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View from the Edakkal caves

India India Cave with prehistoric art

Edakkal Caves

22 °C inside, all year.

No public accessPrehistoric art

See the descentHow to visit

Amalshaji27 · CC BY 3.0

The descent

The entrance, at 980 m.

The real relief above Edakkal Caves, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.

depth not publishedEntrance1,185 m1.0 kmvertical × 6.4depth not publishedEntrance1,185 m1.0 kmvertical × 13.9

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.

980m

Entrance altitude

published (Wikidata)

22°C

Inside, all year

the yearly average outside, at the entrance

237m

Rock above

the highest point within 1.5 km

Inside and outside

22 °C inside, all year.

Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 22 °C here, in January and in August. In March the afternoon reaches 32 °C at the entrance, 10 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from January to May.

outside, at the entrance (980 m)inside
  1. 27°14°Jan
  2. 30°15°Feb
  3. 32°18°Mar
  4. 30°19°Apr
  5. 27°19°May
  6. 24°19°Jun
  7. 23°18°Jul
  8. 23°18°Aug
  9. 24°18°Sep
  10. 24°18°Oct
  11. 24°16°Nov
  12. 25°14°Dec
Inside: 22 °C all yearEscape the heat: Jan–MayWettest: Jun–Oct

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 in Wayanad district, Keralam, India

Edakkal Caves is a cave with prehistoric art in India. The entrance is at 980 m. It is closed to the public to protect it.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there.

Plan the visit

Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at COK airport (Kochi)Discover CarsSee prices 

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.

The ground above Edakkal Caves (Sentinel-2) 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 kmEdakkal Caves
  • 5car parks within 2 km
  • 1information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
  • 35bus stops within 2 km
  • 52hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmPepper Grove, Pepper Trail, Unga Home and 49 more
  • 1restaurants and cafés within 3 km
  • springs within 2 km
  • sinkholes within 3 km
  • caving clubs and spots within 15 km
  • viewpoints within 3 km
  • marked hiking routes within 3 km
  • climbing crags within 3 km
  • named waterfalls within 4 km
  • campsites within 8 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

  • Kalpatta16 km in a straight line
  • Tondalam19 km in a straight line
  • Panamaram21 km in a straight line
  • Devarshola25 km in a straight line

In our other atlases

What else is around Edakkal Caves.

The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.

Peakyas1 mountains within 10 km
Ambukuthi mala · 0.4 km

Figures 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon273032302724232324242425
Afternoon273032302724232324242425
Night141518191919181818181614
Rain (mm)47297317037237827520321310723
Rainy days12410172830272123144
Sun hours/day8.89.49.08.17.14.83.84.25.75.76.37.5
AfternoonAfternoonNightRain (mm)Sun hours/day
Jan27271448.8
Feb30301579.4
Mar323218299.0
Apr303019738.1
May2727191707.1
Jun2424193724.8
Jul2323183783.8
Aug2323182754.2
Sep2424182035.7
Oct2424182135.7
Nov2424161076.3
Dec252514237.5

Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (980 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.

Photographs

Inside and around.

Edakkal Caves 0429
Vengolis · CC BY-SA 4.0
Edakkal Caves - Petroglyphs - 1
Ingo Mehling · CC BY-SA 4.0
Edakkal Caves - Petroglyphs - 10
Ingo Mehling · CC BY-SA 4.0

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020—47%56%56%69%58%87%119%142%70%123%232%
2021—441%133%79%158%57%89%77%89%182%263%133%
2022—21%123%127%151%51%112%169%81%65%95%512%
2023—46%88%69%65%46%79%21%113%71%176%261%
2024—4%4%27%150%88%116%64%47%95%84%516%
2025—0%201%132%216%74%69%68%46%103%48%77%

130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month

Caves nearby.

Edakkal Caves

India

  • —Depth
  • —Galleries
  • 980 mEntrance altitude
  • 22 °CInside, all year

Armamalai Cave

India · 290 km

  • —Depth
  • —Galleries
  • 511 mEntrance altitude
  • 26 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Sittanavasal Cave

India · 302 km

  • —Depth
  • —Galleries
  • 153 mEntrance altitude
  • 28 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Thalagireeshwarar Temple

India · 347 km

  • —Depth
  • —Galleries
  • 138 mEntrance altitude
  • 28 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name, type, published depth and length, visitorsWikidata (Q2372682) · CC0
The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
ClimateNASA POWER, 1991–2020
Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearbyCoastya, 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.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit
cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.You are here
dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Coming soonVisit
forestsForestyaEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit