Wind Cave VS Jewel Cave: Everything You Need to Know

If you are visiting the Black Hills, visiting a cave should be high on your to-do list. The trick is that there are two amazing caves in the area, Wind Cave National Park and Jewel Cave National Monument. Most travelers only have time to see one of them, so which one should you choose?

Jewel Cave is the larger of the two and my personal favorite. The large caverns and unique cave formations make visitors feel like they are scuba diving at the bottom of the ocean. However, Wind Cave is also incredible and has boxwork, a delicate, honeycomb formation that is only found in a few caves worldwide. The caves are only 30 minutes apart from one another, and a guided tour is required to visit either cave. A variety of tour options are available, including accessibility tours. Both caves offer a great experience, and the main determining factor should be which cave a visitor is able to obtain advanced tickets to.

I’m Cheryl, and my husband and I have been helping people explore the national parks with our travel itineraries since 2020. We visit the Black Hills every other year and have toured both of these caves. Read on for the details of our experiences, tours available, how to get tickets, and other great things to do in the area.

6 Things You Need To Know About Cave Tours

Although Jewel Cave and Wind Cave are different entities within the National Park System, they do share some common procedures for visitors.

1. No Entrance Fee Required, but You Need Tickets For Cave Tours

Like many of the National Park sites in the Black Hills, there is no entry fee to visit Wind Cave or Jewel Cave. Both have a visitor center, hikes, and picnic tables in the area. Wind Cave National Park also has a 30-minute scenic drive.

CHECK OUT: How Many Days Should I Visit the Black Hills? 3, 4, & 5 Day Itinerary + Maps

2. Advanced Tickets and Same-Day Tickets Are Available for Cave Tours

Both Wind Cave and Jewel Parks use recreation.gov to manage their cave tour ticket sales. Tickets are available 30 days in advance for both caves. About 1/2 of the tickets are reserved for same-day tours. At this writing, tickets cost ~$16 per person.

We don’t recommend waiting until the day of to get tickets. They usually sell out within an hour of the visitor center opening, and you will have to take the tour and the time slot available, even if it’s not what you wanted. We had to do this when we visited Wind Cave. We arrived an hour before the visitor center opened, but there were still 20 people in front of us. We got tickets, but had to wait around for a while because our tour time ended up being later in the day.

We were wiser when we visited Jewel Cave. We reserved our tickets right when the reservation window opened and got our tour at a great time.

3. A Variety of Tours Are Available

There are actually quite a few tours to choose from! When we visited, we did the Fairgrounds Tour at Wind Cave and the Scenic Tour at Jewel Cave. We picked these because they are the most popular. They got us to some great cave formations, and we feel that a tour around an hour and a half is the perfect length of time. We travel with our 4 children (who were kids and teens at the time) and our retired parents. Both of these tours had stairs (I included the number of stairs in the charts below), and we all managed just fine, but know your own limitations.

If you are really adventurous, you could try a Candlelight/Lantern Tour where the lights are turned out and you only have the light of your candle or lantern to navigate the cave. Or you could do the Wild Cave Tour, where you shimmy through tight spaces- NO THANK YOU!

If stairs are difficult, both caves offer accessible tours: The Accessibility Tour for Wind Cave or the Discovery Tour for Jewel Cave. You can learn more at: Accessibility for Wind Cave and Accessibility for Jewel Cave.

GOOD TO KNOW: Almost all tours use an elevator.

Jewel Cave Tours
Tour Name	Length	Level	Features
Scenic	1.3 hr, 0.5 mi	Moderately strenuous, 734 stairs	Calcite crystals, boxwork, cave popcorn, flowstone, and “cave bacon”
Discovery	20 min	Easy, elevator, accessible	One large room
Historic Lantern	1.75 hr; 0.5 mi	Strenuous, 600 stairs	Lanterns, narrow steps & wooden ladders, historical experience
Wild Caving	3-4 hr	Very strenuous	Crawl through tight spaces, physically demanding

3. Cave Tours Are Child-Friendly

With the exception of the Wild Cave Tours, the rest are child-friendly. Our kids really enjoyed their experience, and there were several other children on the tour. A couple of important things to know if you are bringing your kiddos along

• No strollers or diaper bags allowed
• No food allowed- kids are going to have to survive without snacks while in the cave
• You aren’t allowed to carry your child- it’s just not safe

4. The Caves Aren’t Claustrophobic

Both of the caves are HUGE! The ceilings in the caverns are over 20 feet high (my estimation). My husband hates tight places and won’t go in many caves, but he was comfortable on both of our tours.

5. Pets are Not Allowed

Pets are allowed in the picnic areas in both parks, and there are even some dog-friendly hiking trails in Wind Cave National Park, but no pets are allowed in the caves or the visitor centers. Service dogs that are trained to perform a job are exceptions.

6. Dress Warm to Tour the Caves

Wear closed-toed shoes and bring a jacket (maybe even gloves!). The temperatures within the caves stay consistent throughout the year, regardless of what the weather is like outside. Jewel Cave averages 49° F, and Wind Cave averages 54° F.

7. Your Tour Experience Will Vary by Who Your Tour Guide Is

Each of the tours is led by park rangers. Though each tour goes on a designated route to the same rooms, the park rangers create their own script for the tour they give. You can do the exact same tour and learn completely new things the second time.

Jewel Cave

About

Jewel Cave has 220 miles of mapped passages and is the third-longest cave in the world. And… they’re still discovering more! It was discovered by Frank and Albert Michaud in 1900 when they felt a bunch of air coming from a hole in the mountain. It was designated a national monument in 1908, making it one of the earliest protected cave systems in the U.S. The name comes from the cave’s glittering walls, which are lined with sparkling calcite crystals that look like they’re covered in jewels when your flashlight hits them just right. You’ll also see cool formations like popcorn, flowstone, and delicate “frostwork”. As I mentioned earlier, I felt like a scuba diver exploring caverns at the bottom of the ocean. The formations reminded me of a coral reef.

FUN FACT: Jewel Cave could be 5000 to 7000 miles long. They discover 5-10 miles of new cave every month. Explorers stay in the cave for 4-5 days at a time, attempting to map new areas.

Our Experience

Jewel Cave National Monument is a pretty compact area. We arrived and picked up our tickets that we had reserved in advance.

We visited in May, and our tour group had about 30 people. After the ranger ensured we had tickets, we were briefed on the safety rules and took the elevators 240 feet down to start our tour. We did the 80-minute Scenic Tour and were required to do over 700 stairs, though most of that was going down. We only walked half a mile, but it seemed longer due to the slow pace we were going, and all the stairs.

Although it’s called Jewel Cave, I never saw any formations that looked like jewels. Most of the cave is covered in calcite, which makes the rocks sparkle a bit when they are hit with light.

There are lights throughout the cave, but it is still somewhat dim. At one point in the tour, our guide turned out all the lights. It was so dark that it eventually became difficult to tell which way was up or down!

Lexi, our guide, gave us the perfect mix of geology and history. It was a wonderful experience!

What Is Close By?

There are a few hikes nearby, though we haven’t done any of them. They include:

• Roof Trail. 30-45 min, 0.25-mile loop, easy. The trail begins on the south side of the visitor center, along a sidewalk from the main patio. It goes through the pine trees of the forest.
• Canyons Trail. 2-4 hrs, 3.5-mile loop, easy to moderate, exposed. Has seasonal wildflowers and goes near the original entrance to the Jewel Caves.
• Hell Canyon Trail. 2-4 hrs, 5.3-mile loop, moderate. Offers a Hell’s Canyon Overlook. This trail is outside the park and in the Black Hills National Forest.

While we think that Jewel Cave is worth exploring, we think there are better ways to spend our time in the Black Hills once we’ve toured the cave. Check out our blog post 40 ABSOLUTE Best Things To Do in the Black Hills for More.

Wind Cave National Park

About

Wind Cave is one of the oldest national parks in the country, established in 1903 by Theodore Roosevelt. It’s home to the 7th largest and most complex cave system in the world, with over 160 miles of mapped passages stacked in a tangled, multi-layered web. It’s also the best place on Earth to see boxwork, a super rare formation that looks like nature built a ceiling out of honeycomb or origami. You’ll also spot popcorn and frostwork, but the boxwork steals the show—it’s found in only a few caves in the world, and 95% of it is right here.

The cave gets its name from the natural wind that blows in and out of the small original entrance—seriously, air pressure changes cause it to “breathe.” Above ground, the park also protects a stretch of beautiful prairie and a roaming herd of bison. Plus, it has a campground.

Wind Cave National Park: "Hidden" Gem of the Black Hills

Our Experience

Because we didn’t have advanced tickets, our day started with waiting in line. We were fortunate to get the Fairgrounds Tour, but had to kill time for a couple of hours until our tour departed. We did the 30-minute scenic drive around the park, and our kids enjoyed seeing the bison and prairie dogs. We checked out the small visitor center and sat around and waited.

There were 40 people in our tour. It was 1/2 mile, with 450 steps. The boxwork was the best! Wind Cave is a dry cave and can’t support life due to no water or food in the cave. I think that Wind Cave would be a great choice for someone who has visited a lot of caves due to the uniqueness of the boxwork. I surveyed our YouTube audience about what they prefer, and 75% said they like Wind Cave best.

I honestly think I prefer Jewel Cave over Wind Cave because of the tour guides. Our tour guide at Wind Cave took a very heavy stance on the poor treatment of the Lakota people in the Black Hills. The Black Hills, in general, have a complex and often troubled history with the Native American tribes and European settlers. It’s very common for this to be mentioned at many national park sites. While I don’t disagree with educating visitors on this, I enjoyed the more balanced approach my tour guide took at Jewel Cave.

No matter which cave you choose, you roll the dice with the tour guide, and I hope you get a good one!

What is Close By?

We love that Wind Cave has a scenic drive. It also has a few hikes, though we haven’t done any of them yet.

• Prairie Vista. 30 min, 1-mile loop, easy. This begins just north of the visitor center and provides views of the prairie lands. 
• Elk Mountain Trail. 30 min, 1-mile loop, easy. This offers views of the grasslands and the forest. 
• Rankin Ridge. 30 min, 1-mile loop, easy. This is located on Scenic Hwy 87 and is the tallest point in the park, offering wide views. RVs are not permitted.
• Wind Cave Canyon. 1 hr, 1.8 miles round trip, easy. This out-and-back trail is often frequented by birds like owls, wrens, woodpeckers, and swallows.
• Cold Brook Canyon. 45 min, 1.4 miles round trip, moderate. This out-and-back trail goes through forest and prairie. Raptor bird sightings are common, and you’ll walk through a prairie dog town.

DON’T MISS: The Quick Guide to Visiting Custer State Park

Final Thoughts

Whether you choose to visit Wind Cave or Jewel Cave, make sure to visit a cave when you visit Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills!

We have tons of resources for you, including our 4-7 day, step-by-step itinerary that will get you to the best of the Black Hills, including Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, Sylvan Lake, Crazy Horse, the Badlands, Spearfish Canyon, Deadwood, Devils Tower, and many more!