Belgium Show cave
Caves of Han-sur-Lesse
10 °C inside, all year.
user:Hullie · CC BY-SA 3.0
The descent
The entrance, at 155 m.
The real relief above Caves of Han-sur-Lesse, 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.
155m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
10°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
137m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
10 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 10 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 24 °C at the entrance, 14 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.
- 4°-1°Jan
- 5°-1°Feb
- 10°1°Mar
- 14°4°Apr
- 18°8°May
- 22°12°Jun
- 24°14°Jul
- 24°13°Aug
- 20°10°Sep
- 15°7°Oct
- 9°4°Nov
- 5°0°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.
Caves near the village of Han-sur-Lesse, Belgium
Caves of Han-sur-Lesse is a show cave in Belgium. The entrance is at 155 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.Official site↗
- Han-sur-Lessenearest town · 0.3 km in a straight line
- Parking 60 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 0.8 km from the entrance
- Liège Airport (LGG)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 60 km in a straight lineCar hire at LGG airport (Grâce-Hollogne)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 Lesse runs highest from November to April.
The Lesse carries about 4.8 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from November to April.
- 7.8 m³/sJan
- 7.3 m³/sFeb
- 7.4 m³/sMar
- 4.8 m³/sApr
- 3.6 m³/sMay
- 2.5 m³/sJun
- 1.9 m³/sJul
- 2.7 m³/sAug
- 1.7 m³/sSep
- 3.0 m³/sOct
- 5.1 m³/sNov
- 6.6 m³/sDec
From about 1.7 m³/s in the lowest month to 7.8 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 390 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.
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.
- 28other cave entrances within 3 kmGrotte d'Éprave, Trou au Salpêtre (Grottes de Han), Trou de Han (Grottes de Han) and 25 more
- 1springs within 2 kmFontaine St-Martin
- 2sinkholes within 3 kmGouffre de Belvaux, Doline boisée de Belvaux
- 23viewpoints within 3 kmEmergence de la Lomme and 22 more
- 28marked hiking routes within 3 kmGRP 577 Trajet Principal, TL01 Le chemin des Bruyères, TL12 Promenade des bords de Lesse and 25 more
- 20car parks within 2 km
- 43information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 22bus stops within 2 km
- 9campsites within 8 kmLes Brullins, Camping Pré du Blason, Parc La Clusure and 6 more
- 41hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmAu lit des ours, Le Presbytère, Wellin'in Hôtel and 38 more
- 10restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 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
- Han-sur-Lesse0.3 km in a straight line
- Wavreille4.2 km in a straight line
- Rochefort4.8 km in a straight line
- Tellin5.3 km in a straight line
- Forrières6.7 km in a straight line
- Jemelle7.0 km in a straight line
- Wellin7.2 km in a straight line
- On8.8 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 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 15 | 9 | 5 |
| Afternoon | 4 | 5 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 20 | 15 | 9 | 5 |
| Night | -1 | -1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 0 |
| Rain (mm) | 83 | 71 | 67 | 51 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 82 | 56 | 69 | 77 | 92 |
| Rainy days | 15 | 13 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| Sun hours/day | 1.3 | 2.4 | 4.2 | 6.3 | 6.7 | 7.1 | 7.0 | 6.2 | 5.5 | 3.5 | 1.6 | 1.0 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 12 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 4 | 4 | -1 | 83 | 1.3 |
| Feb | 5 | 5 | -1 | 71 | 2.4 |
| Mar | 10 | 10 | 1 | 67 | 4.2 |
| Apr | 14 | 14 | 4 | 51 | 6.3 |
| May | 18 | 18 | 8 | 72 | 6.7 |
| Jun | 22 | 22 | 12 | 73 | 7.1 |
| Jul | 24 | 24 | 14 | 74 | 7.0 |
| Aug | 24 | 24 | 13 | 82 | 6.2 |
| Sep | 20 | 20 | 10 | 56 | 5.5 |
| Oct | 15 | 15 | 7 | 69 | 3.5 |
| Nov | 9 | 9 | 4 | 77 | 1.6 |
| Dec | 5 | 5 | 0 | 92 | 1.0 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (155 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 | 62% | 170% | 95% | 37% | 29% | 86% | 38% | 35% | 106% | 136% | 42% | 111% |
| 2021 | 109% | 65% | 61% | 69% | 90% | 138% | 216% | 80% | 69% | 104% | 52% | 77% |
| 2022 | 75% | 93% | 40% | 95% | 48% | 169% | 22% | 34% | 215% | 116% | 108% | 111% |
| 2023 | 161% | 36% | 201% | 150% | 74% | 80% | 153% | 138% | 178% | 191% | 188% | 136% |
| 2024 | 147% | 220% | 149% | 195% | 263% | 164% | 168% | 93% | 247% | 190% | 106% | 107% |
| 2025 | 226% | 79% | 24% | 102% | 69% | 126% | 153% | 68% | 291% | 134% | 100% | 39% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Caves of Han-sur-Lesse
Belgium
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 155 mEntrance altitude
- 10 °CInside, all year
Cave of Lorette-Rochefort
Belgium · 4 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 235 mEntrance altitude
- 10 °CInside, all year
Caves of Hotton
Belgium · 24 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 248 mEntrance altitude
- 9 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q571145) · 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 |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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