hour-long Dripstone Trail is an accessible route through the caverns’ upper levels, where the possibility of salamander and cricket sightings await, as well as the geological spectacles that give the route its name. On the slightly longer Discovery Trail, you’ll pass through the oldest parts of the cave, following in the footsteps of some of its earlier explorers. The Wild Cave Tour is by reservation only, involving four to five hours of climbing, crawling, crouching, squeezing and scrambling.

Managed by the Arbraska group of nature and adventure parks, Laflèche is the Laurentian Plateau’s largest show cave. Led by a professional guide, a Discovery Tour of the cavern covers its history and remarkable geology as you weave through rocky tunnels, dodging stalactites and stalagmites. Reserve your place on the one-hour tour in advance, which is suitable for anyone over the age of five. Bring plenty of warm layers with you though, as the internal temperature of the cave hovers at a steady and very chilly 4°C (39°F) in all seasons.

Found within the Grutas de Cacahuamilpa National Park, these eponymous caverns are one of the most visited speleological sites in Mexico. Their large halls (more than 90 of which are open to the public), embellished with spiked stalactites and stalagmites, can be walked in around two hours and are accessible every day of the week for a small fee. Taken from the Nahuatl word that roughly translates as "a fertile place for peanut growing", Grutas de Cacahuamilpa's lush surroundings was also regarded with ceremonial importance by the Chontal people.

Sitting halfway between San Antonio and the Big Bend National Park are the Caverns of Sonora. These show caves are so heavily ornamented with natural decorations that visitors are told not to take anything inside with them apart from a camera, for fear of snagging on the precious formations and damaging them. The Crystal Palace guided tour winds through almost two miles (3.2km) of the caverns’ passageways, whereas the off-trail Discovery Challenge (pre-booking essential) is a real spelunking (caving) adventure lasting around four hours. This is a toasty cave, with a constant temperature of 22°C (72°F), so dress light.

The legacy of Cave and Basin is quite extraordinary. Although not the first to “discover” the thermal springs here (stories of Indigenous peoples place them at least 10,000 years old), it took a group of three Pacific Railway workers happening across the caves and its mineral-rich waters in 1883 to capture the country’s attention. Their finding led to the birth of Banff National Park and ultimately the entire Canadian national park system. Nowadays, Cave and Basin is a designated National Historic Site which can be visited on a number of tours, including a basic introductory option and a magical summer evening walk by lantern light.

A National Natural Landmark since 1988, Cave of the Mounds hosts daily walking tours in all weathers. They're guided but self-paced, so visitors can absorb the many historic and scientific facts at their leisure. Despite the cave being over a million years old, its opening was only accidentally revealed during a routine quarry blast in 1939. The following year, it opened to tourists for the first time and attracted over 58,000 people in 27 weeks. These days, the cave remains a significant part of Wisconsin’s natural heritage, with visitors able to marvel at its numerous delicate calcite formations.

The largest of their kind in the eastern United States, Luray Caverns have been coined 'Geology’s Hall of Fame'. Sporting grand chambers the size of cathedrals with 10-storey-high ceilings, otherworldly rock formations made of crystallised limestone and small mirror-like lakes, these caves are renowned for their ethereal beauty. One of their most unique features is the Great Stalacpipe Organ, an entirely naturally occurring musical instrument (the world’s largest) that plays when the stalactites are gently tapped; their echoes resounding through the caverns. Visitors are welcome any day of the year on a self-guided tour, with entry to several other local attractions included in the ticket.

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Estimated to be around 60 million years old, Grutas de García were once below sea level, so keep your eyes peeled for ancient fossilised marine creatures in the walls as you walk the caves. There are two potential exploration routes from the cave entrance, lasting either 45 minutes or two hours. Inside, there are 16 'rooms' making up the gallery, which can be viewed from a balcony above. The cable car up to the caves is currently out of use, but it's still possible to reach the site on foot so long as you don’t mind a steep hike.

Mammoth Cave National Park comprises the world’s longest cave network and subterranean labyrinth. The site has been granted World Heritage and Biosphere Reserve status by UNESCO in recognition of its 100 million years of history and geological value – it contains almost every kind of known speleothem (geological formation made by mineral deposit). Out of over 400 miles (644km) of explored passageways, 10 of these are navigable to visitors on a guided tour inside the main Mammoth Cave, with several other caves in the system also open to the public.

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Natural Bridge Caverns was 'discovered' by four college students in 1960, but examinations of the cave’s geological, palaeontological and archaeological complexity suggest it is several million years older. The caves can be explored on three different tours; the most popular being the LED-lit Discovery Tour. This short guided walk details the caves’ varied rock formations, which are still shifting and growing to this day. The Hidden Passages Tour takes in some the caverns’ off-the-beaten-track speleothems and can be combined with the Discovery Tour for a jam-packed exploration, whereas the Adventure Tour is one for those keen to climb and crawl.

Formerly used by the Osage Nation as a place of sanctuary, Meramec Caverns was appropriated as a saltpetre mine for 144 years and then a dance hall at the end of the 19th century. Today it's considered the largest show cave in Missouri. Open in all seasons, with a just-right constant temperature of 16°C (60°F), trained rangers lead visitors on guided tours of the caverns that take an hour and 20 minutes over a circular route. Expect to see rare and fascinating cave formations across seven storeys, such as the “Wine Table” and the “Stage Curtain”.

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You might not be able to physically access the inside of Ovens Natural Park’s sea caves, but that doesn’t mean you can’t visit them. With the Sea Cave Trail, you can either take yourself or engage a local guide (summer season only) as you follow this hour-long cliffside walk, ending with amazing views of Cannon Cave below, where waves roar as they thunder into the hollowed-out rock. Either way, you’ll learn stories of the cave’s origins and of the park’s surprising connection to the gold rush.

Styled as America’s most colourful caves, Ohio Caverns has a comprehensive guided tour programme for all seasons and all weathers. The Historic Tour pays homage to the first-recorded discovery of the cave in 1897, taking visitors to the site of initial exploration. Entering via a recently formed sinkhole entrance, the Natural Wonder Tour picks up on the areas explored after the first period of speleology and highlights some of the cave’s most stunning formations. Both of these are offered in the summer, with a dedicated Winter Tour replacing them in the cooler months. The wheelchair-accessible Limestone Tour runs between May and September.

Home to the tallest and deepest underground waterfall with public access in the USA, the cavern of Ruby Falls lies within the heart of Chattanooga’s Lookout Mountain and has operated as a tourist attraction since 1929. Regardless of which tour you choose, the adventure begins with a 260-foot (79m) descent into the cavity by a glass-fronted lift. There is limited availability and online-only bookings for the experiences at Ruby Falls – whether it’s the Cave Walk, the Lantern Tour or the Gentle Walking Tour – so plan before you go.

The first cave site ever to be awarded National Park status, Wind Cave attracts visitors with its prairie setting and abundant wildlife. Its eponymous cave earned its name from the singing barometric winds that whip through its entrance. Inside it has an impressive display of unique boxwork (honeycomb-like calcite formations). Although known to Native Americans for many centuries, it was in 1881 that the first exploration was recorded when the whistling wind enticed two men into the cave door, after it blew off one of their hats. Guided tours run year-round: reserve tickets in advance.

Part of Mount St Helens National Monument, Ape Cave is the longest lava tube in mainland America. Made up of a lower and upper level, the former features unusual solidified lava formations such as a 'meatball': a lump of cooled lava lodged above the cave floor. The upper section is best suited to more experienced cavers, taking between two and three hours to complete. There are roughly 27 boulder piles to scramble over on this route, as well as an eight-foot-high (2.5m) wall of volcanic rock to scale. Naturalist-led tours of the lower cave run during the summer, but the site is open year-round.

Perhaps the most eerily beautiful of all our entries in this list, Sistema Sac Actun (meaning ‘white cave’ in Mayan) also goes by an unofficial nickname: Pet Cemetery Cenote. The longest-known system of underwater caves in the world gained its chilling moniker after the discovery of animal bones, which remain undisturbed and in situ today. The freshwater caves also contain myriad geological features, including layers of stalactites jutting from the roof like shark teeth. It's possible to snorkel and scuba dive here, but this is only advisable if you’re highly competent.

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