Cave Tours

Visitors exploring Timpanogos Cave

NPS/E. Hedrick

The caves may only be entered with a ticket on a guided tour. Cave tours are offered daily throughout the summer season.

Cave Tours Offered

Regular Cave Tour

This tour is 55-minutes long and walks through Hansen, Middle, and Timpanogos Caves. The caves are connected by two man-made tunnels. There can be up to 16 people on each tour, and these tours regularly sell days or even weeks in advance. There are multiple steep sets of stairs on this tour as well as narrow and passageways.

Historic Lantern Tour

This tour follows the same route as the regular cave tour but the only light in the cave is from the lanterns that each visitor carries to give the experience that cave explorers would have had when the caves were found. The park provides the lanterns. There are multiple steep sets of stairs on this tour as well as narrow and passageways. Learn more about this tour.

Introduction to Caving Tour

This tour goes back in Hansen Cave to the Hansen Cave Lake. The park provides helmets, headlamps, and knee-pads and will teach the basics of safe and ethical caving. Learn more about this tour.

Hansen Cave Accessibility Tour

This tour starts outside of the cave with a ranger for about 10 minutes, then goes into Hansen Cave and concludes outside of the cave. This tour is designed for those who cannot walk up or down stairs as well as those who need a shorter cave experience.Learn more about this tour.

Buying Tickets

We recommend that you purchase cave tour tickets before your visit online or by calling 1(877) 444-6777.
Advance tickets may be purchased up to 30 days prior to your visit. Visitors arriving without advance tickets are often turned away because all tours for that day are sold. See Fees and Passes for cost information.

Please note: the time you purchase is the time to begin your hike at the trailhead.

Hiking to the Cave

The only access to the cave system is by walking a strenuous 1.5-mile-paved trail, which rises 1,092 ft to an elevation of 6,730 feet above sea level. The round-trip hike and tour of the cave system takes about 3.5 hours. Mid-summer temperatures on the trail can reach over 100 degrees F. However, temperatures in the caves average 45 degrees, so a sweater or light jacket is recommended. Hiking shoes, water, flashlights and sunscreen will make your visit safe and enjoyable.

Children in the Cave

While we welcome children of all ages on our regular cave tours, is it a good idea to bring young children? The hike to the cave is steep, there are significant drop offs on the side of the trail, it is frequently hot, and strollers, wagons, and other wheeled items are not permitted (with wheelchairs being the only exception). The caves are cold (45 F) and dark, and touching in this delicate environment is not allowed. Will your child enjoy this, and if not, will this affect you and others on the tour? Please keep this in mind as you plan.

All persons entering the cave must have a ticket, even infants.

Because of the steep incline of the cave trail, strollers, wagons, and other wheeled vehicles are not allowed. Visitors may bring a baby backpack or carrier for hiking to the caves but external frame backpacks (including baby carriers) are prohibited in the cave. Infants may be carried through the cave in front packs. No pets are allowed on the cave trail or in the caves.

To help prevent the spread of White Nose Syndrome, a disease that is killing millions of bats in North America, the monument prohibits any boots, clothing or gear (including cameras) that have been in ANY other cave or mine at ANY time.