Crystal Cave

It was ok … the name is a bit misleading. was expecting lots of pretty crystals or something sparkling. It was similar to a cave we went to in Pennsylvania. there are lots of stairs but we had not trouble and though there is some moist gravels. it wasn’t slippery with good hiking shoes.
We were traveling from Dayton to Minneapolis and stopped here on the way back. the guide was very nice and we felt very safe. he went on and on about the geology … personally I would have preferred less talking and to see more. But I’d wanted to check it out and you don’t know till ya go. there were some kids on our tour and they seemed bored with the long «educational talks». I know I was. But saw a few bats and was worth a peak.
we went in early fall and it was super cold in the cave. some people had gloves and coats … we wish we had.

Fun place, kids loved it. Great family fun. One bit of caution the temp inside is on the cooler side 50 to 60 F.
The tour goes into the rocks, crystals, history and bats.
Afterwards they have a gem crystal finding water river system. You have to buy a bag of sand with crystals and gems inside. The kids put this sand through a sifter and wahes the sand away leaving gems. They give you information about the gem and crystal so it is a learning experience as well. If you want to spend lots of dollars you can even buy the fossil bag of sand.

Very reasonably priced for a nice long tour that takes you through a considerable portion of the cave. Our tour guide, Zoe, did a great job with a tour that could have been pretty awkward considering there were only two of us (my boyfriend and I), was full of appreciably cheesy jokes, and was able to answer all of our questions easily. The tour itself is full of interesting information — some stuff I already knew, but plenty that I didn’t. Most of the bats were already gone since it is warm outside but they did point out a few to us.
The sinkhole trail is a nice, easy little hike, about twenty minutes. Gift shop is full of pretty things to look at in a variety of price ranges. Glad we visited!

Extremely well maintained, and equally interesting to adults and kids. We came from St. Paul; took our 4 homeschooled kids aged 6mo, 3, 6, and 7 and every one had a great time! Lots of neat unique items in the gift shop. Definitely has the nostalgic appeal that seems all too rare these days.
Since this is so close to the Maple Leaf Orchard, it would be fun to offer their amazing cider, donuts, and/​or apples as a little snack bar for Fall!
We will be back to check out the sink hole nature trail sometime we are in town to get cider.

Tour guides were very knowable about the history, formations, geology, fossils and the 4 kinds if bats that hibernate there in the cold months. Nice gift shop with geodes, fossils and other goodies. Might be nice to have a restaurant there someday.

They do a great job with the tour. If you are claustrophobic this tour is for you. Very open. If you are in the area take the tour.

The kids and I had a day off, so I decided to surprise them with a cave tour. I haven’t been here since I was 13 years old or so. I didn’t remember much about my original trip though, other then fighting with my sisters on the car ride there.
We arrived early, before they opened. We decided to take the sink hole loop trail and walk around after an hour in the car. It was a nice fall day with lots of colors to look at. Although we only saw one sink hole, it was a nice walk on a decently groomed path in the woods.
The school buses started arriving just before opening time. A bunch of staff went out to greet them and people started lining up. Not knowing better, I asked if I should line up to and they said yes. Well, they must have figured things out, because we were pulled aside during the video and got things sorted. I was able to buy the tickets and get on the tour right away. Although I would have liked to see the remained of the video.
There was one other Dad with the same idea as me with 2 kids. This made for a nice small group for the tour. We were able to ask lots of questions and get a couple nice pictures.
The cave tour goes over a of information and present in a way that isn’t overwhelming. The actual cave itself is a nice cave system. Although it was smaller then what I remembered back in the day. There’s a lot of nice cave formations that make this a good example if your learning anything about geology. When we got out and started driving about I wish I had asked why there weren’t more caves in the area as the terrain seems to be the same.
Overall, it was worth the stop and the fun!

My wife recommended we stop at Crystal Cave on our way home from a trip to Minnesota. To be honest, it didn’t sound like fun. After stopping in, I’m glad we did! The tour is about an hour long, reasonably priced (ours were about $ 13/​person), and it was really interesting.
The tour takes you through a variety of levels of the cave, and the guide will instruct you on the various types of rock formations/​biology of the cave. The gift shop has a lot of fairly priced trinkets (and some that are incredibly expensive) but you should be able to find something nice to take home regardless of your budget.
If you’ve never been inside of a cave (I hadn’t) I’d really recommend giving this place some of your time. It was really much more fun than I was anticipating.
The cave does get a little cool so dress warm. There’s also a picnic area outside the gift shop, and a sifting activity you can participate in (though we didn’t.)
If you’re in the area I’d really suggest you stop in.

We took the tour and did the sifting activity. Both were pretty fun in a nerdy sort of way. It was great to see how the cave itself was formed. The staff/​guide knew quite a bit for not being the on-​site Geologist, and they were all, quite friendly.
The sifting activity was cool. Although its more of a kids thing I would still recommend it if you’re looking to bring back a small token from the trip there. It takes up about 15 — 20 minutes of time to sift through the entire bag of sand.
This is just one of the many places around the country that needs to be seen by everyone. So many kids are losing touch with reality that they’re no longer being exposed to the interesting side of reality. A deep, cold, alien-​looking cave will EASILY make anyone drop their cell phone and start looking up. This place is great and I highly recommend that people from both Wisconsin and Minnesota check it out. You’ll love it!

Very cool! Very reasonably priced. Only takes about an hour long, but well worth it. We saw many different formations and different types of rocks. Your kids will love it. Bring a coat, it gets down to 50 degrees at the third level of the cave.
Our tour guide was great! Very entertaining and answered all our questions. A nice gift shop wit ha wide range of gits and prices.
There is a picnic area on site so bring along lunch and enjoy the facilities as your kids do their own mining after the tour.

An interesting thing to do when you have nothing going on. Didn’t take too long to get to from the northern side of the cities. Tour cost $ 9.00 and it was about one hour long. Tour took us throughout the caves to look at different formations and we even saw a couple of bats. They were smaller than I thought they would be. It was definitely interesting to see these caves that are located in the middle of nowhere. They also had a gift shop with rocks, toys for kids, jewelry and other knick knacks.