City of Caves in Leek

Interesting and intriguing attraction that is nicely tucked away in the heart of the City of Nottingham. The layout and the history of the Caves is extremely fascinating and intriguing with signs of people living in them throughout the centuries and also using the Caves as an Air Raid Shelter in WWII is very interesting. There are two choices to see the Caves one is by guided tour which is very informative by a tour guide and the other is via an audio tour which is just as good and accessed by signing into the attractions WiFi and scanning the QR Codes and the audio guide gives an excellent history of the Caves with the use of tannery for animal skins, the use of the Caves as an Air Raid Shelter in WWII and also as a Bar at one point. The carving out of the sandstone and also the features are very breathtaking. The staff are very friendly and helpful all round providing a warm welcome when you arrive to and assisting you with accessing the audio guide and using it. Overall this is a good place and one Cave Explorers will love.

My visit to the caves were fantastic and blow we away its amazing knowing that above me people are going around doing everyday things my tour guide was was very formative and new his stuff all about the caves I cant believe people used to work down here and I would recommend anyone to visit this wonderful place and let your mind wonder what it must have been like all those years ago.😁 IAM happy I have had the opportunity to see this wonderful city underground.

Interesting and thought provoking. GBP 8.75 each gave us a 50 minute tour of the caves. Staff were very helpful and kept us entertained with little jokes and snippets. I advise you to ask for directions to entrance. Down the stairs next to the Contemporary Museum. No toilets inside venue, but coffee shop on steps allow use of theirs. Parking available 500m away. Really enjoyed our visit.

What an amazing place to visit! Situated 3 minutes walk from The Museum of Justice. Quick introduction from the guide and you make your way underground. Proper footwear and a jumper recommended as its quite cool down there and the surface is not even. The whole experience was unique and it took about an hour to complete the tour. The guide (Natashawas awesome and she kept all of us interested and entertained. You learn about citys rich history with a bit of joke and fun on top. Gift shop available at the entrance. Definitely worth visiting while your in Nottingham.

Awesome piece of preserved history, showing through the years of different uses for man made sandstone caves in Nottingham. Entry is under the tram bridge underpass, bottom of the stairs near the contemporary gallery. Given QR codes to access both wi fi and an audio tour, so was nice to do at your own pace! Visited on a September weekday and ha the place more or less to myself!

A great place to visit albeit a little hidden from the road. We drove round for ten minutes before we found it.The tour guide Rachel was amazing. She kept every single one of engaged and enthralled in the entire tour. Even the younger kids stayed interested the whole tour. I never realised there was so much history under foot in Nottingham. I really hope they get permission to open more caves to the public in time. I now want to seek out pubs with caves under and find out their stories.Price is extremely reasonable and the small gift shop is reasonably priced as well.

Enjoyed the walk around listen to the audio it will help to understand the history a little, I have waited years to get into these caves

This is such an interesting place and, in my opinion, a must visit in Nottingham. As you learn during the tour, the caves are an incredibly important part of Nottingham’s history. They have been used for all kinds of things over centuries and are probably the biggest piece to understanding the story of the city. Our guide, Rachel, knew everything and packed so much information into her talk, it was amazing. Definitely go if you enjoy history at all, except the caves are still important today, so go anyway if you don’t.

Excellent experience. The tour was 45 minutes long and the person conducting the tour was amazing and passionate. We really enjoyed it, though as feedback, i would have really appreciated that he talked a little bit slower, as not being native made it a little difficult to understand. I would suggest not taking small kids.

Fantastic place to visit and take your children, maybe not to young as it could be a bit scary for youge children, I took my niece and she is 9 and she loved it.The tour guide was excellent and really engaged everyone in the history of the caves. I will definitely recommend and will go again! First time Ive ever been and it didnt disappoint.

Had a really fun time in the caves. Really interesting history told by a knowledgeable guide.

This should be very high up on the list of things to do while in Nottingham. Due to various building works its a little confusing finding the entrance at present but its well worth it.The audio tour (freegives a wonderful insight into these extensive and unique city, literally made of hand carved caves.

Air raid shelter and leather tanning! Great experience and the guide brought it all to life.

This is a good tour we took 3 kids aged 6,8,13 and they loved it, very engaging. Gareth rhe tour guide was really knowledgeable and funny. We have taken other kids over the years and its still as good. There is a small gift shop.

Very entertaining! The guide was lovely too, her name Natasha or Natalie, really bad with names... it was something like that ^^ but overall this was a really interesting tour!

The City of Cave is a great place for kids and people who love historical places. It is an underground location. There will be a tour guide for someone who explained in the history of the cave. You should find a car park yourself, because there is no car parking. You can pre-book online. It is recommended for kids.

Brilliant tour. We had a Lovely lady called Rachel show us around, she was informative, friendly and is someone who really makes everyone feel welcome there.The caves themselves are incredible. To be standing looking at 3 completely different timelines and knowing there is a 4th above your head is crazy while not even being below ground level. You just need to be there to see it and witness it. I would recommend this to anyone. Theres also no tiny spaces so if you were somewhat claustrophobic I dont think youll have too much of an issue.

Absolutely must take this tour when visiting Nottingham. Tour guide is a lovely gent called Nino made us entertained with history. I recommend to book tickets in advance on their website.

So much fun. Had zero expectations- a cave is a cave, right? But oh my - these are MAN made and our guide gave us a fantastic (Broadway worthytour. It was if we traveled through time. Learned so much. Even my teen managed a smile or two!Tips - get tickets in advance, wear good shoes, dont give up looking for it (please get better signage), and unleash your imagination.

A "must" if you are visiting Nottingham. The tour is not only informative but entertaining as well. It is one of the best windows on history Ive seen to date. The staff are all very well informed and have a great sense of humor, they also present the tour exceptionally well. Lastly, I felt that the price was well worth the experience.Please note:you should wear comfortable shoes as some areas are slippery with lose sand.There are also low ceilings and doorways in some areas as well as stairs.There are hand rails almost the entire length of the tour.You do not need to be fit to complete this tour. This tour is not wheelchair accessible.

We had a great tour guide and it was lovely to see. Would definitely recommend a it is interesting but beware of the parking in the area. There is a multistorey car park but it is expensive and a 5 min walk, if u know where it is, so leave time for yourselves to find the place.We missed our slot and the staff where kind enough and friendly and moved us to another slot.

Great tour, Rachel, the guide was funny, witty and so well informed. Its so great having a guide who is so passionate about their job. Glad I attended via a guided tour, wouldnt have made as much sense without a tour guide, or wouldnt have appreciated it as much.FYI wear a sweater, as its about 14 celcius in the cave.

Whoever knew Nottingham was a city of caves! What fascinating stories! Loved the history of the place.

Having lived in this city for several years now I was excited to finally make it to this. Great tour, lots of interesting information delivered by Andy in a lively and engaging style. Not for the very young kids, but for everyone one else it should be fascinating.

Great experience. Our tour guide (dont remember the name but he speaks 37 languages fluently!!was really good and engaging. And the caves are really interesting to see. 100% recommend!!

Very interesting place, definitely worth a visit. The tour took us through time and our guide was most interesting. He talked about what each cave might have been used for and the stories behind them. Also try not to be too scared by what you see in there.(PS take good care of your phone)

Wonderful slice of Nottinghams history. Emmas knowledge of the caves and uses was very informative and fun. Nice to have an in-person guided tour.

This is well worth a visit. Although the entrance can be a little hard to find. The audio tour is very informative and lot of thought has gone into each section.It is amazing to learn how the Caves were created and that the Caves have survived.This is the first audio tour Ive ever completed without skipping bits.My only recommendation is not to visit on the last slot of the day. While we were not rushed out we did miss the gift shop 🙁

A wonderful experience, an absolute must for everyone. I very much enjoyed the whole guided tour, it was very interesting. The staff are lovely, friendly and very helpful.

Amazing place to visit, Nottingham has some enchanting history and these caves are little gems, its an adventure and I havent seen anything else like it..I guess its comparable to the catacombs of Paris but there is an exit. Worth a visit! Staff are very helpful 🙂.

I personally had a great time in the caves. I looked at and read how people hidden underground have found a way to survive.It was an extremely interesting experience for me.

Ive lived in Nottingham for the last 6 years and this was the second time I did this tour due to friends and family visiting the city. I enjoyed it each time, very informative, light and interesting. Our tour guide was amazing and he made the whole experience one to remember. Ill definitely visit again when I have more family/friends coming to Notts!Highly recommended.

Amazing place. Very interesting and informative tour! Highly recommended.

Good fun, bring your own helmet! (If you really want one, a helmet is not needed, I used a robin hood hat from the gift shop). Really interesting audio tour and great backdrop for pics.

Interesting to learn about these man made caves under city of Nottingham, staff explain how how the audio guide works via mobile, tour is round 40 mins long. Centrally located went with childre 8 and 12 both enjoyed the visit, staff friendly worth a visit.

Some signage would help in locating the entrance especially on the main road above the caves.I would recommend downloading the audio (40 min longas WiFi is unreliable.Floor is uneven so wearing appropriate shoes is vital. The caves are well ventilated but a little stuffy which is expected like the volcanic ones of Mt Etna in Sicily.Theyll take you back to 1600 all the way to their use in WW1 up to when Nottingham was under the 70s precinct and show you how life was and how people made a living from the leather tannery, political meetings, shopping centre, etc

Interesting to go and see .didnt take look tho about 20 minutes

Loved going here it was a little hard to fi down but once you know where you are going its nice, had to download the audio and have a set of headphones and you have to go on their WiFi as there is not much signal down there, I really enjoyed listening to the audio and listen to the storys behind what is down there I would definitely recommend going here to try if you have not already. I would go again if I was to take someone that wanted to go if they hadnt been already, the audio also tells you to mind your steps and head. I booked this over the phone, you can pay over the phone or on entry.

We had not purchased tickets in advance as sidnt know what time would get to Nottingham, signage if ypu dont know the area not great and the entrance to the caves had a lot of construction aroud it but it wasnt busy so we were able to buy tickets at the kioskScan qr code to connect to WiFi and scan another qr code to connect to the audio which I liked as not using headphones, so just used your phone to listen to the audioIf ypu lose connection then qr codes scattered around to re-connect40 minute tour and very good explanation of the cavesNo coffee shop or toilet at cave nearest one is cafe 2 minutes awayWorth a visit and reasonably priced

Absolutely stunning!First off, the entrance is a bit hard to find, especially if youre navigating via Google Maps. Take the stairs next to the Contemporary museum and head all the way down, its basically under the bridge, at the bottom of the stairs.Once youve found it, its a fantastic place! There are over 800 caves under Nottingham, every single one is man-made and had a specific purpose, including the only underground tannery in the UK. The tour is done with a free audio guide that elaborates on all the little details and stories behind the various places you visit, taking about 40 minutes altogether. Its very informative and goes into depth on the history and uses of these caves.A fascinating place, not to be missed!

Our tour in the caves was very interesting.Downloading the audio for the tour before starting, allowed us to walk the whole of the caves at our own pace.I would recommend this tour to all visitors

Super friendly and nice people, well guided tours with audio guides, it is better to book online. The full visit takes 40 min, interesting historical facts across 1000 years

Brilliant insight into underground life at Nottingham. You can visit some of the sandstone caves and its well worth it. Incredible asset for the city of Nottingham.

Awesome piece of history, audio description explains a lot of detail you wouldnt otherwise notice at first glance.

Something a little different to do whilst in Nottingham. Really interesting history, with an audio guide available on your phone whilst you walk through the caves. Lovely and cool down there on a scorching hot day too!!!

A fascinating insight into Nottinghams past and how these caves have been used for the local population throughout history. Due to covid could not get the fully guided tour, hence 4 not 5 stars.

Awesome place. Sandstone under the city is really awesome. Rich history and a very climatey cool place to relax. Listen to free audio tour brings the caves alive and explains what different areas were used for.

Visited the caves today, not exactly easy to find if you don’t know the area. Did seem a bit disorganised on entry, especially the suggestion to download the audio tour (we were expecting a guideI don’t think we were the only ones a bit unsure of the correct route around the caves, as it’s not very clear. I think we were way ahead of the audio tour, as I was the only one in our four who had it. Caves were interesting and it was a fun way to spend an hour, just slightly let down by the above things.

This place is hidden under the tram lines and you need Google maps..but obviously its down not up!Really cool place..historic..you get given a code to download the audio on your phone as you walk around the caves..very informative.Wear appropriate shoes as can be slippy and remember to dip head!Worth the visit for sure!Tells about when Nottingham was under the 70S precinct and shopping centre..they keep building on top of it!

Really interesting and great value for money. Reminded me of the catacombs in Paris. Free audio guide to listen to an be indulged with interesting information. It blows the mind to think some of the caves date back to 1300. Reassuring to know if were ever attacked, we can take shelter within the caves