Howe Caverns

Do like Lil Jon says and “get low,” New York. At Howe Caverns, the state’s second-most visited natural attraction after Niagara Falls, you can descend 156 feet under the earth’s surface, peeping beautiful stalactites and stalagmites along the way. The main attractions here are the 15-stories-below- ground limestone cave and the Lake of Venus, best seen on a lantern-guided tour on Friday or Saturday nights. Novice explorers should make sure to catch the newest attraction: the Signature Rock Discovery tour, which exposes rocks and areas of the cave that haven’t been seen for a long time— like a hundred friggin’ years. And more seasoned folks can team up with spelunkers and squeeze themselves through some pretty tight passageways.