Cosmic Cavern -Berryville, AR Review

Cosmic Cavern in Berryville, Arkansas (just a few miles in the country past Eureka Springs) is a cool looking cave.  You get to see lots and lots of beautiful and interesting cave formations very closely.  

The cave is very natural, but has some modern conveniences like stairs and electric lighting.  The tours are lead by VERY knowledgeable and friendly guides.   

The formations were really stunning.  The cave is primarily made of onyx, so there were tons of beautiful white "soda straw" stilactites, some stalagmites, and other cave formations.  There are two "bottomless" cave lakes, one of which is stocked with rainbow trout that the guide feeds so that they come to the top.  I wasn't as impressed with a bottomless lake as I thought I'd be, I guess maybe I'm just hard to please.  It seemed a bit like any other pond to me looks wise.  There are bats and blind salamanders that reportedly live in the cave, but none were visible on our visit.  (I'm kind of glad.  I didn't really want to come in close contact with a bat anyhow.)  They cave is a warm cave.  It's like 65 degrees year round inside.  That was nice.  No need to wear a coat like you do in some caves.  It was very pleasant temperature wise. 

Cameras are encouraged and a great idea.  There's a lot of opportunities to take some really cool pictures of the cave.

The tour is a bit physically demanding, not drastically so, but somewhat.  If you're not up for going up and down stairs or doing some hiking it's not for you.  Though most of the cave is fairly open, there are also parts where it's briefly narrow.  If you're intensely claustrophobic, it may be a bit unsettling.  My husband is mildly claustophobic, but didn't have a big problem anywhere in the cave.  Also, there are some narrow passages, so if you are a larger person, it may be hard to get through in places.  My husband is 6'9" and 350 lbs and was able to get through everywhere in the cave (with a some bending down and some turning sideways), but if you were any bigger than that, I could see it becoming an issue. Also, the cave is wet and drippy and a little bit muddy in places.  You won't come out soaked or with your clothes filthy or anything, but if you really hate your make-up or hair getting damp or your hands getting  a little bit muddy, it may not be for you.

The admission for the two of us was just short of 30 bucks (like 27 bucks maybe?).  I think that might have been a bit steep.  I liked the cave enough that I didn't regret paying it. But if you've been in a lot of caves before or aren't really sure you're going to be interested in seeing a cave and are on a tight budget, I could see it seeming a little high.