Bellevue State Park
Check pricesEastern Iowa state park with Mississippi River overlooks, trails, a butterfly garden, and camping at its Dyas Unit.

Photo: Gardner.glen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.
Hike six miles of trails linking about 13 caves, a 50-foot natural bridge and a 17-ton balanced rock.
9688 Caves Rd · Maquoketa, IA
This park in Iowa's Driftless Area holds more caves than any other Iowa state park. A six-mile trail system links about 13 caves, including Dancehall Cave, which runs 1,100 feet into the bluff, plus a 50-foot Natural Bridge over Raccoon Creek and a 17-ton Balanced Rock. Some caves you can walk through, while others suit spelunkers ready to crawl through tight spaces. Stone shelters built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s still stand, and there is a campground.
The closest stops to Maquoketa Caves State Park, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.
Eastern Iowa state park with Mississippi River overlooks, trails, a butterfly garden, and camping at its Dyas Unit.
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Ride a tiny funicular cable car 189 feet up the bluff for views of downtown Dubuque, the Mississippi and three states.
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Watch sturgeon, river otters and rays in more than a dozen aquariums, then see a historic Mississippi River steamboat dredge.
Transit: reachable by public transit
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