Saint Paul Historic Wabasha Street Cave Tour

About this activity

Smartphone tickets accepted

Duration: 1 hour

English

Immediate confirmation

From

S$23 S$21

No hidden fees

Your booking is confirmed instantly
This activity is in your language

Descend into the Saint Paul underground and discover the legendary Wabasha Street Caves, sandstone tunnels where smugglers, gangsters and miners sought refuge since the 19th century. For just over an hour, an expert guide will lead you through hand-carved halls, art deco murals and clandestine passageways that still retain echoes of Prohibition. Meeting point: main entrance to the caves (215 Wabasha St. S.); recommended for ages 5 and up.

Book your ticket and avoid the queues at the ticket office.
Walk through original passageways and hear stories of Prohibition-era gangsters.
Photograph unique murals without worrying about lighting: the tour includes LED spotlights.

Entrance and guided tour of the historic caves
Digital map with chronology and fun facts
Transfers to/from the meeting point
Drinks at the Amphitheatre Café (available at the end of the tour)

Select participants and date

As you walk through the arched doorway and feel the temperature change, the guide reveals how the soft sandstone of the Mississippi riverbank was dug as early as 1840 to store ice and mushrooms. Later, with the advent of Prohibition, these same tunnels were transformed into speakeasies decorated with Tiffany lamps and live jazz music. You'll walk on the original floor, marked by flappers' heels and bootleggers' footprints, as you listen to the escape manoeuvres of names like John Dillinger and Ma Barker.

Between vaulted chambers emerges a grand ballroom dug into the rock; the walls still display art deco murals protected by a natural patina of minerals. Each brushstroke narrates scenes of glamour hidden beneath the surface. Further along, a narrow corridor leads to the 'gun room', where bullet-riddled boulders and barrels that hid bottles of Canadian whisky are on display.

The tour concludes in the mushroom cave, testimony to the post-war agricultural period, and in the small museum displaying sepia photographs, mug shots and marked playing cards. You'll emerge back into the daylight with a sense of having travelled back in time, from the iron and coal rush to the sparkling underground of jazz.