seneca caverns

This cavern is very unique. It is not extremely large like Mammoth Caves, but has a great geological history. Depending on the water table will be how many levels you can descend into the cavern. If it has been dry you can get down and see the river. What makes this very unique to me is that it was discovered on my ancestors property. You can picnic there and kids can mine for gems.

My husband me & our two teens went 15,16. I would not take small kids! Some spots are dangerous. It was very interesting & stats about 53 degrees. Saw fossils & tiny stalagtites. The history lesson is very cool! It's $15 a person. No federal funding & on private property so remember safety standards are..eh. There's a gift shop,port o potty & it's guided. The shop is actually built over the entrance so when you drive up don't expect to see anything. We got to see a level that had been submerged for yrs. now that the water has receded, they take you down! You can see the water down in the next level! It's fascinating to say the least. Take about an hour,you might get dirty. Wear proper shoes. It's wet & slippery in spots. No wheelchair access.

My girlfriend and I have been to a few caves before. They were all open and one you even rode a boat through cause the bottom was all water. This was our first experience having to duck and contort our bodies through tight openings but it made it feel more adventurous. There are a lot of "natural" stairs and not many railings to hold onto. Definitely wear some shoes with some grip on them, some parts get pretty slippery. Bring a jacket if you dont like a constant 54 degrees no matter what temp it is outside. It seems to be that depending on the water level of the underground river is how deep you can go. We went to the 7th floor which the guy said is about 100 feet down. Due to the cramped space once we hit the 6th floor the guide broke our group up into packs of 2-3 to make it to the water. If you have trouble moving, contorting, or balancing this is not the cave for you. One elderly man was really struggling and he decided not to go deeper than the 2nd floor. I dont know if he got a refund. On the other end of the spectrum a 12 year old girl did it in flip flops. Our tour guide was good. He seemed to know his stuff. He'd been working there several years at that point. They keep a few jokes in their arsenal to entertain you. At one point there was a triangular rock that looked like it was holding up the ceiling and the guide got all serious and told us not to touch that rock or the cave would collapse. We were able to go down 7 levels before we reached the water which had risen up to cover the next "staircase" down. He explained the water was 98% naturally purified and safe to drink and he joked it was the fountain of youth so I made sure to drink some....just in case. We had a good group. We all got along, joked around, made sure we all made it around safely. We all took our time and took pictures. We were probably down there a good hour or so. The gift shop had the usual selection of prospecting and nature themed items. Everyone we encountered was very friendly. It was definitely fun and a little adventure.

Great historical tour. I went with an 8 yr old and my parents who are aged 64 and 72. My son loved crawling and climbing and getting dirty. My parents struggled a lot with the bending and narrow rock steps. It was pretty scary watching them. So-a great place for cave lovers, but beware!!

I am a grandmother of 69 and took 2 grandkids (11 and 6) on the tour. Little scary at first. But nothing terrible. It was very interesting. You definitely need good shoes and not flip/flops for walk the steep, uneven stairs. Our tour guide, Sarah, was fantastic ! She explained things very well and answered all of everyone's questions. The gem mining was extremely enjoyable. Grandkids loved finding all the 'gems' in the dirt bags. It was a fun day. We packed a lunch and ate at the picnic area provided. Would definitely would go again. Thank you Seneca Caverns.

It was my first time I'm 53 and I took my grandson and daughter it was interesting but I hit my head twice you need to be careful if your tall and it's slippery and their is a few steep places wouldn't recommend older folks to go their and they should warn u before u head down that it's dangerous

It was myself and my 3 boys, ages 9,6,3. Tour guide was named Josh. Nice enough guy and seemed to be interested in his job and know the outline sketch history of the cavern and the owners, etc. Wasn't too keen on having people question "out of turn." By this I mean he would be discussing a certain aspect of the caves and when I would ask follow up questions, his response was always something to the effect of "I will be addressing that further into the tour." Well..... I wanted to know now because certain questions seemed relevant at the time. Also, he was very very focused on attempting to be humorous during the tour with rehearsed cheesy one-liners "can you name the most common types of bats in the caves?" Louisville slugger, aluminum, etc, etc, etc. Focus on the tour and the caves, skip the attempts at comedy which went on the entire 1 hour. The caves themselves were very interesting. I am 6'4 and wouldn't recommend anyone bigger than 6 feet tall take this tour. There is cramped space throughout. People were also wearing flip flops (wouldn't recommend at all as they were complaining and slipping all over). There are apparently 12 levels of the cave depth wise. Apparently since summer 2012 you can only go to the 5th level which was some 80 feet below the surface before the underground river gets in your way. They said you can call in the Fall season to ask about going to a deeper level than 5 which I would do just to go deeper than 80 feet. Wear warm clothes because it is an even 54 degrees throughout the season. I guess it was a neat experience and not entirely over priced, however, I wouldn't pay to do it again unless you could experience the depths of the caverns which haven't been accessible since years ago. Kids loved it, but kids love anything and they want to visit again (which may just be the point of the entire attraction). Everyone was VERY friendly I must say.

I took my little sister to the caverns and my friend brought her two younger children. We are both from Ohio and have never been, it was a really great experience! The tour lasts about an hour and our tour guide, Brittany, was able to answer all the questions anyone had. It was really informative and I would recommend it to anyone.It was pretty slippery in the caverns and they recommended you wear a light jacket, you will need this it gets chilly.

The caverns are small, I wouldn't bother myself. It's off the "beaten path", the cost of the tour isn't bad. The caverns are nice. But, there's not much to see. They don't have a lot of ammenities either. For the business, they don't modernize it much.

If you are looking for an interesting thing to do with the kids in Ohio....this is one of them. We have lived here for my entire life and never went to visit this "attraction" until recently. It was a really neat experience. The story behind the caverns is actually quite intriguing. I wont tell you, its part of the tour. :) But the neat part is, you get to do deep underground and it isn't scarey or difficult. It is slippery and there is climbing involved. So wear good shoes. We went in flip flops and ended up having to take them off because we were sliding. It does require some physical exertion so I wouldn't recommend it for the elderly or unstable walkers. Kids will do ok but keep them close by. There is water inside that they can fall into. Everytime you go will be different depending upon how high or low the inner water table is. Definitely worth the trip and money to go.

I visited Seneca Caverns with my cousin, on our way back to Chicago from Cedar Point. We originally meant to go to Cleveland, but decided against it because of a big event there. I was so pleasantly surprised after our trip to Seneca Caverns! It's truly a unique natural attraction. They offer tours every 20 minutes to go down into caves that were caused by rock splitting; there's a river that runs below it as well. In the tour, they take you down 200 feet below the surface, and it's so neat they take you right through the basement of the tour center! You're even able to touch or taste water from a real natural spring.Our guide, Alaina, was very personable and knowledgeable. There were only 5 of us in our group, which was good because the spaces are very small. Beware, however, that it can be considered strenuous because the stairs are "natural," and of varying levels. Exiting requires some climbing; I'm relatively healthy and was slightly short of breath on the way out. It's really only good for those who are ambulatory and comfortable with confined, dim spaces. The caverns are lit with electricity, but there are some time squeezes. I would not recommend it for children, unless they're old enough to climb up and down stairs or other things easily and they're not afraid of the dark. Older children, perhaps 6 and up, I think would be able to handle it.All in all, it was refreshing to visit something different that wasn't a chain after spending a weekend in Cedar Point and eating fast food. I really enjoyed it.

If you're looking for something different to do in the Sandusky area, you should definitely stop here. It's a bit off the main road but worth the drive and money. My husband and I took our 5 kids ranging in age from 15-2. Because its nature made and there are no man made paths or steps my hubby had to carry our little one. He is pretty fit otherwise it would've been difficult. The whole family loved it. And the 2 younger ones enjoyed "mining" for gemstones with their upgraded tickets.

We were looking for something to do in the afternoon after we finished our morning tour. We arrived at the caverns location in the early afternoon and had to wait about 20 minutes for a tour. The only restrooms our port-a-potties and it would have been nice to have a real bathroom with running water. We read the signs that said you would be required to have some physical exertion on the tour but I never expected the stairs we were led down. I liked the tour and I am glad I was able to experience it but be advised the stairs are "natural" stairs and are of varying depths and heights and most are slippery because they are covered in a wet mud layer. Unlike many other cavern tours you are allowed to touch the rock walls in most places to assist you in ascending or descending the stairs. Most of the open spaces are large enough to stand in but there were a few places you had to duck to get through. The climb back up is a little more strenuous but it was doable. If you want to experience a cave tour that is a little different from others stop in and go spelunking!

Read all the reviews VERY carefully before going here because there will be some challenges for those who find it difficult to cimb on uneven, slippery stone steps mostly without handrails. Claustrophics, stay up top! Our group was very large and it would have been more enjoyable with fewer people. I had to stay towards the rear due to an injury I have that made the climbing more difficult, so it was harder to see things when I was in back of a mob. That is, of course, my problem not the operator's. Tall people had to stoop quite a bit. The rising river had an eerie beauty that looked like something from an Indiana Jones movie. Our guide, Caleb, was very good. I would echo what others said that the gift shop was fun and I bought something I absolutely love!

This was a fantastic tour! My sister and I arrived at a random time (around 4pm or so) and were the first to sign up for the next tour group to go down (they took military and student discounts). We brought jackets because we knew that it was going to be a little chilly in the caverns. As we waited for the next tour, we walked around their shop. They have a resident bat who likes to hang out in one of the doorways and I took a peak as the bat slept, oblivious to the tours passing through. Tip: According to our guide, most of the tours don't see any bats in the caverns unless you're on the first or last tour of the day.Before we actually descended into the caverns, we had to sit down and go through a review with our guide, Alaine. She was funny and upbeat - probably the best guide I've ever had on a cave tour (toured caves in Virginia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia so far). She was knowledgeable, encouraged questions, and provided interactive stimulation (i.e. - what do you think that is?). She joked around with us and really made the experience worthwhile. Alaine informed us that we would be going down 5 levels into the fractured cavern that day. Tours normally go down to the 7th level by that time of year, but the tour is limited by the height of the water table/underground river. Our guide informed us that we were lucky as it was the first day we were going down to the fifth level - before that, the 4th level was the lowest level the tours could get to because of the height of the river. When we saw the river, she encouraged us to touch it/drink from it (once again, very interactive - and the water was very cold!) She told us a little about the divers who were hired to find out the depth of the river (still unknown depth) and about where the river travels to and from. After we saw the river, there was nowhere else to go but back up! There was plenty of light for the tour and we were encouraged to use the walls and rocks for support as we trekked down and up the different levels (except in one area of the cave which is living and still producing stalactites). It wasn't too difficult to traverse although we were out of breath by the end due to the high humidity in the cavern.