Blue John Cavern in High Peak

Never open at the correct times. Visited three times over the same week and waited 30-60 minutes before giving up and climbing nearby Mam Tor as they were not open even though they said they were.

A great day out. I enjoyed the scenery, it's peaceful. I wish I could live out here. The blue John Cavern though is a great little place to visit. I last visited probably 20 years ago, and this being my second visit was a pleasant experience just like last time. I do reccomend you visit. There's some nice country pubs not too far away too

Great experience. Very knowledgeable staff/ tour guide’s.

Thank you to George for a fascinating, informative and lively tour of this historic cave system today 🙌🏻 highly recommended.

Really nice place to visit quite busy but lovely Staff very informative Sarnie shop over the road make lovely food and brought it out to us very kind

Our tour guide Nigel was lovely and very knowledgeable, with a great sense of humor to! Very interesting place to visit, a must if in the area. The history was captivating. Dog friendly to. We managed to get tickets and just in time a tour was just starting, but can imagine in warmer / busier times would be best to pre book if thats an option, so you dont miss out :)

Great experience, very knowledgeable guide

Great tour, Nigel obviously loves geology and science in general, he was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic, which makes all the difference. The cave is spectacular in its own right.

George is a credit to the guide team, lovely man lovely tour. Well informed.

Fantastic! Well worth the visit

Amazing cave with millions of years of history trapped inside. Stiill in use today to create beautiful artwork and crafts you can buy in the gift shop! Our fantastic tour guide George was very knowledgeable and captivated us! Dog friendly, too, although it can be steep and slippery!

Excellent tour, really interesting, a must-see attraction for your your time in the area. Gift shop is poor, only accepts cash for under £5 purchases......what world is this ?? Haha

Fantastic experience today visiting blue John Cavern. Amazing place to go to learn a piece of history. Love conversation with our tour guide Richard, with who we were discovering new unusual bits of cavern. Truly recommend.

Well it is hard to describe how good this tour was in words. Nigel - tour guide, comedian and fountain of knowledge. He had us I. Stitches with his northern humour and well rehearsed jokes. We had a lovely tour and Nigel is to thank.

Richard was a great guide. He was very informative and our group had a few laughs along the way. The cavern is super impressive and it surprised me how deep it goes. I'd definitely recommend and will be going back to take the young ones.

It was a great informative tour done by Tony! He has been mining since he was 14, in the very caves we explored. Great to hear the stories and we appreciate his humor :) I advise to call the number in the website to inquire the start time of the guided tour and plan ahead

Richard was our tour guy! What a wonderful guy! He was super knowledgeable and sweet! The cave was extremely cool and awesome!

Had a lovely time visiting the cave, the tour guide, Nigel, made it a fun and exciting tour.

Our guide was entertaining, factual and had a good flow about him as he gave us the tour around the Cavern. An interesting visit made all the better for Nigel's guide abilities.

The tour was £18 and started at the small shop set in-front of the cavern entrance. We were lucky to turn up 5 mins before buying our ticket from inside the shop. The shop itself has many gifts, ice creams, drinks to buy. After a quick safety brief by the guide we headed in. The tour lasted about an hour and was extremely informative and enjoyable. A history of blue stone and the cavern origins were very interesting and delivered really well. The cavern was not like anything I expected and was pretty hairy at time when’s navigating the tight passage ways and steep steps! There were two instances of the group smashing their head on the low ceiling. There are many many steps so be prepared or warned if you suffer from anything that could cause health issues with walking up and down or even exhaustion problems. I would definitely recommend checking it out and taking in the view from the opposite mountain.

Unique. A fascinating hour descending into the earth and learning about history and geology.

Fantastic family experience. Nigel, our tour guide, was very informative and the kids were fascinated. Beautiful jewellery in the gift shop as well.

Well worth a visit. Great Tour Guide who was really informative. Well worth a visit. The steps are as bad as I thought.

Perfect place to visit with kids. Very friendly staff that make the visit enjoable

A really good tour today, thanks Nigel our tour guide.

Great tour and guide was very informative (I can't remember his name sorry but we visited 13th Oct 12.45pm) Thank you!

Lovely experience at the Cavern. Our tour guide Richard was great! Very informative, and enthusiastically answered all our questions. Brilliant tour, he needs a raise! A beautiful atmosphere and an interesting history. Thank you very much ☺️

Really enjoyed the experience in these caverns. Such an incredible atmosphere and especially enhanced by our tour guide Richard. He provided a lot of information, pointed out all the interesting spots and answered our many questions. Great easy going guy. Thanks very much 👍

Bit on the steep side for cost of admission, but the general experience of this area is wonderful. The people at the cafe/shop here and down the hill are really lovely and it's such a beautiful place.

We had a wonderful time and Richard our guide was very knowledgeable and friendly with our kids. Thanks 👍🏽

Great experience and journey inside the cave. We are grateful to Mr. Nigel for his wonderful company guiding us end to end. His explanation and great detailing made it an absolute worth to visit. I would recommend this place a must to visit for the people travelling in the peak district.

Just had a tour here - absolutely brilliant. Our tour guide (Richard) was great; extremely knowledgeable. Definitely recommend.

What a fascinating backstory to Blue John as a mineral and the history of the Cavern. My wife has Yorkshire heritage and has always been fond of Blue John, so on our recent trip to visit her family in the UK, I am glad she took me to this special place. The guide we had was a mine of information (pun intended) and had the odd joke or twenty. My wife and I found the walk down and back quite moderate (we are both 60) just make sure you have sturdy shoes and follow the guide's instructions. There are some amazing surprises along the descent and ascent, which our guide highlighted. The gift shop has some nice items. Overall I think it is well worth a visit.

Difficult to reach if you are less mobile

Fascinating and awe inspiring with a very informative guided tour led by George. Well worth a visit. Followed up during visit to Chatsworth on following day where we saw some beautiful articles in varieties of Blue John stone.

Nigel was a fabulous tour guide this afternoon. Unfortunately, we missed parts of the talk due to screaming children. If you're planning to bring young kids, please be mindful of the experience of others, as the acoustics of the cave amplify noise and make it difficult for everyone to hear. Definitely worth a visit!

Most unusual stone. Nowhere else like it. My pendant may be certain colours but it works with most any colour I wear!

Nigel was a phenomenal tour guide. His passion and knowledge for the role shone through while he spoke. Blue John, we never knew about you before, but now we are fascinated!

Geologically spectacular. Access via many steep steps, so you need to be reasonably fit. Guides very knowledgeable and friendly. Surface amenities a bit basic. Hot drinks and snacks, but instant coffee from kettle.

This was a great tour. So interesting and our tour guide Nigel was so knowledgeable and made the tour a lot of fun!

I've visited all the caverns in Castleton including Poole's cavern in Buxton and this one is the best. Our guide, Nigel was very informative and highly entertaining. Can't fault the place.

Didn't go in the caves but drive their and views we're amazing and weather brilliant highly recommend

Caves are magical, tour guide not so great. He just wanted to follow his script with no interruptions, so don't ask him a question!!! I could have understood if it was a large group but no.....there was 4 of us from the same family. Very disappointing

Richard was fantastic tour guide. We did the last tour of the day (3pm) and it was just the two of us. It was really great to see all the fossils, learn history and be shown all the features or the rocks and calcium deposits mixed with the minerals. Really great experience .

A Fascinating location with good access to parking as well as nearby trails if you so desired a trek after delving deep into the caverns, also with access to toilets if needed and handmade goods created from resources gathered locally in their caverns

The tour and guide were excellent, we had the pleasure of George taking us down the caves. He was such a good guide and made everything so interesting. The price was a little high in my opinion and the shop could have a little bit more in the way of snacks. Also the two ladies seemed ‘bored’ and didn’t give a welcoming feel when entering the shop. A little bit of George’s energy and enthusiasm would make it a more welcoming place.

Brilliant experience going down 245 steps (70m) into the mine. The guide, Richard, was excellent, well informed and very pleasant. Would thoroughly recommend for anyone sure footed and fit enough to climb back up. The pace was good with plenty of rest stops on the way back up. I wouldn't recommend for anyone claustrophobic as some bits are quite narrow and low.

Fascinating experience. Guide and staff were excellent and went above and beyond. Can’t praise the whole team highly enough. Many thanks.

Great experience, fantastic tour guide

We did this tour as a last minute thing whilst staying at a campsite in Hope Valley, Nigel our tour guide was very knowledgeable and interesting with a sense of humour! It can be quite steep, wet and narrow in places, the steps back up can also be challenging but Nigel did stop at various points for people to catch their breath, would definitely recommend 😊

Beautiful location and a great vibe. Check out the shop to pick up some exclusive stones on sale

Really interesting tour through the caves. Our guide Richard was very informative.

The caves were beautiful, and our guide Nigel made the trip even more enjoyable with his knowledge and jokes. Highly recommend, as photos don’t do it justice!

A fabulous visit with a great guide

It's a very nice place . Easy to do even for my 75 year old mother-in-law and my dog little pug

Bein couple times now some great veiws from the various paths can see for miles

An hour spent in the cave with a knowledgeable guide. Well spent time.

Going down is fine, but be prepared for the return trip. If you're not comfortable with 240 stair steps in one go it can be exhausting!

Very interesting and informative, our guide was Tony, however heed his advice it's 247 stairs each way! And they are steep!

Last went with school , nice reminder my grandson loved it

Called in, but soon left £53 would have been the cost for 2 adults and a kid for a trip of less than an hour. Surely prices like this are going to put people off? You can get the entire day in National trust properties including guided tours for less! Shame as I have the blue john from when I visited with my aunt in the early 90's... unless they seriously reconsider their business model we won't be back.

Was a great experience for the whole family, we had an amazing tour guide: George!

Excellent tour by George very informative and interesting to listen to, thank you 😊

Brought my 11 year old for a trip down memory lane. Fascinating to see the cavern again and learn so much about the history of our peak district. If your lucky enough to get George as you're guide, you're in for a treat. Absolutely brilliant!

Our Guide was a very knowledgeable person called Chris, he answered every and all questions, and is a witty guy as well. The caverns are absolutely amazing And very interesting, a 100% must visit for everyone. Myself and my wife thoroughly enjoyed it

Really good. Had a great tour down the cavern, very informative, a really nice tour guide. Good little shop.

I went when I was a kid about 40 years ago and decided to go back in August 2024. At £19 it’s pricey and I think there’s better caves to visit, the Blue John is interesting but you only see it in one part of the descent, one single patch, presumably it’s been extensively mined now. Don’t expect any large expansive caverns with stalagmites and stalactites, it isn’t like that at all. I’d give it 3.5/5 really but I think 4/5 would be too generous so went with 3/5 given you can’t give half marks. Glad we went but I won’t be going back in another forty years!

Much thanks to our guide George, we had a great time and the kids all enjoyed it!!!

Nigel our tour guide was very knowledgeable and helpful.

It is really interesting to see the mine and hear the history. Didn't see as much of the blue John seams as would have liked.

We visited on the 15th August 2024. We been me, my wife and our three kids; a 7 year old, 3 year old and 18 months old. We chose here as it allowed young kids and toddlers. In short if you have kids under 5 years old I cannot in any way recommend going here despite what they say! Our guide was Nigel who was equally knowledgeable as he was rude. To be clear he set out 'his' rules clearly at the start which for the most part were for safety, no issues here at all. The issue we, well he had was with our 18 month old, clearly, he was going to make some noise, that's what little kids do and I understand that Nigel wanted the kids to be quiet so that he could give the other customers the knowledge as part of the tour. The issue was his zero tolerance to noise, and the way in which he made this very clear in front of everyone. Phrases such as 'If you can't keep him quiet you will need to leave' when he was just making noise to react to the things he was seeing were inappropriate at best. If I were to guess I would be confident in saying that Nigel doesn't have children and made it very clear he didn't want them on 'his' tour! Now apart from a few slight remarks early on in the tour, I bumped my son's head which I felt dreadful about, we were at the back and sure enough Nigel shouted 'Is there a problem, do you need to take him back up'. I explained that he had just bumped his head and that's why he was upset. Now rather than showing ANY consideration he simply said 'if you can't keep him quite you can join the back of this tour heading back up'. At this point it was clear we were not welcome and my wife and two youngest headed back up whilst my eldest begged to stay on the tour. For clarification he wasn't screaming uncontrollably or preventing others from hearing what he had to say. I have never been so belittled in all my life, embarrassed and after spending £50+ for the privilege I have to say I am really upset by the experience. It was so bad my wife was in tears. And no, I am not exaggerating. I do have to say the other guides were supportive and helpful, so I think we just pulled the short straw. Oh, and there are zero refunds, even if you have been sent to the surface after 10 mins, you have been warned!

Very interesting for adults and children... The guides are helpful and very knowledgeable... The parking is free so that's a rarity these days. The tours started on time so no waiting, but would suggest getting there at least 15 mins before. Would recommend this as a must visit

I knew little if nothing at all about this place, we only chose to visit whilst making the most of the Peak Sightseer Open Top Bus and what a brilliant idea it turned out to be! A lot of stairs/slopes down but well worth the walk back up! Fascinating stuff to be heard from our EXCELLENT tour guide Nigel (I was especially keen on his dad jokes) our 5 year old loved it and I would definitely recommend it for a visit. Just can’t believe I’ve lived in Derbyshire all my 35 years and have never been! Thanks again to Nigel made it a extremely enjoyable experience!

1 hour tour with a guide. Going down about 80 meters. £56 for family of 4. Highly recommended

Good tour guide, lots to see. Don't attend unless you are fit as lots of steps! Watch your step too as lots of slippery surfaces. Just turn up as cannot buy tickets online.

Brilliant tour. Our guide was really good and gave us loads of information. HOWEVER - be warned - there are lots of steps down (and therefore back up) and the ground is sometimes wet and uneven. Wear walking boots and hold the handrails at all times.

lovely spot to camp with the kids for a night

Worth a visit 70m under ground great geological features great guide wear a light jacket it's 8 Deg C all year around

Best place ever the staff are so helpful and there dog is so playful I would recommend going here if you want to know the history of the cave but there is lots of steps but like I say it's worth it

£19 for an adult’s one-hour tour felt a little steep (see what I did there), but the tour was great and worth doing. It’s not every day you get to go into the depths of a cave! We didn’t buy anything at the gift shop but I now have an appreciation for Blue John. The tour guide was great! By the way, bring something warm to wear down there: it gets cold as you descend. Dogs allowed, but exercise caution if you’re on the larger side or if you have breathing issues!

It's a lot of steps. But well worth it. Some very large caverns, and cramped passages, combined with great guides. Perfect for a rainy or very hot day.

It was a lovely visit and my children loved the experience. Beautiful cave and very informative and kind guide Nigel. He make our experience extra special because of his humour. We totally recommend a visit if you’re close to the area .

"Waiting 10 mins to enter" was because entry is only in tour-guide groups every so often. You can hang out on the gift shop while you wait -- which is okay. The tour is 60 mins, and the geology is impressive and the tour guide knowledgeable and informative -- though there aren't semi-precious stones studding every surface! Catering options were very basic, but just enough to keep the wild from the door. And the adjacent Broken Road NT landmark was an unexpected bonus.

It's way bigger than expected from outside.

Nigel is the best tour guide!!! Absolutely loved our tour of this geologically unique site! His enthusiasm is infectious and his knowledge of the history and geology of the site is superb and inspiring. It's a whole Other world of wonder down below the surface of the earth. Awe inspiring and beautiful. So glad we went and would highly recommend a visit. There are a lot of steps down and back up again but the air is so fresh and clear down there and so much to see that actually it's pure joy to descend and ascend and Nigel is compassionate and sensitive to different levels of fitness and kept everyone together, inspired and entertained. Thank you for such a wonderful tour Nigel! Unforgettable experience!

Wow. Leaned stuff. Saw stuff. Felt stuff. Heard stuff. Rain 330ft underground.

We found the tour really interesting and informative, giving us a deeper understanding of the geology of the area and the uniqueness of Blue John. It looks like nothing on the surface, but it really is worth the time and money to go down below. There are quite a lot of steps, but we didn't find it that difficult, despite our fitness levels being fairly low. The area it is set in is beautiful, so be sure to leave yourself time to explore above the surface as well as going below!

Good, a bit expensive for a short cave, but it's nice to see, and the guide was ok, but you can see it is not enjoying his job at all.

This is my third time spanning about 50 years. Our tour guide Ryan was fantastic. Extremely knowledgeable and engaging. Great value given the overall experience and the knowledge imparted. Our only regret was that we didn’t carry any change to add to the teams tip box.

Interesting and guide very knowledgeable

It was closed when we got here, but even so, the views and the way up to here was breath taking. It was pretty amazing. I will definitely visit again when it is open.

Fantastic tour which had different information on the way down than on the way up. The guides are really knowledgeable and friendly. We took our 4 year old who took a bit more time on the stairs but we never felt rushed.

250 steps up and down with some cavern stalagmites and stone age river marks

Very knowledable guide, fantastic experience, although not for unfit or infirm people.

Great tour in a lovely bit of the Peaks! Our tour guide, Nigel was a good laugh too! It's all really interesting and the Blue John stone is like nothing else! I'd definitely recommend!

I was probably 8 or so when my parents took me here, I took my kids around the same age. Yesterday as we were near by I took my wife. An absolutely wonderful place, quite unique in many ways. The tour was lead by Nigel whose knowledge, enthusiasm & humour really made the numerous steps worth while. Highly recommended.

Really interesting trip. Great guide. Yes a lot of steps but in manageable stages. I am 65 and husband 70 and it was not a problem.

Great place for free overnight parking to start a good day of walking/ biking from.Please note we didn't visit the cavern on this occasion but we have in the the past and recommend doing so.

Tour itself was informative however i arrived at 10am when website says its first tour leaves approximately 10am only to be told i cant go because i am on my own and i would need to wait for others to arrive and join them, website doesn't tell you this it does say tours leave every 20-30 mins but i had to wait an hour until 11am to join a group for the first tour of the day, why not let us pre book so you know what numbers are arriving and have a cut off so we are not stood around waiting. I pre booked at pooles cavern and was on the tour on time no matter what numbers turned up a far better experience

Nigel was the guide and was brilliant . Very noligable and a great character. It's an amazing place to visit .would go again , especially if Nigel is the guide 👍