Switzerland Cave
Drachenloch, Paleolithic dwelling cave
-2 °C inside, all year.
petstein · CC BY 3.0
The descent
The entrance, at 2,415 m.
The real relief above Drachenloch, Paleolithic dwelling 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.
2,415m
Entrance altitude
published (Wikidata)
-2°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
233m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
-2 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about -2 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 13 °C at the entrance, 15 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.
- -8°-16°Jan
- -7°-16°Feb
- -3°-12°Mar
- 3°-7°Apr
- 7°-3°May
- 11°1°Jun
- 13°3°Jul
- 12°3°Aug
- 8°-2°Sep
- 4°-6°Oct
- -2°-10°Nov
- -7°-15°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.
Dwelling cave in Pfäfers in the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland
Drachenloch, Paleolithic dwelling cave is a cave in Switzerland. The entrance is at 2,415 m.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Untervaznearest town · 9.2 km in a straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 2.2 km from the entrance
- Sankt Gallen Altenrhein Airport (ACH)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 63 km in a straight lineCar hire at ACH airport (St. Gallen)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 kmDrachenloch
- 2viewpoints within 3 km
- 9marked hiking routes within 3 kmSpazier Rundweg Radein, Spazier Rundweg Tamina, Rundweg Tamin and 6 more
- 2car parks within 2 km
- 1information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 2bus stops within 2 km
- 5campsites within 8 kmDunkla Stei, Camp Au Chur, Parkplatz Pardätsch and 2 more
- 11hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmBerghaus Bargis, Gasthaus Pizol, Berghotel Gaffia and 8 more
- 2restaurants and cafés 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
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
- Untervaz9.2 km in a straight line
- Felsberg10 km in a straight line
- Domat10 km in a straight line
- Tamins11 km in a straight line
- Bad Ragaz11 km in a straight line
- Zizers12 km in a straight line
- Trimmis12 km in a straight line
- Landquart12 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Drachenloch, Paleolithic dwelling 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.
Peakyas96 mountains within 10 kmFigures 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 | -8 | -7 | -3 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 8 | 4 | -2 | -7 |
| Afternoon | -8 | -7 | -3 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 8 | 4 | -2 | -7 |
| Night | -16 | -16 | -12 | -7 | -3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | -2 | -6 | -10 | -15 |
| Rain (mm) | 92 | 70 | 91 | 93 | 147 | 173 | 169 | 185 | 121 | 103 | 91 | 93 |
| Rainy days | 14 | 12 | 15 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| Sun hours/day | 2.5 | 3.8 | 5.3 | 6.5 | 6.7 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 7.3 | 6.0 | 4.2 | 2.4 | 2.0 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 37 | 41 | 26 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 15 | 24 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | -8 | -8 | -16 | 92 | 2.5 |
| Feb | -7 | -7 | -16 | 70 | 3.8 |
| Mar | -3 | -3 | -12 | 91 | 5.3 |
| Apr | 3 | 3 | -7 | 93 | 6.5 |
| May | 7 | 7 | -3 | 147 | 6.7 |
| Jun | 11 | 11 | 1 | 173 | 8.0 |
| Jul | 13 | 13 | 3 | 169 | 8.1 |
| Aug | 12 | 12 | 3 | 185 | 7.3 |
| Sep | 8 | 8 | -2 | 121 | 6.0 |
| Oct | 4 | 4 | -6 | 103 | 4.2 |
| Nov | -2 | -2 | -10 | 91 | 2.4 |
| Dec | -7 | -7 | -15 | 93 | 2.0 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (2,415 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 | 57% | 200% | 97% | 54% | 76% | 137% | 80% | 138% | 95% | 173% | 33% | 134% |
| 2021 | 265% | 98% | 117% | 66% | 140% | 98% | 220% | 119% | 82% | 56% | 105% | 136% |
| 2022 | 67% | 183% | 17% | 104% | 85% | 102% | 84% | 70% | 141% | 102% | 91% | 94% |
| 2023 | 60% | 59% | 145% | 175% | 138% | 46% | 116% | 140% | 86% | 125% | 248% | 211% |
| 2024 | 114% | 115% | 196% | 148% | 156% | 137% | 130% | 59% | 178% | 129% | 81% | 116% |
| 2025 | 115% | 45% | 79% | 82% | 111% | 93% | 170% | 97% | 145% | 100% | 104% | 25% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Drachenloch, Paleolithic dwelling cave
Switzerland
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 2,415 mEntrance altitude
- -2 °CInside, all year
Hölloch Cave
Switzerland · 48 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 736 mEntrance altitude
- 9 °CInside, all year
Wildkirchli
Switzerland · 40 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,535 mEntrance altitude
- 3 °CInside, all year
Wildenmannlisloch (Paleolithic living cave)
Switzerland · 29 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,645 mEntrance altitude
- 3 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q12751188) · 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 |
| 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
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