The cave atlas
Go underground.
Every cave, cavern and abyss with its real depth and length, the rock above it, the temperature inside all year and how to visit.
Škocjan Caves · Lander at Slovenian Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
The descent
Scroll down. One pixel is one metre.
The deepest caves hang at their real depth below the entrance. Keep scrolling: the meter counts the metres.
Wild Lake
Slovenia−160 m
Dzudzuana cave
Georgia−160 m
New Athos CaveGeorgia−183 m
Foiba of Basovizza
Italy−228 m
Vrelo Cave
North Macedonia−230 m
Lokvarka Cave
Croatia−275 m
Dağlı Kuylucu Cave
Turkey−279 m
Lezetxiki
Spain−345 m
Raychova dupka
Bulgaria−377 m
Taam ja’ Blue Hole
Mexico−420 m
Hranice Abyss
Czechia−520 m
Paraw Cave
Iran−751 m
Skalarjevo breznoSlovenia−1,209 m
Sarma caveGeorgia−1,830 m
Krubera CaveGeorgia−2,199 m
Veryovkina CaveGeorgia−2,212 m2,212 m below the entrance: as deep as anyone has been inside the rock.
Eleven kinds of underground
Pick your darkness.
Rivers and lakes underground, ice that never melts, tubes left by lava, abysses, sea caves, and caves you can only see in pictures.
Show cavesOpen to visitors, with paths, lights and guided tours.404 caves
Stalactite cavesStalactites, stalagmites and columns, drop by drop.401 caves
Underground riversWhere a river goes in, comes out or runs inside.230 caves
Underground lakesLakes in the dark, cenotes and blue holes.22 caves
Cave systemsMany entrances, kilometres of galleries.94 cavesAbysses and shaftsVertical shafts that drop hundreds of metres.57 caves
Sea cavesCarved by the waves, reached by boat or at low tide.44 caves
Ice cavesIce that stays all year, even in summer.13 caves
Lava tubesTunnels left by rivers of lava.35 caves
Protected cavesToo fragile to visit: science and replicas only.98 caves
Prehistoric artPainted and engraved tens of thousands of years ago.113 caves
Escape the heat
Cool caves for July
When it is 27 °C or more outside, a cave is the coolest place around. These are the caves where that happens this month.
Hira
Saudi ArabiaCool escape
Batu Caves
Malaysia
Sterkfontein
South Africa
Kanheri Caves
India
85 mTham Luang
Thailand10 km · Cool escape
5 mMoqua Well
Nauru
Cango CavesSouth Africa
Karla CavesIndiaCool escapeHiraSaudi ArabiaBatu CavesMalaysiaSterkfonteinSouth AfricaKanheri CavesIndia85 mTham LuangThailand10 km
Actun Tunichil Muknal
BelizeCool escape5 mMoqua WellNauruCool escapeCango CavesSouth AfricaSon Doong Cave
VietnamThien Duong CaveVietnamHiraSaudi ArabiaBatu CavesMalaysiaSterkfonteinSouth AfricaKanheri CavesIndia
Cave of SwallowsMexico85 mTham LuangThailand10 kmSon Doong CaveVietnam124 mGreat Blue HoleBelizeWorld Heritage · Cool escapeThien Duong CaveVietnamHiraSaudi ArabiaBatu CavesMalaysia
Cave of the CrystalsMexicoKanheri CavesIndiaCave of SwallowsMexicoSon Doong CaveVietnam124 mGreat Blue HoleBelizeWorld HeritageThien Duong CaveVietnamHiraSaudi ArabiaBatu CavesMalaysia
Shanidar Cave
Iraq
Jeita Grotto
LebanonCave of the CrystalsMexicoSon Doong CaveVietnam
Chauvet Cave
FranceWorld Heritage124 mGreat Blue HoleBelizeWorld HeritageThien Duong CaveVietnamHiraSaudi ArabiaBatu CavesMalaysiaShanidar CaveIraq
Horse Cave
United StatesSon Doong CaveVietnamLascauxFranceWorld HeritageChauvet CaveFranceWorld Heritage124 mGreat Blue HoleBelizeWorld HeritageThien Duong CaveVietnam
56 mMagura CaveBulgaria2.5 kmHiraSaudi Arabia
Vjetrenica
Bosnia and HerzegovinaWorld HeritageSon Doong CaveVietnamLascauxFranceWorld HeritageChauvet CaveFranceWorld Heritage124 mGreat Blue HoleBelizeWorld HeritageThien Duong CaveVietnam56 mMagura CaveBulgaria2.5 km183 mNew Athos CaveGeorgia3.3 kmHiraSaudi ArabiaSon Doong CaveVietnam124 mGreat Blue HoleBelizeWorld HeritageThien Duong CaveVietnamHiraSaudi ArabiaBatu CavesMalaysiaShanidar CaveIraqHorse CaveUnited States
40 mPrometheus CaveGeorgia2.9 km124 mGreat Blue HoleBelizeWorld HeritageThien Duong CaveVietnamHiraSaudi ArabiaBatu CavesMalaysiaShanidar CaveIraqJeita GrottoLebanonCave of the CrystalsMexicoSterkfonteinSouth Africa124 mGreat Blue HoleBelizeWorld HeritageHiraSaudi ArabiaBatu CavesMalaysiaSterkfonteinSouth AfricaKanheri CavesIndiaCool escape85 mTham LuangThailand10 km · Cool escapeActun Tunichil MuknalBelizeCool escape5 mMoqua WellNauruCool escapeHiraSaudi ArabiaBatu CavesMalaysiaSterkfonteinSouth AfricaKanheri CavesIndiaCool escape5 mMoqua WellNauruCango CavesSouth Africa
84 mDrachenhauchloch
Namibia
Pedra Furada
BrazilWorld HeritageAll the cool caves for JanuaryAll the cool caves for FebruaryAll the cool caves for MarchAll the cool caves for AprilAll the cool caves for MayAll the cool caves for JuneAll the cool caves for JulyAll the cool caves for AugustAll the cool caves for SeptemberAll the cool caves for OctoberAll the cool caves for NovemberAll the cool caves for December
The longest
Hundreds of kilometres in the dark.
The longest caves by surveyed length: every passage that cavers have mapped.
Ukraine
Moldova
Hungary
Cuba
Poland
GermanyWorld Heritage
Caves the world agreed to keep.
Caves that are, or lie within, UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Cave of AltamiraSpainWorld HeritageLascauxFranceWorld HeritageŠkocjan CavesSlovenia6.2 km · World HeritageCueva de las Manos
ArgentinaWorld HeritageChauvet CaveFranceWorld Heritage124 mGreat Blue HoleBelizeWorld Heritage
Kapova Cave
Russia3.0 km · World Heritage
Gorham's Cave
United KingdomWorld Heritage
Where the numbers come from
Measured, not guessed.
Every number on Cavernyas comes from a public, citable dataset. Depth and length are those published by the people who explored each cave; the relief above is measured on the European relief model. Nothing is invented.
- Wikidatanames, types, published depth and length, visitors
- Copernicus DEMthe relief above the cave and the entrance altitude
- NASA POWERtemperature, rain and sun, 1991–2020
- OpenStreetMapentrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours, trails
- Wikimedia Commonsphotographs, each with its author and licence
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.You are here
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit 
birdwatching
Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Coming soonVisit 
forests
Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit