The Hellfire Caves

What it’s like

A guided walk through real tunnels and chambers cut into the Chiltern hills, with an underground river and a banqueting hall to gawp at.

You go underground here, properly underground, following passageways dug into the Chiltern Hills that open out into chambers with names like the banqueting hall. There's an underground river down there too, and enough secret passageways to make the whole thing feel like a proper adventure rather than a museum with a torch. The daytime tour takes 1 to 1.5 hours, so it's a decent chunk of a morning or afternoon without eating the whole day.

The tunnels are narrow, which is the atmosphere but also the catch: pushchairs and wheelchairs don't fit, full stop. They'll park your pushchair for you and hand you a baby sling instead, which is a reasonable fix but worth knowing before you turn up with a toddler asleep in the buggy. Everyone, ticket or not, can still use the café, gift shop and courtyard at the entrance, and Clara's Corner soft play sits inside the café for younger children who aren't doing the tunnels.

Tickets are £9.50 for an adult and £8 for a child under 16, and under 2s go free. They're non-refundable, so a change of plan on the day is your problem, not theirs. There's an evening candlelight tour too, running a longer 2 hours, though that's a different mood entirely to the daytime version.

Parking is the other thing to plan around: the main car park is 200 spaces but it's a 5-minute walk to the caves themselves, and space right at the entrance is very limited. Dogs can join you in the courtyard but not inside the caves or café. Opening hours shift a fair bit across the year, with spooky decorations going up in late October and a full closure in mid-November for Santa's Grotto, so the caves you'd see in summer aren't quite the same as the ones you'd see approaching Halloween.

Facilities

Need to know

Best for

Confident walkers rather than buggies; younger kids have Clara's Corner instead

Last entry

30 minutes before published closing times

Booking

Online booking recommended. Group bookings of 20+ require contact with venue

Parking

200-space car park at HP14 3AP, a 5-minute walk away

How long to allow

Daytime guided tour lasts 1-1.5 hours

Food

On-site café serving Origin coffee, loose-leaf tea, and locally sourced produce

Pushchairs

Not suitable due to tunnel width

Wheelchairs

Not accessible. Pushchair parking and baby slings provided for convenience

Dogs

Not permitted in caves or cafe

Parties

Kids parties available at Hellfire School of Witchcraft & Wizardry

Worth knowing

Under 2s go free

• Last admission to the caves is 30 minutes before closing, so don't cut it fine.
• The caves get decorated for Halloween from 18 October to 1 November, and close for a few days beforehand to put it all up.
• They close mid-November through Christmas Eve for Santa's Grotto, so this isn't a festive-season visit.
• From 30 March to 4 October 2026 they're open every day, which makes summer planning easier.

Plan your visit

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