These Virtual Cave Tours Will Keep You and Your Kids Busy for Hours

From House Beautiful

Another day, another virtual tour to become enrapt in, amiright? If you've already taken all the virtual museum, garden, and haunted house tours floating on the Internet, worry not. We've got another one waiting for you and it's pretty scenic.

The National Parks Service (NPS) offers a virtual visit to its famous Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Launch this tour and you'll go 750-feet underground with National Park Ranger Pam Cox to explore the mysteries of these caverns shaped over millions of years. But before you head underground, you'll have the opportunity to observe the thousands of Brazilian free-tailed bats soaring through the sky. This extremely interactive tour even lets viewers navigate through the eyes of the bats.

Once inside the cavern, viewers will get the opportunity to click into features like "examine cave textures" and "discover secret rooms." Sights on the tours include: The Big Room, Lower Cave, Spirit World (a secret room), and a 360 degree panoramic view of the caves' limestone drip exteriors (thanks to Google maps, you can move all around).

This tour, which is a permanent experience on the National Parks' website, should take viewers between 20 to 30 minutes to complete. While it's not a full tour, it gives viewers access to sights that are hard to see in person (like the Lower Cave, which is completely pitch black). It's also a great tool for students writing a report on the landmark or families looking to plan a visit to the caverns. Besides, Carlsbad Caverns, the National Parks Service also offers virtual tours of the Kenai Fjords in Alaska, Hawaii Volcanoes, Bryce Canyon in Utah, and Dry Tortugas in Florida. You can access all those tours here.

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