Longhorn Cavern State Park in Texas: Is it worth it?

Updated: September 16th, 2026

All information is current as of the writing of this post. Check out Longhorn Cavern State Park website here for the most up to date information.

Location: Burnett, TX, 90 minutes outside of Austin

Hours: 9am-5pm during the fall and winter and 9am-6pm during the spring and summer

Types of Activities available: Walking Cave tour (90 minutes), Wild Cave tour (3 hours), Blacklight Cavern tour (1 hour). There is also some hiking and structures from the CCC including an observation tower.

Cost: Free to enter but the cave tours vary in cost

My husband and I are on a mission to visit all of Texas’ great state parks and also get a stamp for each one in our Texas State Parks passport book. On a recent trip, we decided to visit Longhorn Cavern State Park. My husband loves caves, so this was a perfect place to visit for us to explore this cave as well as an opportunity to get a stamp in the Texas State Passport Book. You can get your own passport book at any of the state park visitor’s centers or online here! We have enjoyed using this book as we travel around the state. Anytime we travel anywhere in Texas, I will look up and see what Texas State Parks are nearby and that we are able to add into our trip. It has been unique to be able to visit places I would have never otherwise known about. It has also encouraged us to visit the lesser known state parks. I am a huge advocate of getting outside and this has given us even more opportunities to do so as we travel. You can get a glimpse into some of the ones we have visited here, by checking out our other Texas State Park articles.

If you have ever been to Texas, you are probably aware that it can get pretty warm in the summer. When we took our trip to Longhorn Cavern State Park, we were there over the Fourth of July holiday. In Texas, I try to avoid doing too much hiking or being outside in the sun in July or August due to the heat. The great thing about Longhorn cavern is that it naturally stays at 68 degrees all year long! It is the perfect activity for a hot summer day in Texas. 

Tour guides take visitors through the cavern starting every 30 minutes. I easily snagged a slot on an online reservation before our visit. Due to some changes in our schedule, we arrived about an hour before our tour time. We decided we could look around the park with the extra time if needed. We checked with the staff and they were so kind to let us join the next tour group that was leaving and not have to wait for our scheduled time. We were grateful that we did not have to wait around until the tour began that I had booked online. While we were able to do this, it will probably depend on how busy they are at the time you arrive. They were well staffed and they are able to handle a large amount of tourists. As we progressed on our tour, we passed multiple groups coming and going while we were in the caverns.

 

The picture above shows how you will enter Longhorn Caverns. Unfortunately this cavern is not easily accessible for wheelchairs or strollers as it was built many years ago. When you embark on your journey, you will see that the tour guides are very knowledgeable and can tell you all about Longhorn Caverns history and how the CCC built and improved many parts of the park. It was so interesting to learn about how this park came to be and the work that was done here. The cave itself was interesting, but so was learning about its history.

Not far from the visitor’s center, there is an observation deck that was built by the CCC. It is an easy walk to get there or a very quick drive. You can go up to the top and have a great view to see the surrounding area. There is a winding staircase that is a bit steep so be aware of that if you decide to go up. The views are truly worth it though!  

While there are a small number of trails on the property, we were unable to explore them during this visit. However, we enjoyed getting to see the cave and the observation deck area and think it is worth coming here to visit!

Have you ever visited this park? What did you like about it? Let me know in the comments! 

Inks Lake State park is nearby! Check out what we did on our visit here!