Italy Alessandro e Damiano · CC BY 4.0
The descent
The entrance, at 331 m.
The real relief above Castellana Caves, 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.
331m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
16°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
30m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
16 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 16 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 30 °C at the entrance, 14 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from July to August.
- 10°5°Jan
- 11°5°Feb
- 14°6°Mar
- 17°9°Apr
- 22°13°May
- 27°18°Jun
- 30°21°Jul
- 30°21°Aug
- 25°17°Sep
- 20°13°Oct
- 16°10°Nov
- 12°6°Dec
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.
Karst cave system located in Castellana Grotte, Italy
Castellana Caves is a show cave in Italy. The entrance is at 331 m. It has stalactites and stalagmites and several entrances and long galleries. It is open to visitors.
Getting there.
- Show cave: open to visitorsUsually with a guided tour; check times and tickets on the official site.
- Castellananearest town · 1.9 km in a straight line
- Parking 150 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Bari Karol Wojtyła International Airport (BRI)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 44 km in a straight lineCar hire at BRI airport (Bari)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
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.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
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.
- 1other cave entrances within 3 km
- 4marked hiking routes within 3 kmLa rotta dei due Mari - Tappa 1, La rotta dei due Mari - Tappa 2, Cammino di Don Tonino - Tappa 6 and 1 more
- 71car parks within 2 km
- 8information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 8bus stops within 2 km
- 3campsites within 8 kmP1, Area Sosta Camper
- 27hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmAutostello, Centro Grotte Hotel, Masseria Torricella and 24 more
- 38restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- viewpoints within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 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
- Castellana1.9 km in a straight line
- Putignano3.5 km in a straight line
- Cozzana8.0 km in a straight line
- Noci9.3 km in a straight line
- Conversano11 km in a straight line
- Turi12 km in a straight line
- Alberobello12 km in a straight line
- Polignano a Mare14 km in a straight line
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 10 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 22 | 27 | 30 | 30 | 25 | 20 | 16 | 12 |
| Afternoon | 10 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 22 | 27 | 30 | 30 | 25 | 20 | 16 | 12 |
| Night | 5 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 13 | 18 | 21 | 21 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 62 | 49 | 59 | 50 | 38 | 35 | 29 | 28 | 57 | 71 | 77 | 68 |
| Rainy days | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 10 |
| Sun hours/day | 3.7 | 4.5 | 6.0 | 7.4 | 9.1 | 10.6 | 10.9 | 9.7 | 7.4 | 5.8 | 4.0 | 3.4 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 10 | 10 | 5 | 62 | 3.7 |
| Feb | 11 | 11 | 5 | 49 | 4.5 |
| Mar | 14 | 14 | 6 | 59 | 6.0 |
| Apr | 17 | 17 | 9 | 50 | 7.4 |
| May | 22 | 22 | 13 | 38 | 9.1 |
| Jun | 27 | 27 | 18 | 35 | 10.6 |
| Jul | 30 | 30 | 21 | 29 | 10.9 |
| Aug | 30 | 30 | 21 | 28 | 9.7 |
| Sep | 25 | 25 | 17 | 57 | 7.4 |
| Oct | 20 | 20 | 13 | 71 | 5.8 |
| Nov | 16 | 16 | 10 | 77 | 4.0 |
| Dec | 12 | 12 | 6 | 68 | 3.4 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (331 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Inside and around.
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 | 10% | 67% | 107% | 107% | 77% | 141% | 554% | 628% | 41% | 310% | 119% | 156% |
| 2021 | 131% | 713% | 84% | 47% | 19% | 19% | 32% | 71% | 42% | 68% | 115% | 102% |
| 2022 | 67% | 114% | 88% | 32% | 78% | 130% | 96% | 97% | 58% | 108% | 136% | 63% |
| 2023 | 128% | 20% | 106% | 164% | 204% | 129% | 8% | 40% | 32% | 36% | 57% | 34% |
| 2024 | 46% | 134% | 97% | 44% | 71% | 29% | 57% | 89% | 99% | 54% | 43% | 111% |
| 2025 | 161% | 105% | 75% | 45% | 98% | 15% | 22% | 81% | 51% | 234% | 115% | 123% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Castellana Caves
Italy
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 331 mEntrance altitude
- 16 °CInside, all year
Pulo di Altamura
Italy · 49 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 383 mEntrance altitude
- 15 °CInside, all year
Pulicchio di Gravina
Italy · 61 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 483 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Grotta di Santa Croce
Italy · 66 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 130 mEntrance altitude
- 17 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q1547653) · 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 |
| 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 |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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