Laurel Caverns is 8 miles from Hopwood, PA 15445 and 11 miles from Farmington, PA 15437, surrounded by the Forbes State Forest.  For purposes of GPS, put in 1065 Skyline Drive, Farmington, Pennsylvania.  Please read our directions.   We open for the 2019 spring-summer-fall season on Wednesday, April 24th and will be open every day, seven days a week, holidays included, through Sunday, October 27th, 2019.

Laurel Caverns is a large natural calcareous sandstone cave located 50 miles south of Pittsburgh.   Most of the passage ceilings in its three mile labyrinth are between ten and twenty feet high (many as high as 50 feet) with an average width of over twelve feet.  This makes it the largest cave in Pennsylvania.  If classified as a sandstone cave, it is the largest sandstone cave in the world.  The cave itself is situated beneath a 435 acre privately owned geological preserve.  Because this property is at the top of Chestnut Ridge, all of the water that enters the cave is pristine.

Because of its size three trips are offered.  The traditional tour is for families with children and takes one hour.  Upper caving is more rigorous and takes two hours.  Lower caving is very rigorous and takes visitors the entire three miles to the bottom of the mountain.

The cost of maintaining this preserve is only funded by cave admissions, program admissions, and our gift shop.  No local, state or federal tax dollars are used for either the support of this private preservation initiative or for the support of its educational programs.  For this reason your patronage is greatly appreciated.

Because of its size, Laurel Caverns is also the largest natural bat hibernaculum in the north-eastern United States.  In commitment to its preservation mission, the cave is closed during winter months for the bat’s winter hibernation season.  Therefore, visitors will not likely see bats since the cave is open during the spring, summer, and fall months when bats have left the cave.