Cavern Regulations
The staff of Linville Caverns considers visitor enjoyment and safety our primary responsibility while also striving to maintain the delicate balance that exists with a caverns ecosystem. Please help us ensure that the natural beauty remains for all to see by observing these rules and regulations.
Please Note & Adhere to the Following
* Food, drink, candy, gum, and smoking materials are not allowed within the caverns. Bottled water only is allowed on a tour.
* Touching the rocks and formations is prohibited. As one of a few remaining active caverns, we want to allow the formations to continue developing. Oil from your skin may cause damage to the rocks and prevent future growth.
* Touching, disturbing, or harming any form of cave life is prohibited. Inside the caverns, you may see trout, bats, cave spiders, cave crickets, and salamanders. Please remember that you are a visitor in their home and do not disturb them.
* Child-carrying backpacks and strollers are not allowed inside the caverns. This is for the safety of your child as well as other visitors. Infant front carriers are allowed.
* Visitors must remain with a guide at all times while inside the mountain. If you need to leave the tour for any reason, please tell your guide and they will ensure that you are escorted outside.
* We do not allow more than 15 people on a tour. The number is limited to allow everyone to see and hear the tour, as well as to assist the guide in assuring your safety. If your party is larger than this number, please allow us to divide your group into different tours that will be spaced just moments apart.
* The final tour of the day departs at closing time on that day. Please be aware that all facilities above ground will be closed and locked when you emerge from the caverns. We ask that you use the aboveground facilities BEFORE departing on your tour. One side of the entrance gate will remain open until the final tour has departed the caverns.
* As a designated NC NATURAL HERITAGE AREA, we ask that you help us maintain the beauty and integrity of the caverns and surrounding outside areas. We ask that you dispose of trash in the proper containers located around the property. We ask that you observe the “NO TOUCH” rule with our plants, wildflowers, and river rocks. Signs are posted along the creek area warning visitors to NOT CROSS THE CREEK due to rockslides. Please observe these warning signs.
* It is a federal offense, punishable by law, to harm or destroy ANY part of a cavern system.
