grand canyon caverns

My parents used to drive this stretch of Route 66 when I was a youngster and I always wanted to stop and explore the caverns, but they would never stop. Now, here I am 51 years of age, and I finally got to check this place out. Yay.It has a fun, kitschy vibe to it. I can only imagine it was quite the cool tourist spot back in the 1960's and 1970's. We had our small dog with us and the weather was too hot to leave her in the car. We convinced the powers-that-be to let us take her on the tour, and they let us, which was very nice. And, she was a lot better than a whiny little boy that was on the tour.The tour was led by Gilbert. He was a pleasant sort. I used to be a tour guide, so I knew which corny jokes he was going to say before he said them. But, that's okay. That's a tour guide's job. The tour lasted about 45 minutes. There are some uphill climbs that could be a bit tiring for some, so be aware.I've been on other cave tours, and those caves, because they are wet and growing, are prettier. This is a dry cave, so it is not quite as beautiful, but there are other interesting aspects of how the cave is being used.I think this is a good diversion and worth the $20. I'm glad I finally got to go.

Stopped during our trip to the Grand Canyon and found it pretty interesting and worth the trip. Loved the history behind the caves...how it was found...the mummified remains and bones...cant miss the giant sloth...also the history as a potential bunker. I however did not like the chapel/reservable room right in the middle of the cave...found it a bit tacky and think it would be more worth while to preserve the area than "glitz" it up...seemed like a side show.

We enjoyed our visit to these large caverns. It was nice to be able to take an elevator down more than 200 feet to the entrance. The pathways and lighting were good, and our guide (Desiree) was also very good. We were there during the "off season" and the restaurant was closed. They offered frozen chicken pot pies and a self service microwave in the curio shop. We were glad to have it and actually we later remarked that we rather enjoyed eating them in the empty restaurant by ourselves. This might sound really odd, but the staff made us feel like welcomed family and we enjoyed every aspect of it.For the money this place is hard to beat. Make sure you stop at the Hackberry General Store on your way in from Kingman. It is a cool old timey place.

We are going to the Grand Canyon and had a few hours in the drive to do something with. I found the GC Caverns and decided to stop by. This attraction has the feeling of a family run "giant ball of yarn" place but underground it is beautiful and very well developed. We had a great time exploring the caverns with our guide and loved learning all about them. It was a little pricy but a great time.

I've toured other caves and this isn't a whole lot different than those. Our guide was very knowledgeable considering it was one of her first tours alone. We took the 45 minute tour and even though the website shows a short tour, I'm not sure it was available as we had a tour with about 25 others. It was a larger group. We had to wait about 30 minutes from the time we purchased our tickets until the tour started. We were informed of the wait times so it was no problem, but we spent a little more time there than I wished. It cost around $70 for 2 adults and 2 kids. There's a restaurant on site but I don't know how extensive the menu is - might consider it more like a snack bar. There's also an area with souvenirs for purchase.

There is a $21 entrance fee, which is a reasonable price for the experience. Desiree did a great job guiding us through the caverns. I went with a group of deaf friends, to whom they were very accommodating. Was a great experience.

This was a very informative and entertaining tour. Our tour guide Desire has a great sense of humor made the tour fun and very interesting. We will be back when they open the new section................

In 1979 I answered an ad in a Phoenix paper for a tour guide at Grand Canyon Caverns.. When I called I was given a short rundown of what they expected a guide to do and asked if I was afraid of being below ground for extended periods of time. After telling the person what he wanted to hear I was invited to drive up and take a free tour to see if I was still interested…I was. And so it began. I can tell you that some of the things we were repeating (from a script) were probably not accurate but the reality of the place is that it is VERY interesting. I've never believed the Megatherium (giant three towed ground sloth) story but anything is possible. It was fun and I met a lot of interesting people from all over the world. Most loved the tour…some didn't. It's a very remote place so the only people available to interact with during time off were the same people I worked with every day. We got along quite well. There was a third grade teacher there at the time from Bakersfield, CA who was very interested in geology…which is why she came. On days off we'd explore other geological wonders in the area, including the only place one can drive to the Colorado river in the Grand Canyon. I have no qualms about recommending this interesting roadside attraction even if it is out of the way. At the time old Rt. 66 looked like a ghost town highway. Most of the small towns along the way had closed and were in disrepair. I understand that things have changed now and Rt. 66 is back. While there we were invited to make some extra money helping two professors from the University of New Mexico with an astronomy experiment which involved moving hundreds of blocks of a special plastic that converted cosmic particles into photons somehow. They were placed inside a large steel pyramid next to the "end of the world" rations (the caverns were also a fallout shelter for a couple of hundred people). I have no idea is any of that material is still down there.After that summer I went to work at Grand Canyon Village on the south rim of "The Canyon". After two weeks I met my wife to be. We stayed at the Canyon for a year working for what was then known as "Fred Harvey". I believe that name has been dropped from the El Tovar and Bright Angel lodges now. Here we are in New Hampshire all of those years later, raised a family and still together. I can't imagine it any other way.

My group of 50 seniors (ages 65-82) very much enjoyed the Caverns tour. The physical challenges were a decent incline (8%?) about 30 ft long and then about 50 stairs to come back down. We did take a couple of gentlemen who required walkers and that was hard but doable -- with help. We were amazed at the giant sloth that had had fallen into the cavern and succomed to the lack of vegetation and water. While the sloth that is on display is a life-sized recreation, courtesy of the University of Arizona, it doesn't dissapoint. It's so interesting and still heartbreaking to see the claw marks on the wall where this big gal had been trying to get back out. Really told the story. This is a commercial operation, so there is some endearing hoakiness to the experience but I liked it so much I brought my grandchildren back. I feel it is definitely worth getting off the freeway for. While you are on Rt 66 pull into Keepers of the Wild in Valentine as well.

I read about this place so we stopped by after visiting Grand Canyon. The price is steep but worth a visit. Guide was really good and the caverns are amazing.

this was a really great place to stop off. it was a little out of the way on old route 66 but it was completely worth my time. my guide was Desiree she is a very bubbly girl with bright pink hair (at least for now she said) she was absolutely adorable and was very great at her job she made my tour so much fun she was one of the best guides I have ever had.

This was interesting and a piece of route 66 history! We where the only people on our tour and we had a real funny guide by the name of Isaac! He knew his info and answered any questions i had for him. I highly recommend this place to anyone passing through.

it was the worst tour I have been on and I have been in a few caves. This was more just a hole in the ground. We did the short tour they said 30minutes, you could do it in 5mins but had to listen to ramblings of our kid tour guide. save your money not worth it.

We stopped here on a whim and didn't regret it. Our tour guide was a young girl who did an excellent job, in spite of the one jerk who kept trying to ask her things she wouldn't know the answer to. She came through with flying colors! The story of the caverns is fascinating and well worth the stop.

We were very excited to check out the caverns, and did not leave disappointed. Isaac was a great guide and we loved learning about the caverns, their connection to the Grand Canyon, their chemical makeup and history. Very cool. It definitely is not new or modern in any way (the largest cavern is filled with expired emergency rations from the government), but that, paired with Route 66, makes for an interesting day of old Americana. :)