Three Minnesota state parks offer tours that give visitors the opportunity to explore unique historic and natural features: a bison range, a former historic iron mine and Minnesota’s longest cave.
These tours will return in May, and visitors can make reservations through the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources starting on April 1. Schedules, tour details and other reservation information are at mndnr.gov/tours.
Prairie and bison tours
Blue Mounds State Park, Luverne
The 90-minute, 12-seat tour explores the sights, sounds and smells of the tallgrass prairie at Blue Mounds State Park, including possible, but not guaranteed, views of the park’s bison herd. The park provides binoculars to help visitors spot bison in the distance, and visitors should keep an eye out for the cinnamon-colored calves born in the spring. There’s plenty beyond bison for visitors to see, like native grass, wildflowers, cacti, songbirds, hawks, ground squirrels, snakes, pollinators and a few white-tailed deer.
Tour dates: May 21-Oct. 18, 2026
Cost: $15 for adults, $10 for age 4-12. Children under age 4 are not permitted due to safety restrictions.
Find more information: mndnr.gov/state_parks/tours/prairie-and-bison.html
Mystery Cave tours
Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park, Preston
This state park offers three different tours of its 13-mile cave system. More details are available at mndnr.gov/state_parks/tours/mystery_cave.html.
Scenic tour
Enjoy a one-hour guided tour that explores Mystery Cave’s stunning formations shaped by water over millions of years, including stalactites, stalagmites, flowstones, underground pools, and fossils that are 430 million years old.
Tour dates: May 9-Oct. 18, 2026
Cost: $15 for adults, $10 for age 5-12, free for age 4 and under.
Wild caving tour
Explore the cave beyond the developed trails with this introduction to safe caving techniques. Stoop, crawl and climb through passages on this strenuous four-hour guided tour. Additional caving tours are available in the 2026 season due to increased demand.
Tour dates: May 23-Sept. 6, 2026
Cost: $80 per person. Participants must be 13 or older.
Advanced education tour
Explore Minnesota’s unique karst landscape on this two-and-a-half-hour guided tour, which is available to park visitors for the first time this 2026 season. The tour begins in Mystery Cave, where visitors will learn how water has slowly shaped the cave’s formation over time. Then visitors head to the surface to explore Cherry Grove Blind Valley Scientific and Natural Area. At the SNA, participants can discover sinkholes, disappearing streams and other unique karst features.
Tour dates: May 23-Sept. 7, 2026
Cost: $25 per person. The tour is recommended for visitors 8 and older.
Underground mine tours
Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park, Soudan
Underground mine tours are back after June 2024 flooding closed the site for significant cleanup and repairs during the 2024 and 2025 seasons. On this 90-minute tour, visitors will travel 2,341 feet — nearly half a mile — down the mine shaft to the 27th level of the Soudan Underground Mine, which operated from 1882-1962. Once underground, visitors board a train and ride nearly a mile to the last and deepest area that was mined. Hear true stories of the miners, innovations and safety improvements, and learn firsthand about the working conditions of this historic iron mine.
Tour dates: May 23-Oct. 18, 2026
Cost: $15 for adults, $10 for age 5-12, free for age 4 and under.
For more information: mndnr.gov/state_parks/tours/lake_vermilion_soudan.html
Visitors can make tour reservations for all three locations at mndnr.gov/reservations, or by phone at 866-857-2757.
Tour participants will also need a state park vehicle permit for tours at Blue Mounds and Forestville/Mystery Cave state parks. They can buy a permit at the same as a tour reservation, or on site before the tour. Vehicle permits are $7 per day or $35 for a year-round permit, which is good for 12 months from purchase.