Switzerland Show cave
Grotte aux Fées
11 °C inside, all year.
Ludovic Péron · CC BY-SA 3.0
The descent
The entrance, at 531 m.
The real relief above Grotte aux Fées, 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.
531m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
11°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
290m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
11 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 11 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 26 °C at the entrance, 15 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.
- 5°-3°Jan
- 6°-3°Feb
- 9°1°Mar
- 15°6°Apr
- 20°10°May
- 24°14°Jun
- 26°16°Jul
- 26°15°Aug
- 22°12°Sep
- 18°8°Oct
- 11°3°Nov
- 7°-1°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 complex in the canton of Valais, Switzerland
Grotte aux Fées is a show cave in Switzerland. The entrance is at 531 m. It has an underground river, stalactites and stalagmites and several entrances and long galleries. It is open to visitors.
Getting there.
- Show cave: open to visitorsHours in OpenStreetMap: Mar 15-Jun 30 10:00-17:00; Jul 01-Aug 31 10:00-18:00; Sep 01 · ticket requiredOfficial site↗
- Saint-Mauricenearest town · 0.5 km in a straight line
- Parking 190 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 0.8 km from the entrance
- Geneva International Airport (GVA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 69 km in a straight lineCar hire at GVA airport (Geneva)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 Le Rhône runs highest from April to May.
The Le Rhône carries about 159 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from April to May, fed by melting snow.
- 72 m³/sJan
- 29 m³/sFeb
- 253 m³/sMar
- 399 m³/sApr
- 363 m³/sMay
- 247 m³/sJun
- 155 m³/sJul
- 128 m³/sAug
- 81 m³/sSep
- 77 m³/sOct
- 99 m³/sNov
- 116 m³/sDec
From about 29 m³/s in the lowest month to 399 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 4,737 km².
Follow the Rhône from source to mouth on Riveryas
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.
- 3other cave entrances within 3 kmGrotte aux Fées, Tunnel du château
- 1springs within 2 kmSource de Notre-Dame-du-Scex
- 14viewpoints within 3 km
- 22marked hiking routes within 3 kmVia Francigena, Tour des Dents du Midi and 20 more
- 4climbing crags within 3 kmLe Moulin, Ymer, Toblerone and 1 more
- 1named waterfalls within 4 kmCascade du Grotte aux Fées
- 90car parks within 2 km
- 7information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 32bus stops within 2 km
- 6campsites within 8 kmCamping La Châtaigneraie, Stellplatz Gryon, Frassettes and 3 more
- 46hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmLe Cèdre, Auberge de l'Armailli, Whitepod and 43 more
- 36restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 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
- Saint-Maurice0.5 km in a straight line
- Bex3.0 km in a straight line
- Evionnaz4.9 km in a straight line
- Monthey5.1 km in a straight line
- Troistorrents6.6 km in a straight line
- Collombey7.0 km in a straight line
- Gryon7.2 km in a straight line
- Ollon8.1 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Grotte aux Fées.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Peakyas60 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 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 18 | 11 | 7 |
| Afternoon | 5 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 18 | 11 | 7 |
| Night | -3 | -3 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 3 | -1 |
| Rain (mm) | 107 | 77 | 94 | 74 | 117 | 105 | 103 | 105 | 76 | 86 | 94 | 110 |
| Rainy days | 12 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 18 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 14 |
| Sun hours/day | 3.3 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 6.3 | 6.6 | 8.5 | 8.8 | 7.9 | 6.9 | 5.0 | 3.1 | 2.6 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 49 | 62 | 46 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 29 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 5 | 5 | -3 | 107 | 3.3 |
| Feb | 6 | 6 | -3 | 77 | 4.5 |
| Mar | 9 | 9 | 1 | 94 | 5.5 |
| Apr | 15 | 15 | 6 | 74 | 6.3 |
| May | 20 | 20 | 10 | 117 | 6.6 |
| Jun | 24 | 24 | 14 | 105 | 8.5 |
| Jul | 26 | 26 | 16 | 103 | 8.8 |
| Aug | 26 | 26 | 15 | 105 | 7.9 |
| Sep | 22 | 22 | 12 | 76 | 6.9 |
| Oct | 18 | 18 | 8 | 86 | 5.0 |
| Nov | 11 | 11 | 3 | 94 | 3.1 |
| Dec | 7 | 7 | -1 | 110 | 2.6 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (531 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 | 54% | 206% | 105% | 67% | 97% | 145% | 50% | 116% | 136% | 209% | 24% | 70% |
| 2021 | 146% | 67% | 73% | 63% | 124% | 103% | 147% | 64% | 93% | 62% | 59% | 162% |
| 2022 | 39% | 119% | 19% | 126% | 57% | 75% | 33% | 55% | 179% | 107% | 104% | 113% |
| 2023 | 72% | 8% | 186% | 138% | 76% | 101% | 68% | 101% | 87% | 167% | 272% | 194% |
| 2024 | 101% | 88% | 142% | 128% | 156% | 161% | 102% | 78% | 280% | 175% | 79% | 110% |
| 2025 | 124% | 39% | 41% | 141% | 88% | 92% | 102% | 91% | 175% | 157% | 106% | 28% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Grotte aux Fées
Switzerland
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 531 mEntrance altitude
- 11 °CInside, all year
Saint-Léonard underground lake
Switzerland · 33 km
- 4 mDepth
- 0.3 kmGalleries
- 509 mEntrance altitude
- 11 °CInside, all year
Gouffre Jean-Bernard
France · 21 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 2,209 mEntrance altitude
- 0 °CInside, all year
Gouffre Mirolda
France · 23 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,893 mEntrance altitude
- 2 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q685710) · 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?
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