It’s been almost a year since the breathtaking rescue of the 12 members of the junior football team and their coach from the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. With their miraculous rescue, the whole situation opened the ways of spelunking and the adventures to be had underground. If you want to give yourself a spike of thrill and adventure, here are the most beautiful caves in the world to explore.
Most Beautiful Caves
Caves have a deep impact on human nature to explore and investigate as they hold the mysteries to our past and are secret in and of themselves. They are home to mini-ecosystems that are otherwise unlikely above ground and are the last remains of investigation.
Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, USA
The largest cave system in the world lies beneath the Green River Valley in Kentucky and while over 400 miles of doors have been outlined, it has still to be completely explored. The twisted limestone labyrinth was found by humans 4,000 years ago and is home to a rich territory of troglodytes, including eyeless fish, cave reptiles, and albino cave shrimp.
Blue Grotto, Capri, Italy
Once used as the private swimming hole for the Roman Emperor Tiberius, this marvelous sea cave is about 200 feet long and 82 feet wide. Its unusual glow comes from the light penetrating the small hole to the outside and refracting through the clear water off the sandy bottom 490 feet below.
Avshalom Cave Nature Reserve, Beit Shemesh, Palestine
Also famous as the Soreq Cave Nature Reserve, Avshalom is deemed to be the Rosetta Stone of climate history in the Eastern Mediterranean through the densely packed stalactites found in the cave, some of which are over 13 feet long and are as old as 300,000 years.
Crystal and Fantasy Caves, Hamilton Parish, Bermuda
A perfect enchanting experience below the earth, these caves were formed in the Pleistocene Era, but only discovered by humans over 100 years ago. Collections of crystals and stalactites hang above a crystal clear pool that is a mix of fresh and saltwater and is almost 60 feet deep.
Cave of the Crystals, Naica, Mexico
This is one of the most beautiful caves systems in Mexico that looks like Superman’s Fortress of Solitude and holds some of the biggest natural crystals ever discovered—the longest of which is 39 feet long and 13 feet thick. Still, it is infrequently investigated due to logistical complications: it is extremely hot due to its location above a volcanic chimney, and the large crystals block also block the entrance.
Fingal’s Cave, Staffa, Scotland
This is a sea cave that is lying within an isolated island in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides, is formed completely from hexagonally jointed basalt columns created by a Paleocene lava flow. It gets its name from an 18th-century poem and has been featured in books and songs throughout the centuries.
Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Waitomo Village, New Zealand
The Waitomo cave system, formed 30 million years ago, has various unusual features to it—including a tremendous underground chamber area called the Cathedral—but the main attraction is the Glowworm Grotto where tourists can glide along an underground river with millions of glowworms sparkling like stars above.
Hang Sơn Đoòng Cave, Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park, Vietnam
This cave entrance, at over three miles long and 650 feet high is the largest in the world and includes stalagmites that are 229 feet high. First found by a local man in 1991, it was only in 2009 that it became globally recognized.
Marble Cave, Chile Chico, Chile
Accessible only by boat, these hidden, sculpted caves rest in the General Carrera Lake in the center of the Patagonia region. Composed of whirling black and white lines reflecting the azure and turquoise waters of the lake, the colors vary throughout the seasons.
Reed Flute Cave, Guangxi, China
Also known as the “Palace of Natural Arts,” this limestone cave found just north of Guilin City is not only attractive but historically significant as it is full of engravings that can be dated back to the Tang dynasty.
Skaftafell Ice Cave, Vatnajokull National Park, Iceland
Ice caves are a natural phenomenon inside Iceland’s largest ice cap that changes into spaces nostalgic of Disney’s Frozen. No cave is the same, and they are ever-changing; each summer, the ice melts, building new subways, which then freeze over and can be seen the next winter. Some caves have walls so thin you can see underground waterfalls through the ice.
