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Tennessee events › Itineraries › Cumberland Plateau Waterfalls and Caves
Cumberland Plateau Waterfalls and Caves: a 3-day plan with 5 stops, 4 of them state parks and 1 attraction, each with admission, dog rules and hours or notes copied from the official page. 4 list free entry. Each stop has a planning estimate for time on site and the road time to the next stop; drive times from four cities are in the table when the stop is in our file.
- Days3plan, then adjust
- Stops5each with a source
- State Parks4official park pages
- Free Entry4as the page states
Trip Kit
Plan It With Your People
Pick a start date, then send the plan to your group chat, put every day in your calendar, or open each day as a route in Google Maps.
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Two waterfall parks on the Upper Cumberland, close to each other.
Day at a glance: about 4 h 30 min at the stops plus 44 min on the road between them, 5 h 14 min in all. Leave at 9:00 a.m. and you finish around 2:14 p.m., before meals and the drive to and from where you sleep.
Burgess Falls State Park
Baxter, Putnam County · State parkFree Entry
Activities the park lists: fishing, hiking, paddling, waterfall viewing.
- Plan about
- 2 h (our estimate)
- Arrive about
- 9:00 a.m. (our estimate)
- Priority
- Essential (our pick)
- Admission
- Free: no access fee at any Tennessee state park
- Hours
- Not confirmed: the park page we read does not print day-use hours
- Dogs
- Dogs/cats/other pets permitted if leashed, crated, caged or otherwise under physical restrictive control;
Checked October 30, 2026. Official page
Cummins Falls State Park
Cookeville, Jackson County · State parkFree Entry
Activities the park lists: hiking.
- Plan about
- 2 h 30 min (our estimate)
- Arrive about
- 11:44 a.m.
- Priority
- Essential (our pick)
- Admission
- Free: no access fee at any Tennessee state park
- Hours
- Not confirmed: the park page we read does not print day-use hours
- Dogs
- Dogs/cats/other pets permitted if leashed, crated, caged or otherwise under physical restrictive control;
Checked October 30, 2026. Official page
About 44 min by road (19 mi) from Burgess Falls State Park
The largest state park on the plateau; plan a full day.
Day at a glance: about 5 h at the stop. Leave at 9:00 a.m. and you finish around 2:00 p.m., before meals and the drive to and from where you sleep.
Fall Creek Falls State Park
Spencer, Van Buren County · State parkFree Entry
Activities the park lists: birding, camping, fishing, golfing, hiking, mountain biking, paddling.
- Plan about
- 5 h (our estimate)
- Arrive about
- 9:00 a.m. (our estimate)
- Priority
- Essential (our pick)
- Admission
- Free: no access fee at any Tennessee state park
- Hours
- Not confirmed: the park page we read does not print day-use hours
- Dogs
- Dogs/cats/other pets permitted if leashed, crated, caged or otherwise under physical restrictive control;
Checked October 30, 2026. Official page
A cave attraction and a state archaeological park.
Day at a glance: about 3 h at the stops plus 26 min on the road between them, 3 h 26 min in all. Leave at 9:00 a.m. and you finish around 12:26 p.m., before meals and the drive to and from where you sleep.
Cumberland Caverns
McMinnville, Warren County · Attraction
A large cave near McMinnville offering guided walking tours, adventure tours and overnight packages. Directions page confirms the town as McMinnville.
- Plan about
- 2 h (our estimate)
- Arrive about
- 9:00 a.m. (our estimate)
- Priority
- Essential (our pick)
- Admission
- Discovery walking tour (90 min): ages 13+ $32; ages 5-12 $25; age 4 and under free; Cardwell Mountain History walking tour (45 min): ages 13+ $25; ages 5-12 $17; age 4 and under free
- Hours
- Open Year Round, 7 Days/Week; tour times shown in the online booking calendar
- Dogs
- Pets and emotional support animals are not allowed on tours. Trained service animals allowed on walking tours, not on adventure tours or overnight packages.
Checked October 30, 2026. Official page
Cardwell Mountain State Archaeological Park
McMinnville, Warren County · State parkFree Entry
- Plan about
- 1 h (our estimate)
- Arrive about
- 11:26 a.m.
- Priority
- Optional (our pick)
- Admission
- Free: no access fee at any Tennessee state park
- Hours
- Not confirmed: the park page we read does not print day-use hours
- Dogs
- Dogs/cats/other pets permitted if leashed, crated, caged or otherwise under physical restrictive control;
Checked October 30, 2026. Official page
About 26 min by road (8 mi) from Cumberland Caverns
More Stops If You Have Time
Rock Island State Park
Rock Island, Warren County · State parkFree Entry
Activities the park lists: birding, camping, hiking, paddling, swimming.
- Plan about
- 1 h 30 min (our estimate)
- Priority
- Optional (our pick)
- Admission
- Free: no access fee at any Tennessee state park
- Hours
- Not confirmed: the park page we read does not print day-use hours
- Dogs
- Dogs/cats/other pets permitted if leashed, crated, caged or otherwise under physical restrictive control;
Checked October 30, 2026. Official page
Savage Gulf State Natural Area
Beersheba Springs, Grundy County · State parkFree Entry
- Plan about
- 2 h 30 min (our estimate)
- Priority
- Optional (our pick)
- Admission
- Free: no access fee at any Tennessee state park
- Hours
- Not confirmed: the park page we read does not print day-use hours
- Dogs
- Dogs/cats/other pets permitted if leashed, crated, caged or otherwise under physical restrictive control;
Checked October 30, 2026. Official page
Drive Times From Four Cities
| Stop | Nashville | Memphis | Knoxville | Chattanooga |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cumberland Caverns | 118 min | 340 min | 152 min | 117 min |
OpenStreetMap road routing, no live traffic, read October 19, 2026. Stops without a row are not in our drive-times file. Full table: drive times to Tennessee attractions.
Map of Cumberland Plateau Waterfalls and Caves
Frequently Asked Questions
How many days do I need?
This plan is built for 3 days. Stops are listed in a workable order, not a promise that every one fits in your time.
How were the times worked out?
Road times between stops come from OpenStreetMap road routing with no live traffic. Time on site and the Essential or Optional label are our planning estimates, so treat the day totals as a starting point and read each operator’s hours.
Are the prices and hours current?
Each stop was read on its own official page on the date shown under it. Prices and hours change by season; use the official page link before you go.
Where are the events?
Dated events change every week, so they are not on this page. Pick your dates in the trip kit above, then open the event finder for what is on.
What We Could Not Confirm
- Burgess Falls State ParkHours not confirmed on the page we read; check the official page before you go.
- Cummins Falls State ParkHours not confirmed on the page we read; check the official page before you go.
- Fall Creek Falls State ParkHours not confirmed on the page we read; check the official page before you go.
- Cardwell Mountain State Archaeological ParkHours not confirmed on the page we read; check the official page before you go.
- Rock Island State ParkHours not confirmed on the page we read; check the official page before you go.
- Savage Gulf State Natural AreaHours not confirmed on the page we read; check the official page before you go.
- Road times between stops come from OpenStreetMap road routing (OSRM), read October 30, 2026, with no live traffic, closures, ferry waits or seasonal road status; real trips can take longer, and the trip kit’s route buttons open current Google Maps directions.
- Time at each stop, the Essential or Optional label and every arrival time are our own planning estimates, not figures from the operators. Arrival times assume a 9:00 a.m. start and no meal stops. We did not check each arrival against that stop’s opening hours, so confirm hours on the official page.
- Map pins are the park’s own printed coordinates, or for an attraction a Census geocode of its street address or an OpenStreetMap point (see its place page). They are not verified entrances or parking areas; confirm the entrance on the official page before you drive.
Sources
- Burgess Falls State Park (state park page)
- Cummins Falls State Park (state park page)
- Fall Creek Falls State Park (state park page)
- Cumberland Caverns (operator page)
- Cardwell Mountain State Archaeological Park (state park page)
- Rock Island State Park (state park page)
- Savage Gulf State Natural Area (state park page)
- OSRM routing on OpenStreetMap data
- OpenStreetMap place points
Read on October 30, 2026. Road times are computed from park GPS and OpenStreetMap points without traffic. How we check: editorial standards; spot a mistake? Tell us.
Cite this page: It's Tennessee, “Cumberland Plateau Waterfalls and Caves”, itstennessee.com/itineraries/cumberland-plateau-waterfalls/ (updated ). By the It's Tennessee editorial team. Free to quote with attribution and a link to this page; data and tables are licensed CC BY 4.0.