Exploring the Mitchelstown Caves With Kids ♥

During our collaboration with Visit Tipperary we visited a whole host of fun and beautiful places, but hands down the most interesting place we visited were the Mitchelstown Caves.

The boys were so excited at the prospect of visiting a cave, something they had never seen before and the Mitchelstown Caves didn't disappoint at all. The were full of adventure and were really interesting to witness and hear all about and we all thoroughly enjoyed our visit there.

When we pulled up outside the caves I remembered the time my parents took my brother and I there when we were kids and I was delighted to be bringing my boys back to a spot that I too went to when I was a child.

The Mitchelstown Caves are one of the largest and most complex caves in Ireland and is one of Europe's major show caves. It features amazing natural features such as the 'Tower of Babel' - which the boys and I are standing in front of in the picture above, which measures a staggering 9 metres!


The cave also features calcite formations, stalactites and stalagmites and the whole caves are really amazing to witness in person. One person even likened it to Elsa's castle from Frozen!

The cave is accessed by steep steps - I think there are 83 in total but may have messed up my counting with trying to make sure Beau didn't fall! He managed them well by holding onto my hand, but just keep the steps in mind if you're visiting with younger children. However, there were many children three and under as part of our group and we all managed fine.

The caves are accessed by guided tour only and it really was very interesting. The guided tours run throughout the day and you don't need to book in advance.

Usually, with having two rowdy boys who like to explore places at their own pace, I avoid guided tours like the plague, but honestly, the tour of the caves was interesting and short enough to keep their attention.

Our tour guide showed us lots of amazing formations within the cave and 'tricks of the eye' which make natural occurrences look like figures of elephants, pigs and ghostly faces! Tyler's favourite part of the tour was when the tour guide turned off the lights in the cave to show us how dark it was for two young boys and their guide who got stuck down there for 12 hours many, many years ago - thankfully the cave now has lighting throughout to save us the same fate!

The Mitchelstown Caves have been open for tours since their discovery in 1833 and seeing just how popular they still are today goes to show just how amazing they are.

We loved our visit to the caves and they boys are still talking about it now days later. If you're looking for somewhere interesting and a bit different to go with the kids on a day out then I highly recommend the Mitchelstown Caves.

It's important to note that if you're visiting with children then a minimum of two adults is required as part of your party.

The caves are open all year round (closed Christmas week and are open weekends only in December and January). It costs €9 per adult and €3.50 per child or €20 for a family of four (2 adults and 2 children up to the age of 12).

You can find out more information on the Mitchelstown Caves website and by following along their Facebook page for regular updates.