Favourites (0)
    Other sites
    English

    Caves and swallow holes

    There are wide open spaces underground too

    Beneath your feet there's a parallel world. In Occitania / Pyrenees-Mediterranean you can visit mysterious decorated caves like the ones at Niaux in Ariège and explore the hidden depths of magnificent swallow holes like the Gouffre de Padirac in Lot. Lived in by prehistoric man or opened up more recently by cavers, our underground attractions with their amazing stalactite formations and rock paintings are waiting to be explored.
    View

    Unmissable highlights

    • LotGouffre de Padirac
      44.85815044485841.75053834175005
      la Grande Pendeloque et la Rivière outerraineGouffre de Padirac
      • Lieu-dit "Le Gouffre"
      • 46500 PADIRAC
      • Site
      la Grande Pendeloque et la Rivière outerraine

      Gouffre de Padirac

      PADIRAC ,Lot

      From 30 Mars to 3 Novembre 2019

      After a vertiginous descent by lift or on foot down to a depth of 103 metres below the ground, you take a trip in a small boat on the underground river through majestic galleries. Then the Grande Pendeloque comes into view - a giant 60 m high stalactite - which seems to hang by a thread, admiring itself in the Rain Lake. After disembarking, you take a walking tour to the Lake of Gours and the Great Dome Cavern whose vault rises 94 metres above you. This cavern is full of concretions of all shapes and sizes: candelabras, cascades of calcite, eccentrics...Nature's own Baroque sculpture gallery, formed over millions of years.After a vertiginous descent...

      View details
    • Hautes PyrénéesGOUFFRE D'ESPARROS
      43.0299960.32996289
      2016-gouffre-esparros-argeles-gazostGOUFFRE D'ESPARROS
      • Route du Gouffre
      • 65130 ESPARROS
      • Site
      2016-gouffre-esparros-argeles-gazost

      GOUFFRE D'ESPARROS

      ESPARROS ,Hautes Pyrénées

      The abyss of Esparros benefits from the latest Leds lighting technologies to better protect you and better discover this universe. In 2017, the Gouffre d'Esparros celebrates its 20th anniversary! Contact the Tourist Office Neste Baronnies to know the program of the events of the year. The chasm of Esparros is classified underground heritage remarkable and is among the most beautiful underground sites by the beauty and the profusion of its crystals, real flowers of stone. Visit sound and light in large rooms and galleries decorated with draperies, walls covered with aragonite, gypsum or calcite, forming a real mineral garden. This protected site...

      View details
    • AriègeGROTTE DU MAS D'AZIL
      43.079391.36147
      Grotte du Mas d'Azil - Mas d'Azil (Ariège)GROTTE DU MAS D'AZIL
      • 09290 LE MAS D'AZIL
      • Site
      Grotte du Mas d'Azil - Mas d'Azil (Ariège)

      GROTTE DU MAS D'AZIL

      LE MAS D'AZIL ,Ariège

      This cave was long a refuge both for animals (rhinoceros, bears and mammoths) and humans (from the Magdalenians to the Huguenots). The story of the cave is told through a sound and light slide show in a natural theatre at the heart of the cave. There is also a reconstruction of a Magdalenian home. Access is via a natural tunnel. It is the only cave in Europe that can be crossed by car.

      View details
     
    Project co-financed by the European Union. Europe is partnering Midi-Pyrénées with the European Regional Development Fund.