Caves: the finest sites in France

Aven Armand

In September 1897, Louis Armand, Édouard-Alfred Martel and Armand Viré discovered this fantastic cavern for the first time.

Aven Grotte de Marzal

The Aven Grotte de Marzal was reported in 1892 by the master of speleology, E.A. Martel, as a natural wonder.

Aven d'Orgnac

The Aven d'Orgnac, first of all: 30,000 m² of developed caves to visit down a staircase of nearly 800 steps that takes you 150 m underground, to discover a world of concretions, stalagmites and stalactites.

Gouffre de Proumeyssac

Already famous in the eighteenth century for its terrifying legends, the Proumeyssac chasm was only explored in 1907.

Grotte de Bétharram

The Bétharram caves are among the most beautiful that exist, and certainly the most curious to visit, because in the variety of their aspects they give the key to the formation of almost all caves, dead or fully active.

Grotte de Dargilan

On the Causse Noir, overlooking the Jonte gorges, it is the largest cave of the Causses and the Cévennes and one of the largest underground halls in France.

Grotte de Lascaux

Located in the Dordogne near the village of Montignac-sur-Vézère, in the heart of the Périgord Noir, the Lascaux cave is the masterpiece of prehistoric art.

Grotte des Demoiselles

Located not far from the Cirque de Navacelle, this cave is in fact an old aven whose opening is on the Thaurac plateau.

Grottes de Choranche

In the heart of the Vercors, explore this cave hidden in the lush nature of the Choranche cirque. The water of the underground lakes and rivers floods the crystalline whiteness of the concretions with emerald reflections.

Aven Grotte de la Forestière

Easily accessible to everyone since it has only 60 steps. In the cave you can see the zoo where live cave-dwelling animals are exhibited.

Grotte Les Cuves de Sassenage

From its historic town, Sassenage invites you to discover the Cuves cave formed at the foot of the Vercors, listed as natural heritage and named the 4th wonder of the Dauphiné.

Grotte de Bédeilhac

The Bédeilhac cave is in the basin of Tarascon-sur-Ariège, a few kilometres from Niaux and Fontanet.

Grotte de Fontrabiouse

The Fontrabiouse cave, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, is equipped for guided visits all year round on a route of about an hour.

Grotte de St Marcel

The access is on the edge of the tourist road of the Ardèche Gorges. Listed as national heritage since 1934.

Grotte de bellevue

Located 1.5 km north-west of Marcilhac-sur-Célé, the Bellevue cave offers concretions of remarkable richness.

Grotte de la Cocalière

The Cocalière cave, in the commune of Courry in the Gard, stretches out its knotty arms, long endless galleries, to visitors who advance, a little intimidated.

Grotte de la Draye Blanche

It was Fabien Rey who discovered the Draye Blanche cave when he lost a dog. The dog had fallen through the entrance of a hole.

Grotte de la Luire

The Luire cave is in the heart of the Vercors, not far from Saint-Agnan.

Grotte de la Madeleine

In the heart of a natural site rated three stars in the Michelin guide and whose beauty has won over the most fervent lovers of wild nature, the Madeleine cave is one of the most surprising structures shaped by underground water.

Grotte de la Salamandre

You can discover the site in four ways: the viewpoint with a panoramic view of the cave, the guided tour, the Grand Rappel (50 metres' descent to discover the immense hall from its ceiling) and the Coulisses (two hours of caving adventure in the cave's hidden galleries).

Grotte de la balme

The Balme caves are among the most beautiful in France, of which they represent a true synthesis.

Grotte de lombrives

The largest cave in the European Community developed for the public, a vast underground world with rich isolated concretions among long galleries of fairy-tale appearance: the mammoth, the tomb of Pyrene, the throne of Bébrix, the hall of a thousand columns...

Grotte des Huguenots

On the tourist road of the Ardèche Gorges, a 30 m pointed-arch porch shelters a speleological and prehistoric exhibition.

Grotte des Moidons

Ten minutes from Arbois (Jura), discover a real masterpiece of nature.

Grotte du Mas-d'Azil

The Mas d'Azil cave: carved in the heart of the Plantaurel range, it offers an underground complex unique in Europe.

Grotte du Sdragonato

The Sdragonato cave, or dragon cave, is a sea cave carved into the cliffs of Bonifacio, in Corse-du-Sud, accessible only by boat from the port.

Grotte du Trabuc

The Trabuc cave is the largest underground network in the Cévennes. The Underground Safari route follows the main galleries, those travelled by the first discoverers.

Grottes de Fauzan

The first known inhabitants were certainly from the Palaeolithic, since they left many traces in the natural caves of the Fauzan site.

Grottes de Saulges

A group of natural cavities carved into a limestone canyon, of which two developed caves can be visited: the Margot cave and the Rochefort cave.

Grottes de Savonnières

A natural curiosity, pointed out by Bernard Palissy in 1547.

Grottes de la Falouse

The Meuse describes a great curve here, bordered on its left bank by 400 m of limestone quarry face pierced by about fifteen underground galleries, near the village of Belleray.

Grottes du Cerdon

The Cerdon caves, between Lake Nantua and the Ain river, offer a route rich in lessons and discoveries.

Grottes du Régulus

Troglodyte dwellings among the most original in France, since they are dug into living cliffs.

Grottes préhistoriques de Soyons

At the southern exit of the village, the caves occupy the east face of the Serre de Guercy.

La Grotte d'Harpéa

The Harpéa cave is a rock shelter in the commune of Estérençuby, in Basse-Navarre, at about 850 metres' altitude, a few metres from the Spanish border.

La Grotte de la Glacière

Located at Chaux-lès-Passavant, 30 km from Besançon, in the middle of the forest, this open-air cave collects the cold air and water seeping from the vault to form a large reserve of ice, a phenomenon unique in Europe at this altitude of 525 m. A mineral exhibition of more than 5,000 crystals from the...

La Grotte du Grand Roc

Set into a magnificent cliff overlooking the Vézère, the Grand Roc cave is an exceptional jewel.

Le gouffre de la fage

In the Limousin between Périgord and Quercy, the Gouffre de la Fage is all the magic of the underground world...

les grottes du Quéroy

About thirty chambers carved by underground water in the limestone plateau: a developed route of eight hundred metres of galleries lets you discover the limestone concretions, stalactites and stalagmites.

Abime de Bramabiau

The abyss is the only active network (underground river) developed in France.

Gouffre de Cabrespine

Overlooking the little village of Cabrespine in the Aude département, near the Pic de Nore, highest point of the Montagne Noire, the Gouffre Géant de Cabrespine is one of the largest caves in the world open to tourism.

Gouffre de Padirac

The Padirac chasm is a natural cavity 75 m deep that opens in the surface of the Causse de Gramat in the Lot, beneath which, at 103 m, flows an underground river.

Gouffre de Poudrey

It could contain Notre-Dame cathedral of Paris! Giving access to an immense hall that gives us from the entrance the feeling of entering a sacred place, the Poudrey chasm takes us 70 metres below ground.

Grotte des Merveilles

Discovered on 16 October 1920 and listed as a Historic Monument on 16 May 1925, the Grotte des Merveilles opens on the Causse de Rocamadour, a vast limestone plateau eaten away by the flow of underground water.

Grotte Marines de Porthos

Belle-Île-en-Mer, on the Atlantic Ocean facing Quiberon, is the largest of the Ponant islands but also the wildest.

Grotte d'Arcy sur Cure

Grotte de Lacave

Vast caves with concretions where an electric train and a lift bring you to the starting point, galleries leading to the Lake hall and the Hall of Marvels where "black light" creates fine effects.

Grotte de Pech Merle

Known to prehistoric man, who performed the rites of his religion there, this cave was rediscovered 200 centuries later, in 1922.