UKH

I want to take my 5yo niece to one of the showcaves, which one is the most spectacular/exciting?

Devil's Arse is the biggest, most impressive cave (and has the best name). Speedwell is cool as you go down it in a boat. Tbh they're both a little underwhelming, particularly for the price but I it's still fun.

I'd recommend going to The Devils Arse on a film night. That's really fun as you're not just looking at some rock and it's decent value for money.

Treak Cliffe is probably the most interesting.

I was cave mad as a kid and went in all of them. They're all worth doing and have their attractions. Overall, I reckon Peak Cavern is the most impressive and spectacular. You can tell your niece about Neil Moss if she's interested in horrible ways of dying (he's been in there since 1959).

We enjoyed Treak Cliffe recently, it was annoying how every group had the phone app playing the commentary out of sync with each other and meant we didn’t hang out at the interesting bits as long as we might have wanted. 

It's much better having a real guide, Stumphole Caverns have a good one. 

Eugh! Those headset audio guides are bad enough, but phone apps without headphones would be a huge turnoff. As above I'd much prefer a real person giving the tour.

Stump Cross (near Greenhow in the Dales)? I've not been since childhood. I can't recall now if there was a guide or if you just wandered around unescorted.

We went to Stumpcross about 2 years ago and it was self guided. They also turned the lights off for a period and you could see the fluorescent parts of the rock….which was pretty cool for the kids 

I would agree, but when we went it was guided which also made it interesting/meant kids could ask (random) questions 

Yes. A human guide can make or break the visit. The first cave I visited as a kid was Ingleborough Cave (1968?). It was before electric lighting was installed and we were given handheld hurricane lamps (no hard hats of course). The guide could tell I was fascinated and he let me and my brother take ourselves up a little side loop off of the tourist route. It fired me up to become a potholer a few years later. At Treak Cliff, the guide scrabbled around in a mined area and gave me a muddy chunk of rock which he told me to clean up at home. It was a chunk of Blue John the size of my small hand. No audio tour would have made the same impression on me that these guys did. They were cavers as well as guides.

"It's in the darkness I see the boy's face"........