Looking for a good place Mammoth Caves

Next May some friends and I from around the country, about a dozen or so, are looking into coming to the Mammoth Caves area, and would like to know what kind of campgrounds, cabins, or resorts would be recommended from bare bones budget to moderately prices for a period of a week.

Looking for a good place Mammoth Caves

We loved staying in the national park campground - short walk to the cave tours and other park activities. www.nps.gov/maca/planyourvisit/camping.htm

Looking for a good place Mammoth Caves

We liked the Comfort Inn %26amp; Suites in Cave City. Our stay here occurred in 2007. The property was only about a year old then. It ran around $105 for a large one room suite with 2 queen beds, sofabed, and very large bathroom. The beds were very comfortable and the facility was quite clean. A typical continental breakfast is provided, including waffles, bagels, cereals, hard boiled eggs, danish, etc.

Besides Mammoth, there are many caves in the area to explore. Have fun! Be sure to make advance reservations for any tours at Mammoth Cave. They can sell out quickly, especially during summer. You might be ok in May, but I wouldn%26#39;t take any chances. Have fun!

thaks for the help. I will make sure that when we set the date before we go to get the tickets for mammoth cave. I have also heard that there is a mammoth museum and a boat that goes into a cave?

Will use whatever help/info I get here to help scope out what%26#39;s what before I get there. :)

Lost River Cave is the one that has the boat ride and is located in nearby Bowling Green (about 30 minutes away). Hidden River Cave is in Horse Cave (about 15 minutes) and has a caving museum attached to it. We didn%26#39;t have time to explore either. We did go to Diamond Caverns, which is a ';show cave'; about 3 miles from Mammoth in Park City. Mammoth Cave NP sells discount tickets to Diamond if you get there early. There are limited numbers on them. Diamond Caverns is a neat contrast to Mammoth. Diamond has beautiful formations; Mammoth, however is known for its size, not its formations. There is a small section in Mammoth known as the Drapery Room. This is where the majority of the formations are. Not all tours include this room, so consider this if you are really interested in seeing the few stalacties/stalagmites/columns, etc Mammoth has. Some of the tours that include the Drapery Room are the Frozen Niagara Tour, New Entrance Tour, and Grand Avenue Tour. There may be others that are escaping me now, but you can get a complete list of tours at nps.gov. The advance reservations are made at recreation.gov.

The national park also has a motel near the visitor%26#39;s center. And there are some small cabins that can be rented.

If you%26#39;re looking for nightlife, you%26#39;ll have to travel to Bowling Green (which is somewhat limited) or Nashville or Louisville.

There is also a ';resort'; at Park Mammoth, not far from the national park.

For other activities, there are lots of trails on the north side of the river. The best star gazing in the park is in the cemetery at Mammoth Cave Baptist Church.

The Miss Green River boat ride goes down the Green River (but not into the cave). If you%26#39;re adventurous, you can rent a canoe at one of the local outfitters and canoe down the Green River. There is actually a small cave near the Dennyson Ferry canoe launch that you can canoe into.

Lots of this information is available at www.nps.gov/maca/planyourvisit/things2do.htm.

Thanks for the info. My friends mostly prefer camping, but I want to stay at someplace with a pool since I heard that swimming is not recommended in the park itself. A place with cabins and campsites and someplace to be able to swim too would be good..since I am assuming it gets pretty hot in May and June?

It really isn%26#39;t all that warm in late May and early June. July and August are warmer.

There really isn%26#39;t a very good place in the park to swim, although in July, if you%26#39;re canoeing on the Green River, you can always sit on a gravel bar in the river and let the cool water run over you.

If you%26#39;re wanting a pool, your best bet would be Park Mammoth. www.parkmammothresort.us

Another option that might make all happy is Barren River State Resort Park, or at Nolin River Resort.

Kentucky has a good state park system. www.parks.ky.gov

I%26#39;ll look into those, thanks. I am getting a lot of good info, which is par for the course for trip advisor. :)

I%26#39;ll check back with some of my friends and get back with you. Besides a road trip on the highway going through on the interstate, have never been to Kentucky before, but am looking forward to it. We were kicking around some ideas on where to have the get together and settled on Mammoth Caves (and the others in the region).

Cave City is the closest town by the Mammoth Cave park, right? Where are other places in the area..is Bowling Green close or far? Any other places in the region?

And I%26#39;m relieved to find out that the weather won%26#39;t be too bad. When I was living in Georgia while stationed there, the summers were hot and muggy as all get out, so it%26#39;s good to know that Kentucky isn%26#39;t too hot in the early summer.

sorry I should have realized that the question about the other caves and city nearby had already been mentioned..had to go back and reread it and hopefully it will stick this time so I won%26#39;t have to keep repeating myself, lol!

Has anyone here been to Jellystone? It looks like it%26#39;s a bit kitschy but possible fun, and it has camping space and cabin, so people who want to camp can and those who don%26#39;t can still be right nearby. Does anyone know how crowded it gets? Some of my friends want to rough it, so if the spaces are filled up was thinking it might be a bit %26#39;crowded%26#39; for a campout, but if it is like maybe half full was thinking that it might not be too bad.

How rough do your friends want to rough it?

I don%26#39;t want to beat a dead horse, but if you really want rough, you can canoe the river and stop on the side and camp out. Totally roughing it!

Several of the nearby sites are quite kvetchy - very family oriented, and kids love it.

Cave City is really the closest town. Bowling Green is only a half hour away and has the most opportunities.