Bulgaria Vassia Atanassova - Spiritia · Public domain
The descent
53 metres down, to scale.
The real relief above Duhlata, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
a two-storey house (9 m) would fit upside down 5.9 times.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey.
53m
Depth
published (Wikidata)
18km
Galleries
surveyed length (Wikidata)
985m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
9°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
236m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
9 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 9 °C here, in January and in August. In August the afternoon reaches 27 °C at the entrance, 18 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.
- 1°-7°Jan
- 3°-6°Feb
- 8°-2°Mar
- 13°2°Apr
- 19°8°May
- 23°12°Jun
- 26°14°Jul
- 27°14°Aug
- 22°9°Sep
- 15°4°Oct
- 9°-1°Nov
- 2°-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.
Cave in Bulgaria
Duhlata is a cave in Bulgaria. It goes down 53 m below the entrance and has 18 km of surveyed galleries. The entrance is at 985 m. It has several entrances and long galleries.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Perniknearest town · 17 km in a straight line
- Sofia Airport (SOF)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 29 km in a straight lineCar hire at SOF airport (Sofia)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.
- 3other cave entrances within 3 kmДухлата, Пепелянката, Академик
- 1springs within 2 kmИзвора
- 2marked hiking routes within 3 kmВитоша 100, Боснек - Живата вода - Меча чешма
- 2car parks within 2 km
- 1information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 1bus stops within 2 km
- 1campsites within 8 kmТанчовица
- 5hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmМетеорологична станция Черни връх, Ловна резиденция "Витошко - Студена", Хижа Върбица and 2 more
- 2restaurants and cafés within 3 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
- Pernik17 km in a straight line
- Radomir20 km in a straight line
- Bobov Dol22 km in a straight line
- Batanovtsi23 km in a straight line
- Sapareva Banya24 km in a straight line
- Sofia25 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Duhlata.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Lakeyas2 lakes within 10 km
Peakyas3 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 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 13 | 19 | 23 | 26 | 27 | 22 | 15 | 9 | 2 |
| Afternoon | 1 | 3 | 8 | 13 | 19 | 23 | 26 | 27 | 22 | 15 | 9 | 2 |
| Night | -7 | -6 | -2 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 9 | 4 | -1 | -6 |
| Rain (mm) | 51 | 45 | 57 | 57 | 80 | 85 | 68 | 58 | 54 | 57 | 42 | 50 |
| Rainy days | 10 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 11 |
| Sun hours/day | 3.4 | 4.3 | 5.0 | 6.1 | 6.9 | 8.3 | 9.3 | 8.9 | 6.7 | 5.2 | 3.7 | 2.8 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 17 | 16 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 15 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 1 | 1 | -7 | 51 | 3.4 |
| Feb | 3 | 3 | -6 | 45 | 4.3 |
| Mar | 8 | 8 | -2 | 57 | 5.0 |
| Apr | 13 | 13 | 2 | 57 | 6.1 |
| May | 19 | 19 | 8 | 80 | 6.9 |
| Jun | 23 | 23 | 12 | 85 | 8.3 |
| Jul | 26 | 26 | 14 | 68 | 9.3 |
| Aug | 27 | 27 | 14 | 58 | 8.9 |
| Sep | 22 | 22 | 9 | 54 | 6.7 |
| Oct | 15 | 15 | 4 | 57 | 5.2 |
| Nov | 9 | 9 | -1 | 42 | 3.7 |
| Dec | 2 | 2 | -6 | 50 | 2.8 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (985 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
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 | 50% | 198% | 183% | 94% | 84% | 94% | 110% | 154% | 61% | 129% | 32% | 115% |
| 2021 | 316% | 96% | 129% | 115% | 78% | 88% | 71% | 81% | 48% | 177% | 82% | 550% |
| 2022 | 65% | 114% | 45% | 113% | 63% | 141% | 115% | 157% | 126% | 37% | 128% | 90% |
| 2023 | 150% | 71% | 89% | 157% | 111% | 172% | 51% | 58% | 72% | 26% | 301% | 100% |
| 2024 | 167% | 54% | 102% | 81% | 156% | 72% | 38% | 57% | 110% | 54% | 138% | 153% |
| 2025 | 32% | 131% | 104% | 129% | 114% | 24% | 33% | 83% | 48% | 231% | 277% | 66% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Duhlata
Bulgaria
- 53 mDepth
- 18 kmGalleries
- 985 mEntrance altitude
- 9 °CInside, all year
Temnata dupka, Gara Lakatnik
Bulgaria · 68 km
- 35 mDepth
- 7.0 kmGalleries
- 406 mEntrance altitude
- 12 °CInside, all year
Ledenika Cave
Bulgaria · 82 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,116 mEntrance altitude
- 7 °CInside, all year
Saeva dupka cave
Bulgaria · 102 km
- 40 mDepth
- 0.2 kmGalleries
- 520 mEntrance altitude
- 11 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q9212809) · 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
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
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