We were on a long road trip and looking for spots to stop, stretch our legs, and give the kids a break from the car. This was the perfect stop! We loved riding the chair lift down to the tunnel and, wow, what an impressive sight! The river was beautiful and our kids loved wading in just a bit to cool off before heading back up the lift. The ranger service was wonderful with lots of tips and activities for the kids to do on small, manageable hikes. The kids also enjoyed playing on the train engine displayed near the parking lot. Definitely a great spot to visit even just to ride the lift down to the tunnel and back up! read more

Clearly, this place is marketed to resemble Natural Bridge, Virginia's better known (and frankly, more impressive) attraction. The park here is set up with a number of camping facilities and trails that have a separate entrance, while the attraction itself is accessible by parking at a visitor center and either walking down a fairly steep trail or taking a (seasonal) chairlift. On the dreary day I visited, there was barely a soul in sight, but the park seemed to be setting up for a winter lights festival. The tunnel itself is used for a railroad line, and a viewing platform allows you to go to the edge of the tunnel but you can't actually go through it, which is disappointing. The trail downstream through the gorge is pleasant and worth a brief jaunt but it terminates quickly. Those seeking more of a hike will find the ridge trail that heads upwards worthwhile, and the views of the tunnel from above are probably at least as good as what you'd get walking up close to it. The local Lover's Leap is majestic (and horrifying, if you think about it). I did not think it one of the more impressive state parks in either Virginia or in the the confluence of states in this region, but there are some nice things to see. read more

See all

Wonderful park, and such friendly staff! Has a good variety of trails with different difficulty levels. Definitely stop by the park office on the way in to ask about the trails, the ranger we met was incredibly helpful and highlighted some great trails. I've been to a good few state parks, and these are some of the most friendly rangers you could find- don't be afraid to ask them questions! I highly recommend taking the chairlift- this allows you to get down to (and more importantly, back up from) the tunnel and creek easily. If you have small kids or limited mobility, definitely choose the chairlift, as the walk back up involves many stairs. If planning to bring kids: for the upper trail (Lover's Leap), I recommend age at least 7-8, maybe younger if athletic (hills and stairs) and able to listen to directions. There are fences in place, just make sure nobody will try to climb them. For the lower area (getting to ground level of the tunnel) depends on whether you use the chairlift- with the chairlift, it's accessible for young ones as the area is pretty flat with just a few steps and small humps. Without the chairlift, make sure they're old enough to be ready to climb a LOT of steps. Overall, a really nice park with great rangers. Especially nice with the holiday lights! read more

Natural Tunnel State Park - View from Lover's Leap - Parks Near Me - Duffield, Virginia

See all

I love this place. It's beautiful!! The trails were amazing. The staff was amazing. Santa didn't give me a present, but the kids loved him so much lol read more

I went back to Natural Tunnel again and stayed in the exact same cabin. Did several of the trails, and was mostly completely by myself, and it was fantastic! Got to see the Tunnel from 3 different angles, Stock Creek for north side, Tunnel Trail for south, and the Lover's Leap for the bird's eye view, with real birds roosting and everything!! It's an amazing place surrounded by interesting things if you dare to adventure out!! read more

See all

Beautiful natural beauty and the chair lift ride is wonderful. Peaceful short walks to the tunnel and lovers leap as well as to Carters cabin read more

great view, and the tunnel is truly amazing. took the chairs to get to the tunnel, which was fun,

Price to park is $5 per car, collected at the gate house at the entrance. We drove up the hill to the visitors center, and checked it out, they have a small gift shop, and museum with some exhibits. We then bought a round trip ticket on the chair lift ($5 per person). After reaching the bottom, we walked over to the tunnel, and while we were there, a train came thru, which was awesome. You would think there would be a schedule for the train, but several employees said ithe same thing, that the train made random appearances. If you need to visit the restrooms, use the ones at the visitors center at the top. There is a single bathroom at the bottom, but it was similar to a port-o-John, and smelled terrible. read more

Natural Tunnel is a great place to go on a hike with your dog or family/friends :) gorgeous views especially in the fall. read more

Natural Tunnel State Park - Natural Tunnel - Parks Near Me - Duffield, Virginia

Nice State Park. Lots of trails. Park Host very helpful. He comes around selling firewood!

I've been camping for 35 years and have never seen a campground run as well as this one. We were supposed to just stay here for a night as we travelled from Cumberland Gap down to Myrtle Beach. We ended up staying a second night because this place was so awesome. The staff was so friendly and took their jobs very seriously. The park rangers really take pride in this facility, and it shows. If you can, stay in the Lover's Leap Loop - it's newer than the original one and has more shade. The bathrooms were spotless, everything was freshly cleaned and well maintained. I really enjoyed the campsites, they were large and flat, had lights to guide you in if you are backing up at night, and a really nice firepit. In addition to camping, the park has a really nice pool area with picnic shelters and a meeting / conference building. They are also building really nice cabins and expanding their hiking trail network. Other activities here include a nice chairlift ride down to the tunnel itself (which is pretty well ADA accessible if you can maneuver into a chairlift). I was pleasantly surprised by all of the hiking, there were more than 15 miles of hikes on the property and all of them were very pretty. If you are visiting the Cumberland Gap area or are looking for a nice place to camp, fish and relax in the Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee area; I really recommend you consider this park. read more

See all

Absolutely gorgeous state park, words couldn't even begin to describe. Stopped spur of the moment on a roadtrip from WV to TN, in hopes to find a restroom, but ended up finding so much more! Our 5 minute pit stop ended up being 2 hours. $5 admission fee per vehicle. Well worth the price for all they have to offer. My first ride on a chair lift $4 per person for a round trip. They let us take our little PomChi (8 lb dog) free of cost. We explored Lover's leap and enjoyed the plaques displaying the legendary story. My boyfriend and I made a pact we will make a trip down to rent a cabin or take advantage of their camping area. We also lucked out and got to see a train!! This place is a must see. read more

See all

Lots of outdoor beauty, hiking trails and by far my favorite.... Chairlifts! It's a beautiful reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the grind read more

Awesome little visit. Nice value, $8 to enter, park and take the chairlift down to the "bowl" and natural tunnel that runs 850 feet under the hillside, large enough to contain an active freight train track. It was a pleasant surprise how unique and large both features were and back up top, was a giftshop/museum that high-lighted the features and history of this wonder of nature. Many trails and campsites dot the park and some waterfalls reward the determined hikers. A great place to spend an hour or two, or stay busy all day and cover the whole park. read more

It was definitely not what I was expecting. I was pleasantly amazed by the whole park even though we only explored a section of it. We were looking for a place to camp after our hike and the first place we visited did not compare. I'm glad we found this gem. I wish I had more time to explore what the park had to offer. The park has two camping grounds with with clean facilities. The campsites were available to RVs. We were a bit confused at first if we could set camp without a RV since everyone else around us had an RV. We came after hours so the only information we got were from brochures. The only thing I didn't like was how much we had to pay. I didn't mind paying but the amount we paid was the same amount for those who had a RV? It didn't make any sense to me. We didn't even use the outlet that was available. read more

I have lived here and I will tell you, don't waist your time or Money to come to a crap town like this. They are absolutely nothing here because the rich people don't want anything here that may interrupt their day of doing nothing but counting their money... It's a waist of a life to live here with no hospital no anything but dirty cops. That we have more than enough of. read more

Natural Tunnel State Park - Just lots of trash - Parks Near Me - Duffield, Virginia

What a super cool place to go! Especially during the winter time! Go check out Gods beautiful creation!

We only had time to take the tunnel trail to see the natural tunnel as we were only on our way through VA but boy was it a nice little hike with a great payoff at the end. When we got to the park we paid $3 to enter and we talked with the lady running the entrance booth. She was very friendly and answered all of our questions with a smile. We then parked and hit up the visitor center to ask to be pointed in the direction of the tunnel trail. The woman in the visitors center was also very friendly and helpful. They also had a lift to take you down to the tunnel and back up. We headed towards the 1/2 mile round trip trail and really enjoyed the hike. The natural tunnel itself was incredible to see and we took a ton of pictures. You can not go into the tunnel as the train tracks are still active. This was a little disappointing but I got over it for the views. We took a bunch of photos and then headed back to the visitors center where we walked through the little museum and bought some souvenirs. I wish we had more time to spend at the park as it was excellent, especially for a state park. I give The Natural Tunnel State Park 5 Doubledays as it really exceeded all of my expectations. Great job! read more

As nonresident visitor to Natural Tunnel State Park, we thought $40/night is fairly expensive for partial hookup site. Our site LL10 is close enough to the comfort station, it was spacious for trailer maneuvering and pretty much out there in the open. The flat gravel and leveled sites with 30/50amp lighted pedestal and clean drinking water make our stay comfortable. But our site need more shade from crazy hot sun (is it our imagination or the sun here very hot?), as well as other sites on the Lover Leap loop. Other loop in the campground such as EW was 20/30amp for $30/night but sites are alot closer together but benefiting from mature tree shades. Comfort station is very short distance away, and it was immaculately clean with good color scheme; showers are clean and functional so as the toilets. The laundromat also build-in with 2 pairs of coin-op washers/dryers. Grass around the campground kept short and green. No WiFi at campground but LTE/3G signal is good. WiFi maybe had at perpetually closed camp-store in front. Now very campground/region has their own bug; whether huge daddy long legs, European hornets... this has lots of shield-shaped stink bugs that love to hitchhiking on your trailer crook and crannies. Nice settings and facilities but a bit overpriced. We'll find another campground if come back this way again. read more

This state park has a lot of cool things to see and do. We walked from our campsite at Lover's Leap loop via the Gorge Ridge trail to Lover's Leap. This is a cool view of the Natural Tunnel and the site where the Cherokee maiden and a Shawnee brave jumped to their death according to signs at the site. From there, we continued down the Lover's Leap Trail down to the visitor center and chair lift area. These were both closed until April which meant the only way down to the tunnel was the Tunnel Trail. This trail is only 0.27 miles long and has many stairs and switchbacks making it doable for most. The Natural Tunnel and Stock Creek running along the side are truly worth the walk down and even worth the walk back up. We took the Gorge Ridge Trail back up from the visitor center lot which was easier and shorter than the route we took on the way down. Bath, shower and laundry facilities were clean and new. Our campsite was level and well maintained. read more

Even though the campground said it was full we continued into natural tunnel and got one of the last spots. If we were not just passing though Virginia we could have stayed at Natural Tunnel for a week. There was lots of vast open areas in this secluded park. Not to mention the very clean bathrooms that had no bugs or scum on the floor. From lush shady pull through camp sites, pool (included in purchase) and friendly people it was the perfect camping experience. read more

We got there early and hiked down to the tunnel and back. When we came up the lift was on, lol, of course, but it is good exercise! What a wonderful piece of nature!!! Glad we went. read more

Great park. Take the lift down to the bottom of the canyon and look up at Lovers Peak and take in the natural beauty of the natural tunnel. Plenty of walking trails that are easy enough to enjoy with the family. And the public pool slide is amazing... Incredibly fast! read more