Spain Xuliu Pombar · CC0
The descent
The entrance, at 28 m.
The real relief above Cave of La Loja, 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.
28m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
16°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
417m
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 August the afternoon reaches 24 °C at the entrance, 8 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The wettest months are from November to January: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 13°9°Jan
- 13°9°Feb
- 14°10°Mar
- 16°11°Apr
- 18°14°May
- 21°16°Jun
- 23°18°Jul
- 24°19°Aug
- 23°18°Sep
- 20°16°Oct
- 16°12°Nov
- 14°10°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.
Cave in Spain
Cave of La Loja is a cave in Spain. The entrance is at 28 m. It has an underground river.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Tresvisonearest town · 13 km in a straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 2.5 km from the entrance
- Seve Ballesteros-Santander Airport (SDR)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 60 km in a straight lineCar hire at SDR airport (Santander)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.
The water
The Río Deva runs highest from November to March.
The Río Deva carries about 36 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from November to March. It is lowest from July to September.
- 56 m³/sJan
- 49 m³/sFeb
- 44 m³/sMar
- 36 m³/sApr
- 26 m³/sMay
- 17 m³/sJun
- 11 m³/sJul
- 8.5 m³/sAug
- 11 m³/sSep
- 28 m³/sOct
- 50 m³/sNov
- 55 m³/sDec
From about 8.5 m³/s in the lowest month to 56 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 1,206 km².
The Deva from source to mouth on Riveryas — coming soon
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.
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.
- 1viewpoints within 3 km
- 2marked hiking routes within 3 kmCamino Lebaniego, Senda del Deva
- 1information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 2bus stops within 2 km
- 7campsites within 8 kmÁrea autocaravanas de El Peral (Casa Junco), Camping Royal 2, Las Hortensias and 4 more
- 47hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmLa Parra, Don Silvio, El Otero and 44 more
- 3restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- other cave entrances within 3 km
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- car parks within 2 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
- Tresviso13 km in a straight line
- San Vicente de la Barquera13 km in a straight line
- Llanes20 km in a straight line
- Potes21 km in a straight line
- Comillas21 km in a straight line
- Cabezón de Liébana22 km in a straight line
- Camaleño24 km in a straight line
- Ruente24 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Cave of La Loja.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Riveryas3 rivers at the entranceFigures 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 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 21 | 23 | 24 | 23 | 20 | 16 | 14 |
| Afternoon | 13 | 13 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 21 | 23 | 24 | 23 | 20 | 16 | 14 |
| Night | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 18 | 16 | 12 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 123 | 102 | 94 | 77 | 62 | 53 | 34 | 37 | 50 | 100 | 137 | 118 |
| Rainy days | 16 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 14 |
| Sun hours/day | 2.7 | 3.8 | 5.2 | 6.2 | 7.1 | 7.3 | 7.7 | 7.4 | 6.8 | 4.8 | 3.0 | 2.8 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 5 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 13 | 13 | 9 | 123 | 2.7 |
| Feb | 13 | 13 | 9 | 102 | 3.8 |
| Mar | 14 | 14 | 10 | 94 | 5.2 |
| Apr | 16 | 16 | 11 | 77 | 6.2 |
| May | 18 | 18 | 14 | 62 | 7.1 |
| Jun | 21 | 21 | 16 | 53 | 7.3 |
| Jul | 23 | 23 | 18 | 34 | 7.7 |
| Aug | 24 | 24 | 19 | 37 | 7.4 |
| Sep | 23 | 23 | 18 | 50 | 6.8 |
| Oct | 20 | 20 | 16 | 100 | 4.8 |
| Nov | 16 | 16 | 12 | 137 | 3.0 |
| Dec | 14 | 14 | 10 | 118 | 2.8 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (28 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 | 40% | 29% | 135% | 143% | 98% | 136% | 55% | 188% | 218% | 266% | 34% | 341% |
| 2021 | 173% | 108% | 39% | 71% | 103% | 197% | 112% | 89% | 161% | 70% | 243% | 202% |
| 2022 | 71% | 35% | 128% | 137% | 36% | 105% | 32% | 117% | 238% | 41% | 119% | 106% |
| 2023 | 247% | 81% | 35% | 43% | 89% | 149% | 84% | 116% | 202% | 114% | 136% | 103% |
| 2024 | 114% | 156% | 139% | 52% | 159% | 102% | 70% | 118% | 286% | 188% | 75% | 108% |
| 2025 | 77% | 76% | 165% | 98% | 114% | 79% | 124% | 175% | 162% | 35% | 129% | 120% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Cave of La Loja
Spain
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 28 mEntrance altitude
- 16 °CInside, all year
Cave of Altamira
Spain · 35 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 95 mEntrance altitude
- 15 °CInside, all year
Cave of El Soplao
Spain · 12 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 531 mEntrance altitude
- 12 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q3817712) · 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.
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Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit 
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Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.You are here
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Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit 
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