Philippines Show cave

Callao Cave

26 °C inside, all year.

The descent

The entrance, at 177 m.

The real relief above Callao Cave, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.

The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.

177m

Entrance altitude

published (Wikidata)

26°C

Inside, all year

the yearly average outside, at the entrance

163m

Rock above

the highest point within 1.5 km

Inside and outside

26 °C inside, all year.

Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 26 °C here, in January and in August. In April the afternoon reaches 34 °C at the entrance, 8 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from February to November. The wettest months are from July to November: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.

outside, at the entrance (177 m)inside

26°19°Jan
28°19°Feb
31°20°Mar
34°22°Apr
33°24°May
31°24°Jun
30°24°Jul
30°24°Aug
29°24°Sep
28°22°Oct
28°22°Nov
26°21°Dec

Inside: 26 °C all yearEscape the heat: Feb–NovWettest: Jul–Nov

Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.

Cave and archaeological site in the Philippines

Callao Cave is a show cave in Philippines. The entrance is at 177 m. It has an underground river and stalactites and stalagmites. It is open to visitors.

Getting there.

Show cave: open to visitorsUsually with a guided tour; check times and tickets on the official site.
Quibalnearest town · 1.9 km in a straight line
Tuguegarao Airport (TUG)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 12 km in a straight lineCar hire at CRK airport (Mabalacat)Discover Cars · sponsored link

Plan the visit

Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at CRK airport (Mabalacat)Discover CarsSee prices

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The water

The Pinancauanan River runs highest from July to December.

The Pinancauanan River carries about 14 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from July to December. It is lowest from February to April.

15 m³/sJan
5.6 m³/sFeb
2.1 m³/sMar
2.1 m³/sApr
12 m³/sMay
21 m³/sJun
30 m³/sJul
38 m³/sAug
35 m³/sSep
34 m³/sOct
36 m³/sNov
33 m³/sDec

From about 2.1 m³/s in the lowest month to 38 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 454 km².

Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.

From above.

The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.

The ground above Callao Cave (Sentinel-2)

N 1.5 km

Toilets

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around the entrance.

5hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmValley Hotel, NGN Grand Hotel, Red Roof Inn and 2 more

other cave entrances within 3 km
springs within 2 km
sinkholes within 3 km
caving clubs and spots within 15 km
viewpoints within 3 km
marked hiking routes within 3 km
climbing crags within 3 km
named waterfalls within 4 km
car parks within 2 km
information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
bus stops within 2 km
campsites within 8 km
restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Towns nearby

Quibal1.9 km in a straight line
Aggugaddah2.3 km in a straight line
Manga3.9 km in a straight line
Dodan7.6 km in a straight line
Lapi8.0 km in a straight line
Gammad8.5 km in a straight line
Peñablanca9.0 km in a straight line
Carig9.8 km in a straight line

In our other atlases

What else is around Callao Cave.

The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.

Peakyas1 mountains within 10 km

Jungle Mountain · 8.4 km

Islandyason an island

Luzon109,965 km²

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Month by month

The weather outside, at the entrance.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Afternoon	26	28	31	34	33	31	30	30	29	28	28	26
Afternoon	26	28	31	34	33	31	30	30	29	28	28	26
Night	19	19	20	22	24	24	24	24	24	22	22	21
Rain (mm)	58	52	48	57	190	242	298	334	268	286	293	253
Rainy days	11	8	7	8	19	21	25	25	25	21	18	17
Sun hours/day	4.8	5.7	6.7	7.9	7.8	8.0	6.8	5.6	6.0	4.9	4.3	3.6

	Afternoon	Afternoon	Night	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	26	26	19	58	4.8
Feb	28	28	19	52	5.7
Mar	31	31	20	48	6.7
Apr	34	34	22	57	7.9
May	33	33	24	190	7.8
Jun	31	31	24	242	8.0
Jul	30	30	24	298	6.8
Aug	30	30	24	334	5.6
Sep	29	29	24	268	6.0
Oct	28	28	22	286	4.9
Nov	28	28	22	293	4.3
Dec	26	26	21	253	3.6

Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (177 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.

Photographs

Inside and around.

Callao Cave (9407095908) — mkirader · CC BY 2.0

Callao Cave Penablanca — Kathleen Mae Tugano · CC BY-SA 4.0

Callao caves, tuguegarao, cagayan (5050209944) — elaine ross baylon from Quezon City, Philippines · CC BY 2.0

Recent years

Wet years, dry years.

Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2020	84%	35%	142%	59%	254%	321%	82%	71%	105%	321%	407%	883%
2021	167%	110%	112%	34%	16%	71%	107%	68%	63%	118%	47%	30%
2022	191%	103%	74%	257%	162%	91%	76%	142%	73%	206%	20%	64%
2023	193%	127%	12%	56%	50%	65%	174%	139%	90%	50%	43%	33%
2024	44%	16%	60%	39%	123%	57%	144%	49%	182%	120%	149%	103%
2025	187%	161%	159%	32%	84%	152%	216%	76%	144%	58%	170%	59%

130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month

Caves nearby.

Callao Cave

Philippines

—Depth
—Galleries
177 mEntrance altitude
26 °CInside, all year

Pamitinan Cave

Philippines · 337 km

—Depth
—Galleries
266 mEntrance altitude
25 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name, type, published depth and length, visitors	Wikidata (Q5021779) · CC0
The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
River flow and basin	HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0
Climate	NASA POWER, 1991–2020
Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearby	Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

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 Darkskyas

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 Viewyas

Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit

birdwatching Birdyas

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

	Afternoon	Afternoon	Night	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	26	26	19	58	4.8
Feb	28	28	19	52	5.7
Mar	31	31	20	48	6.7
Apr	34	34	22	57	7.9
May	33	33	24	190	7.8
Jun	31	31	24	242	8.0
Jul	30	30	24	298	6.8
Aug	30	30	24	334	5.6
Sep	29	29	24	268	6.0
Oct	28	28	22	286	4.9
Nov	28	28	22	293	4.3
Dec	26	26	21	253	3.6

	Afternoon	Afternoon	Night	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	26	26	19	58	4.8
Feb	28	28	19	52	5.7
Mar	31	31	20	48	6.7
Apr	34	34	22	57	7.9
May	33	33	24	190	7.8
Jun	31	31	24	242	8.0
Jul	30	30	24	298	6.8
Aug	30	30	24	334	5.6
Sep	29	29	24	268	6.0
Oct	28	28	22	286	4.9
Nov	28	28	22	293	4.3
Dec	26	26	21	253	3.6

	Afternoon	Afternoon	Night	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	26	26	19	58	4.8
Feb	28	28	19	52	5.7
Mar	31	31	20	48	6.7
Apr	34	34	22	57	7.9
May	33	33	24	190	7.8
Jun	31	31	24	242	8.0
Jul	30	30	24	298	6.8
Aug	30	30	24	334	5.6
Sep	29	29	24	268	6.0
Oct	28	28	22	286	4.9
Nov	28	28	22	293	4.3
Dec	26	26	21	253	3.6