Visit Onyx Cave Park – Arkansas’ Oldest Show Cave

Onyx Cave Park

The Eureka Springs area is home to a wide number of rare, unique, and historical attractions, including Onyx Cave, Arkansas’ oldest show cave. In fact, Onyx Cave Park is only a half-hour’s scenic drive from the Beaver Lake cabins of Sugar Ridge Resort!

There’s no end to the fun you can get up to here at Beaver Lake, Arkansas. Sugar Ridge Resort is perched high above Beaver Lake for breathtaking, 180 degree views. Visitors come to enjoy fishing, scenic drives, boating, hikes, and many other outdoor activities.

We’re also just next door to Eureka Springs and its cornucopia of activities, events, and attractions. Must-see destinations and happenings like Blue Spring Heritage Center, Christ of the Ozarks, Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, the Original Ozark Folk Festival, War Eagle Craft Fair, Eureka Gras, and so much more.

One type of attraction that you can find all over the area is caves. Arkansas is riddled with fascinating caves that you can visit and tour.  As I mentioned above, the area is home to Arkansas’ oldest show cave: Onyx Cave.

Onyx Cave first opened to the public in 1893, making the attraction over 130 years old in 2024.

Show caves were not always as well understood, respected, or protected as they are now. In the early days, visitors didn’t think twice about taking a souvenir home with them. Consequently, Onyx shows a lot of past wear and tear. Why, the cave even had scenes from a movie shot in it: “It’s Alive,” a 1969 B-Movie thriller. Despite this fact, Onyx Cave still has plenty to reveal to those willing to explore it.

The cave gets its name from the many weird and fascinating flowstone formations found within. Flowstone, once commonly referred to as “cave onyx,”  is a smooth, sheet-like deposit of calcite found in limestone caves. It forms over thousands of years, deposited by flowing water and often resembling the flow that deposited it.

Onyx Cave Park

Visitors to the park can enjoy a self-guided, 30 minute audio tour of the cave. Paths in the cave are smooth and level, with steps and handrails where necessary. You’ll see stalactites, stalagmites, and lots of flowstone in chambers with names like the Witches Fireplace and the Friendly Dragon.

The audio guide will direct your attention to notable cave features and provide other interesting facts about the cave’s history, geology, and wildlife. You may even be luck enough to see a bat, salamander, or other natural cave denizen. Fascinating – but don’t forget an extra layer! Onyx Cave’s temperature stays around 57° F (13.8° C) all year ’round, no matter the season or weather.

Beyond the cave tour, park visitors may also enjoy semi-precious gem-panning, axe-throwing, and a host of unique items for sale in the gift shop. They even have snow cones, the perfect treat on a hot day. Yum!

Onyx Cave is located in Onyx Cave Park at 338 Onyx Cave Lane, Eureka Springs, AR 72632

Visit the cave website for seasonal hours and other information. You can also visit the cave on Facebook.

Spend your day out exploring the natural wonders of the Eureka Springs area, then head back to the supreme comfort of your Beaver Lake cabins and suites at Sugar Ridge Resort. Who could ask for more?

stalactites inside Onyx Cave
axe-throwing at Onyx Cave Park
cavern inside Onyx Cave

Tour Cosmic Cavern

Cosmic Cavern

Spelunkers staying at Sugar Ridge Resort will be excited to learn that one of the country’s top ten show caves, Cosmic Cavern, is less than an 45 minutes away. The “Must See” attraction is located in Berryville, AR, half-way between Eureka Springs and Branson, Missouri.

Arkansas is home to a lot of fascinating caves and many are within easy distance of our Beaver Lake cabins and suites.  None are quite as famous as Cosmic Cavern, however. This historic attraction is the largest, and considered one of the prettiest, privately owned show caves in the state.

The cave, while known to ancient Native Americans, was not discovered in the modern era until 1845, when it was mined for its onyx and other minerals. Cave ownership changed hands repeatedly until 1980, when it was purchased by the Langhover family, who still operate it today.

Inside, you’ll find a variety of unusual features,  such as a 9-foot soda straw formation, the longest in the Ozarks. In fact, Cosmic Cavern has many unique and beautiful rock formations, or speleothems, to admire. Stalactites and stalagmites, flowstone, helictites, cave bacon, draperies, and more.

The cave is also home to two “bottomless” lakes.  One, South Lake, has a long-term population of trout, some of which have lost their sight and pigmentation from being underground for so many generations.  The other lake in the cavern was only discovered in 1993. Consequently, it is incredibly pristine and clear.

Cosmic Cavern flowstone

Cosmic Cavern is also unique for its temperature, which stays a relatively balmy 64°F with 96% humidity throughout the year. Most other caverns are lucky to hover around the mid to upper 50’s.

Touring Cosmic Cavern

Visitors to Cosmic Cavern can enjoy both Guided Walking Cave Tours and Wild Cave Tours.

Guided Walking Cave Tours take around an hour and 15 minutes and cover a distance of approximately 1/3 mile. Your path is well lit and, while there are some stairs, most of the tour is level. This tour will take you past many unique stone formations, as well as the two subterranean lakes. You may even see blind cave trout and blind cave salamanders. Fascinating!

Wild Cave Tours, on the other hand, are offered after normal hours and take you to deeper, undeveloped parts of the cave. You’ll definitely get a little wet and muddy but gloves, hard hats, and lights are supplied. Fun and exciting!

Cosmic Cavern also offers a gift shop, lunch pavilion, museum, and gemstone panning station. Here, youngsters (or the young at heart) can amuse pan for various crystals and keep what they find. Rubies, emeralds, sapphires, quartz, and more.

Cosmic Cavern is located at 6386 Hwy. 21 North, in Berryville, AR 72616. – just 45 minutes drive from our Beaver Lake Cabins and Suites.

Cosmic Cavern bottomless lake

Cavern hours are 9am to 5pm daily, March through December. Visit the cavern website for more information. You can also find the cavern on Facebook.

More Local Caves

You say you like caves? Well, you certainly came to the right place! As we say above, Arkansas is home to many caves, some of the best of which are right here in the local area.

For more underground fun near Sugar Ridge Resort, consider visiting War Eagle Cavern on Beaver Lake and Onyx Cave Park in Eureka Springs.

What things do you hope to do during your Beaver Lake getaway? Let us know and we’ll help get you on your way! Sugar Ridge Resort loves sharing beautiful Arkansas with our guests!

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