7 caves you can visit within 240 km of Ottawa. The closest is Caverne Laflèche, about 25 km away, and 2 are within 95 km.
Distances are straight-line from downtown Ottawa; driving takes longer. Tour details are checked against each cave's own site; the date is on each cave's page.
Described as the largest tourist cave in the Canadian Shield, inside the Arbraska Laflèche nature park near Gatineau. Guided tours, in French or English, cover the cave's geology and the basics of caving.
Val-des-Monts, QC
A marble cave in Gatineau Park that you reach on foot and walk through on your own, getting wet as you follow the stream through its tunnels.
Gatineau Park, QC
A family-run show cave near Eganville. The one-hour guided tour follows lit boardwalks past fossils and scalloped walls, then returns on a trail past a sinkhole.
Eganville, ON, 10°C inside, from C$25
A cave under Pie-XII Park in Montreal's Saint-Léonard district, open for visits in the summer season. Reservations go through the Société québécoise de spéléologie.
Montreal, QC
Guided tours of what the owners call Ontario's largest known cavern, with fossils, a wishing well, a moment of total darkness and an optional squeeze. Above ground there's a lookout and a 1 km trail.
Tyendinaga, ON, 10°C inside, from C$16
A conservation area named for its seven caves, which you explore on your own with a virtual spelunker's guide. There are also 15 km of trails, a beach, canoeing on the Indian River and a campground.
Warsaw, ON
A self-guided nature park in Pottersville, New York with a stone-step trail into lighted surface caves.
Pottersville, NY, from $22.00
