Bonnechere Caves • Renfrew County • Ottawa Valley, Eastern Ontario
Wander 500 million-year-old limestone passageways where dripping stalactites, ancient coral fossils, and the steady rush of the Bonnechere River create Ontario’s coolest natural cathedral.
Visitor Experience
📍 Location 1247 Fourth Chute Rd., 8 km east of Eganville
📅 Season / Best Time Victoria Day – Thanksgiving • Coolest on hot summer afternoons
⏰ Hours Daily 10 am–4:30 pm • Guided tours on the half-hour (45 min)
💲 Admission $23 adult • $20 senior • $17 youth (6-17) • Kids ≤ 5 free
♿ Accessibility Visitor centre & deck accessible • Cave trail has stairs & low ceilings
🅿️🚻 Amenities Free parking • Flush washrooms • Picnic shelter • Snack bar & fossil shop
🕒 Recommended Time 90 min (tour + riverside walk)
🌐 Contact bonnecherecaves.com • 613-628-2283
What You Need to Know
Cave temperature hovers around 10 °C, pack a sweater. Waterproof shoes help on damp walkways, and flash photography is welcome (no tripods).
Why Bonnechere Caves Belong on Your Road-Trip Map
Slip through barn-red doors and descend into a subterranean landscape chiselled when Ontario lay beneath a tropical sea. Guides point out crinoid stems, gastropods, and a metre-long cephalopod fossil glinting in flashlight beams, then douse all light so you can hear nothing but water droplets in total darkness, a spine-tingling moment kids never forget. After the tour, follow a short trail to see the Bonnechere River plunge through Fourth Chute gorge, or spread lunch at a cedar-shaded picnic table while turkey vultures wheel overhead.
Fun Fact:
The caves sit in the Trenton Group limestone, the same rock used to build Parliament’s original Centre Block in 1865.
Bonnechere River
