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Places to go in Kentucky.

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2 places

Mammoth Cave National Park Caves

Mammoth Cave National Park

Cave City, KY · Kentucky Cave Country

Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave system on Earth, with more than 426 mapped miles of passages winding through Kentucky limestone laid down hundreds of millions of years ago. Ranger-led tours drop visitors into a constant 54-degree underworld of vast rotundas, vertical shafts, and tight squeezes like Fat Man's Misery. The Historic Tour traces the same corridors people have walked since the early 1800s, past Broadway and the Bottomless Pit.

Cumberland Falls Lakes & rivers

Cumberland Falls

Corbin, KY · Cumberland Plateau, southeastern Kentucky

Cumberland Falls earns its "Niagara of the South" billing the honest way. The Cumberland River spills 125 feet wide and 68 feet high over a hard sandstone shelf, a broad curtain of amber water in a steep gorge of southeastern Kentucky. What sets this fall apart is the light. On clear nights around a full moon, mist off the plunge pool throws a moonbow, a lunar rainbow, and this is the only place in the Western Hemisphere where one appears with regularity. The park publishes the dates each month. By day, an overlook sits steps from the parking area, so the classic view needs no hike, and short trails lead down toward the base. Come after a good rain for the fullest flow, arrive early to beat crowds, and check the moonbow schedule (plus the weather) before a night visit, since clear skies are the whole show.