Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace Tour is designed for those who want to view the unparalleled natural beauty of our cave. Visitors are presented with a cave in its natural state and will view an impressive array of diverse formations including: stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, ancient fossils, natural bridges, rimstone pools, and much more. In fact, Raccoon Mountain Caverns contains more cave formations than any other cave in this part of the country. The Crystal Palace Room (pictured below) is the largest cave formation chamber in the Southeast.  
The Crystal Palace Room
"Big Flow" An Impressive Flowstone Formation
The Hall of Dreams

Did you know that:

The reason that our cave remains sixty degrees year-round is that the average temperature of the Chattanooga area is sixty degrees. Air entering the cave quickly becomes the temperature of the surrounding rocks.

The Big Flow is a flowstone formation located within the Crystal Palace room and literally looks as though it flowed out of the ceiling.

Flowstone is a cave formation that forms when minerals within “flowing” water deposit over the base rock. Initially, the growing rock takes the shape of the rock beneath. 

Eventually, as the layers build, the formation becomes more rounded.

 

The Hall of Dreams is, perhaps, one of the drier portions of the Crystal Palace Tour.

It connects the wild cave entrances to the Crystal Palace Room.

You may notice the small stalactites and soda straws on the ceiling that relate to the cracks where water seeps in from above. 

IAdmission rates: Adults (age 13-64) are $13.95, Seniors (age 65+) are $11.95, and Children (age 5-12) are just $6.50. Children under age five are admitted without charge when accompanied by a parent. Rates do not include TN sales tax.