Missouri is not only the Show-Me State. It is also known as "The Cave State," a nickname readily seen on license plates.
More than 6,000 caves are recorded and more are found each year. Around 20 are "show" caves open to the public for tours, and the Springfield-Branson area has some of the most well known.
Billed as "America's Only Ride Thru Cave," Fantastic Caverns (417.833.2010; www.fantasticcaverns.com) is eight miles northwest of downtown Springfield.
Hour-long tours in Jeep-drawn trams depart throughout the day, and the attraction opened for after-hours events last year.
Events are held in the "Auditorium Room" inside the cave, which can seat 500 lecture style and 300 for banquets.
Branson's Marvel Cave (800.417.7770; www.bransonsilverdollarcity.com) opened as a tourist attraction in 1894. Silver Dollar City's 1880s Ozark Mountain Village theme park was in fact built and expanded around the cave's entrance. It opened as a small village attraction in 1960.
Tours of the wet limestone cave are included with Silver Dollar City admission. Visitors travel 300 feet below the surface and enter the "Cathedral Room," which the park claims is the country's largest cave entrance room.
Evening lantern tours were also recently introduced.
Silver Dollar City has a wide of spaces for meetings and events and also operates the Showboat Branson Belle.
Talking Rocks (417.272.3366; www.talkingrockscavern.com) is located in the city of Branson West.
Open to the public since 1912, the cave has 265 steps, 150 down and 115 out, and the main chamber is over 98 feet high and 590 feet long. A sound and light show is included in tours.
It also features an above-ground, 400-acre nature preserve with nature trails. Activities include crawl mazes and gemstone mining.
Cosmic Cavern (870.749.2298; www.cosmiccavern.com) is about 40 miles southwest of Branson in Berryville, Ark., and the attraction offers regularly scheduled tours.
When touring the cavern, visitors can see two cave lakes. The first lake, South Lake, has had trout for nearly 50 years. Some are blind and most have lost their color.
Group arrangements can include panning for gemstones.
