The State’s Longest Cave is in SE Minnesota and Belongs on Your Summer Bucket List

As if you're summer bucket list wasn't already long enough, let's add one more thing! Did you know that southeast Minnesota is home to the longest cave in the entire state? Pretty cool, right?

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Cave Tours in Minnesota

There are two caves in Minnesota that offer guided tours of their caves.

One of them is Niagara Cave in Harmony. They're open 7 days a week until November 2nd this year. The tours include a one-mile hike in the caves, and the tour takes about an hour.

On the tour, you'll go nearly 200 feet below the surface and get to see fossils about 450 million years old! Niagara Cave is family-owned

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The other cave tour is at Mystery Cave in Forestville. Mystery Cave is owned by the state and is part of the Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park.

Tours are available Memorial Day weekend through about mid-October every year. You can purchase tickets at the door, but it's safer to book in advance online.

There are all different tours available depending on what you're interested in, and they're between one and six hours long!

The Longest Cave in Minnesota

You may have guessed it, Mystery Cave is the one that's the longest in all of Minnesota.

The cave was originally discovered in 1937 and, in total, is 13 miles long! There are people part of the Minnesota DNR who explore it on a pretty consistent basis, it seems.

As for those tours I was talking about, there are scenic tours and lanner tours that are both one hour long. Then there are geology tours and photography tours that are two hours long.

The four-hour-long tour is the wild caving tour, which sounds awesome, but it's described as strenuous. And finally, there's the advanced educational tour, which is four to six hours.

With 13 miles of caves to explore, it's no wonder they have all of those tour options!