Top 4 Caves in Iowa
Looking to visit a cave in Iowa on your next adventure? To help you better plan your next outdoor experience, we’ve collected Iowa’s 4
best caves for you. Based on the experiences of other users, each is a recommendation you know you can trust — so you can better plan your next adventure.
Last updated: April 26, 2026
Cold Water Creek flowing out of a limestone cave
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Hernando's Hideaway
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Decorah Ice Cave
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Upper Dancehall Cave Entrance
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Dancehall Cave
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Tips from the Community
Neat cave, on a mid 70's degree day the air coming out of here was probably in the 30's. I didn't bring my flashlight or my microspikes, but sometime I would love to come back and go deeper in.
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Cold Water Creek is a spring creek in Winneshiek County that flows into a limestone formation, continues through an underground labyrinth of limestone passages, and then reemerges from a limestone cave on the opposite side. Scuba divers have explored the labyrinth of passageways Cold Water Creek flows through in the limestone bluff. I like this highlight because the stream flowing out of the cave appears spooky. I have tried to catch a haunted trout at the cave's entrance but so far, no luck. There is another spring creek in Winneshiek County, Twin Springs Creek, that also flows directly out of a limestone formation. There is a komoot highlight, Twin Springs Park (https://www.komoot.com/highlight/6365536) at that location as well.
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A smaller cave, but one with rewarding tunnels and chambers if you don't mind narrowness. Wear clothes that can get dirty. Many of the caves at Maquoketa, and particularly this one, are damp and require crawling on hands, knees, and stomach to fully explore.
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Dancehall is the largest cave in Maquoketa Caves State Park. You can traverse almost its entire length on a concrete path to keep your feet dry.
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This is one of three entrances to the cave. The main portion of the cave has a concrete footpath throughout, but there are smaller corridors and chambers to explore as well.
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