Welcome to Laurel Caverns
Home to Pennsylvania’s largest cave. Over four miles of passages.
Call for Tour Information 724-438-3003 or 724-437-7527
Welcome to Laurel Caverns
Home to Pennsylvania’s largest cave. Over four miles of passages.
Call for Tour Information 724-438-3003 or 724-437-7527
Welcome to Laurel Caverns
Home to Pennsylvania’s largest cave. Over four miles of passages.
Call for Tour Information 724-438-3003 or 724-437-7527
Welcome to Laurel Caverns
Home to Pennsylvania’s largest cave. Over four miles of passages.
Call for Tour Information 724-438-3003 or 724-437-7527
Welcome to Laurel Caverns
Home to Pennsylvania’s largest cave. Over four miles of passages.
Call for Tour Information 724-438-3003 or 724-437-7527

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Laurel Caverns is open for the 2025 season, and will be open every day, even holidays, through Monday, September 1, 2025.

Laurel Caverns has no online reservations for tours.
724-438-3003 or 724-437-7527

Mailing Address

Send Us Mail

Laurel Caverns

P. O. Box 62,

Hopwood, PA

15445

DO NOT SEND MAIL TO OUR PHYSICAL ADDRESS, PLEASE USE THIS MAILING ADDRESS.

Hours of Operation

Our Schedule for Every week, without exception, including holidays, through Labour Day, Monday, September 1, 2025

Monday 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

Tuesday 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

Wednesday 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

Thursday 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

Friday 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

Saturday 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

Sunday 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

Laurel Caverns GPS Location

Physical Address

GPS 1065 Skyline Drive, Farmington, PA 15437

Laurel Caverns is off route 40 east of Uniontown, Pennsylvania

Geographically, it is about 50 miles south of Pittsburgh

Nearby sites are: The Summit Inn, Fort Necessity National Park,

Nemacolin Woodlands, Ohiopyle State Park, Kentuck Knob, and Fallingwater

Rain is never a problem. The cave temperature is a constant 52 degrees.

Important Information

Reservations are not needed for the traditional tour.

Reservations are not needed for the traditional tour, which departs every half-hour beginning at 9:30 am, with the last tour entering the cave at 4:00 pm Eastern Time. All walk-ins are welcome.

For schools, scouts, youth groups, summer camps, church groups, family reunions, government programs, and the like, call 724-438-3003 for special rates and arrangements.

724-438-3003

The Traditional Cave Tour

This forty-five-minute tour is designed for the general-public, even those with infants, and does not require special equipment or clothing, other than shoes suitable for a natural trail, and a light jacket or sweater. The cave temperature is 52o year-round. This tour has three phases. The first is a five-minute orientation; the second involves about 600 feet of walking over the easiest trails in Laurel Caverns; and the third, at no extra charge, is self-guided, for those with both the extra time, and the physical ability to hike fifteen stories deeper into the lit portions of Laurel Caverns. Due to new safety regulations, the traditional tour must be taken before one can take the self-guided Extended Tour.

Rates are:

$18 age 18-65

$16 over age 65

$14 age 12-17

$12 age 5-11

$3 4 & under.

$0 Infants.

724-438-3003

The Kaving for Kids Tour

$7 per participant over age 2

This 30-minute guided tour, through the Grottoes of learning, is designed for children, especially ages four through eight, accompanied by at least one adult personally responsible for them. It does not require special equipment or clothing. It can be toured in a wheelchair.

The entrance and exit to the Grottoes of Learning is in the Laurel Caverns Visitors’ Center. Because it is unlit, each participant is given a lantern as their only light. The brief introduction in the first room includes an overview of how stalactites and stalagmites form, and how to identify each while on their exploration of the Grottoes. Participants then go to another room in this cave where they become archeologists. They are given a list of animal paintings made in the Grottoes by humans living in the late Holocene Epoch of geologic time. When they have found all paintings, they then enter a large walled-off fossil pit in the center of the largest room in the Grottoes. Here, they become paleontologists, and are given the tools needed to dig for sea shell and coral fossils over five times as old as Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The Grottoes of Learning is the largest simulated cave in the world. It covers 10,000 square feet and is larger than some natural tour caves in Pennsylvania and Ohio. It was originally built, and privately funded, by the Laurel Caverns Conservancy, in the 1990’s to study the growth-rates, and growth-stages of stalactites and stalagmites.

The Fun Activities Program is for groups of fifteen or more serving children, primarily ages in the range of four through nine. With this, participants are given both a guided tour of the entire lighted portion of Laurel Caverns and the Kaving for Kids excursion through the Grottoes. Call 724-438-3003 for reservations. The cost is $16 per child and $20 per adult.

724-438-3003

Laurel Caverns Caving Map

(Click to expand map made by Ryan Maurer Cartologist)

ADDITIONAL LAUREL CAVERNS ATTRACTIONS

At Laurel Caverns, we take learning underground.

Family Lookout Terrace

Lookout off the back deck of the Laurel Caverns facility and see a beautiful view high above on Chestnut Ridge.

Panning for Gemstones

This popular activity is done in a cave-like setting in a room adjacent to the Laurel Caverns Gift Shop. Participants are given a card showing all the gems they might find, a sand-filled bag containing those gems, a bag to hold the gems, and a sifting tray. They then work the tray in a waist-high water trough that simulates those used to pan for gold in he 1800s. The cost per bag varies with size and market conditions, but there is an effort to keep the cost at Laurel Caverns below what is charged elsewhere.

Laurel Caverns is an incredible place and your patronage is greatly appreciated.

We have a dedicated staff

From management to guides and everyone in between Laurel Caverns staff are local professionals.

Certified Experience

Our caving staff are seasoned professionals with first aid and current CPR certifications.

Our Tours are reasonably priced

Laurel Caverns receives no public funding. Yet, its ticket prices are at or below those of other caves. By visiting Laurel Caverns you are helping the Laurel Caverns Conservancy preserve the largest natural bat hibernaculum in the northeast United States, and the 435 acres above its four miles of passages, for future generations.

Located in Fayette County PA

Laurel Caverns is 8 miles from Hopwood, PA 15445 and 11 miles from Farmington, PA 15437, surrounded by the Forbes State Forest.

Souvenir Shop

Reasonably priced items are available so that every child can afford a souvenir. Also available, if shopping time is a problem for school groups, are pre-set souvenir packages of a variety of items.

Group Arrangements

Reservations are required if one wishes to bring a group of fifteen or more from a lawfully structured educational institution (schools, summer camps, scout groups, church groups, etc.). Please call 724-438-3003 and ask for Lillian to get group rates, book a group tour, or make other special arrangements.

Home to Pennsylvania’s largest cave.

Laurel Caverns

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.

Laurel Caverns is a large natural calcareous sandstone cave located 50 miles south of Pittsburgh. Most of the passage ceilings in its four 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.

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.