16 Caves to Explore in France

The Aven Armand cave, discovered in 1897 by Louis Armand, Martel's second-in-command, has a forest of over 400 stalagmites in its immense underground chamber. It is not exactly a cave: the latter is a horizontal underground cavity, more or less deep, comprising at least one accessible part. It has been open to the public since 1927 after a man-made tunnel and walkway paths were created to permit easier viewing of the Grand Salle.

The Aven d'Orgnac is a subterranean cavity classed as a Grand Site de France and situated near the town of Orgnac-l'Aven. With its origins going back more than 100 million years, the Aven d'Orgnac presents a sight of spectacular beauty. Time has fashioned fabulous and wildly diverse crystalline formations that can be seen in the gigantic chambers. One of the beautiful places in this area which shows light to natural beauty.

The eighth longest explored cave in the world and the second deepest cave in the United states and It is most famous for its unusual geology, rare formations, and pristine condition. ess to the cave is limited to approved scientific researchers, survey and exploration teams, and National Park Service management-related trips.

The famous Niaux Cave is located in the northern foothills of the Pyrenees just south of the French town of Foix. It is one of Europe's most impressive Palaeolithic rock art galleries of cave paintings. There are more than two kilometres of galleries, with a hundred or more superb paintings from Magdalenian times, most of which are in the famous 'Salon Noir', 800 metres from the entrance.

The caves of Arcy-sur-Cure are a series of caves located on the commune of Arcy-sur-Cure, Burgundy, France. Some of them contained archaeological artifacts, from the Mousterian to Gallo-Roman times. Some hold remarkable parietal art, the second oldest presently known after those of the Chauvet cave. Another notable characteristic of these caves is the time-long series of pollen, related to determined and consistent archaeological levels. Listed monument Historique in 1992, they are partially op

The Chauvet Cave is a Palaeolithic cave situated near Vallon-Pont-d’Arc in the Ardèche region of southern France that houses the best-preserved, exquisite examples of prehistoric art. it is considered one of the most significant prehistoric art sites and the UN’s cultural agency UNESCO granted it World Heritage status. Its age and artistry have made us reconsider the story of art as well as the capabilities of these humans. The cave has been granted UNESCO World Heritage status.

The Proumeyssac gulf is a natural cavity in the town of Audrix, in Dordogne, in the department of Dordogne, in region New Aquitaine. It is open to visitors. Among the natural sites of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, the site ranks fifth in terms of tourist attendance in 2018 with 131,036 visitors.

The Chauvet 2 Cave - Ardèche is a replica of the Chauvet cave. Its construction began in October 2012 and it was opened to the public in 2015. It is a cultural, scientific, and technological project, unique in both its design and its size which in fact the largest ornate cave replica in the world.

The cave of Font-de-Gaume is an ornate French cave located in the former commune of Eyzies-de-Tayac, in the Dordogne department. Its walls have more than 200 Magdalenian engravings and paintings. It is among the last major decorated caves in France with polychrome works, which are open to the public. The works are comparable in their richness to those of Arcy-sur-Cure, Altamira or Lascaux , even if their state of conservation is much less.

These limestone caves are host to a wide variety of unique mineral formations and a perfect year-round place for all ages to visit. At various times in history, the cave has also served as a hiding place and refuge. At the time, visiting the cave was quite perilous, but in 1931 a funicular, concrete stairs and walkways with sturdy railings and extensive electric lighting were installed to make it accessible to the general public.

The Grand Roc cave is located on the territory of the French commune of Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil in Périgord Noir. the particularity of the Grand Roc lies in its extraordinary eccentric formations which give the impression of evolving in a "mineral forest". Throughout the tour, it is only a tangle of crystallizations of great diversity: stalagmites, eccentric concretions, fistulas , gours, triangles, columns, draperies, etc.

The Grotte du Mas d'Azil is a cavity crossed by a road and by the Arize river which hollowed it out. This cavity of imposing dimensions opens into the Plantaurel massif, the commune of Mas-d'Azil, department of Ariège. It was occupied at different prehistoric and historical periods and gave its name to a prehistoric culture, the Azilian.

Lascaux is a Palaeolithic cave situated in southwestern France, near the village of Montignac. It houses some of the most famous examples of prehistoric cave paintings. There are around 600 paintings which are mostly of animals. Besides these paintings, which represent most of the major images, there are also around 1400 engravings of a similar order which are dated to c. 17,000 – c. 15,000 BCE.

The Gouffre de Padirac is one of the largest chasms in Europe. Discovered by the famous French cave explorer Edouard Martel, it was opened to the public in 1899. visitors gaze down into the enormous 75 metre chasm into the earth, 33 metres wide. It then leads into a cave system, created by millennia of subterranean underground water erosion which has carved out spectacular caverns in the limestone.

Pech Merle is one of the most striking cave art sites which was open to the public. A large cave with over two kilometers of underground tunnels and caverns which was decorated with prehistoric paintings. The walls of seven of the chambers at Pech Merle have fresh, lifelike images of a woolly mammoth, spotted horses, bovids, reindeer, handprints, and some human figures. One of the nice location which is famous in this area.

Rouffignac Cave is one of the largest caves which was located in the Dordogne département which contains around, which contains over 250 engravings and cave paintings dating back to the Upper Paleolithic. There is over 8 km of underground caverns and tunnels which was open to the public. Visitors are taken to the prehistoric art on an electric train and a journey deep into the cave that lasts about an hour.