Mammoth Cave National Park recorded 729,000 visitors in 2025, its highest annual visitation since the park began keeping reliable counts, the National Park Service announced Tuesday. The milestone comes as the park expands tour offerings for 2026, including two new wild cave routes that sold out within hours of tickets becoming available last month.
The world’s longest known cave system extends at least 426 mapped miles beneath the hills of Edmonson County in south-central Kentucky, with geologists estimating that a significant portion remains unexplored. Visitor numbers have risen 31 percent over five years as national parks broadly have seen post-pandemic surges in interest.
“We’re seeing people who have never visited a national park in their lives come to Mammoth Cave,” said park superintendent [Name]. “That’s exactly what the national park system is supposed to do.”
New Tours for 2026
The park has added two new tour formats for the coming season. The Midnight’s Passage Wild Cave Tour takes small groups of six through a passage system that has not been part of standard tour offerings since the 1970s, requiring crawling, climbing, and headlamp navigation. The three-hour tour is rated strenuous and has a minimum age of 16.
A second addition, the Lantern Tour, revives a candlelit exploration format that was part of the cave’s tourist history in the early 20th century. It follows the Historic Entrance route by lantern light rather than electric lighting and is designed for visitors interested in experiencing the cave the way early 1900s tourists did.
“Mammoth Cave is not just a geological wonder — it has 200 years of human history inside it. The Lantern Tour tries to connect visitors to both.” — [Park Ranger Name], Mammoth Cave National Park
Accessibility and Surface Trails
Beyond the cave itself, Mammoth Cave National Park encompasses 54,000 acres of surface land with 70 miles of above-ground trails, the Green River, and a historic hotel on the park grounds. Park officials have invested in accessibility improvements at the visitor center and on two cave tour routes, including new handrail systems and revised lighting.
The park has also developed partnerships with rural communities in Edmonson, Hart, and Barren counties to connect visitor spending more directly to local businesses rather than funneling it through national chains near the park entrance.
Getting There
Mammoth Cave National Park is located approximately 85 miles south of Louisville and 90 miles southwest of Lexington, off Interstate 65. The visitor center is open daily year-round. Tour tickets are available through recreation.gov and are strongly recommended in advance during peak season.
What’s Next
The park’s full 2026 season tour schedule, including the new routes and updated pricing, is available at nps.gov/maca.