France Show cave
Grotte de la Madeleine
13 °C inside, all year.
Petr1888 · CC BY-SA 4.0
The descent
The entrance, at 226 m.
The real relief above Grotte de la Madeleine, 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.
226m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
13°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
181m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
13 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 13 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 31 °C at the entrance, 18 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from June to August. The wettest months are from October to November: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 8°1°Jan
- 9°0°Feb
- 13°3°Mar
- 17°7°Apr
- 22°10°May
- 27°15°Jun
- 31°17°Jul
- 30°17°Aug
- 25°13°Sep
- 19°9°Oct
- 12°5°Nov
- 8°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.
Show cave in France
Grotte de la Madeleine is a show cave in France. The entrance is at 226 m. It has an underground river and stalactites and stalagmites. It is open to visitors. It lies within Réserve naturelle nationale des gorges de l'Ardèche.
Getting there.
- Show cave: open to visitorsUsually with a guided tour; check times and tickets on the official site.
- Saint-Julien-de-Peyrolasnearest town · 8.7 km in a straight line
- Parking 40 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Belvédère de la Madeleinenearest viewpoint · 0.1 km from the entrance
- Avignon Caumont airport (AVN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 59 km in a straight lineCar hire at FNI airport (Nîmes/Garons)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 L'Ardèche runs highest from November to December.
The L'Ardèche carries about 39 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from November to December. It is lowest from July to August.
- 33 m³/sJan
- 27 m³/sFeb
- 31 m³/sMar
- 35 m³/sApr
- 32 m³/sMay
- 20 m³/sJun
- 11 m³/sJul
- 9.1 m³/sAug
- 20 m³/sSep
- 44 m³/sOct
- 60 m³/sNov
- 45 m³/sDec
From about 9.1 m³/s in the lowest month to 60 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 2,250 km².
Follow the Ardèche 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.
- 22other cave entrances within 3 kmGrotte de la Madeleine, Aven de Courtinen, Aven de la Vigne Close and 19 more
- 4springs within 2 kmL'Aulagnère, Source de Richemale, Le Canal and 1 more
- 32viewpoints within 3 kmBelvédère de la Madeleine, Balcon de Gournier, Balcon du Cros de l'Olivier and 29 more
- 19marked hiking routes within 3 kmvariante GR 4B, Sentier amont des Gorges de l'Ardèche, Circuit de la Maladrerie des templiers and 16 more
- 1climbing crags within 3 kmPilier d’Autridge
- 6car parks within 2 km
- 14information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 46campsites within 8 kmAire de camping-cars Maison de la Lavande, Camping de l'Ardèche - Vallon Pont d'Arc, Rives d'Arc - Collection Rivages and 43 more
- 42hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmLe Clos des Bruyères, Hôtel des Touristes, Domaine de Chames and 39 more
- 3restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- bus stops within 2 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-Julien-de-Peyrolas8.7 km in a straight line
- Vallon-Pont-d'Arc10 km in a straight line
- Saint-Marcel-d'Ardèche11 km in a straight line
- Saint-Just-d'Ardèche11 km in a straight line
- Barjac11 km in a straight line
- Saint-Paulet-de-Caisson12 km in a straight line
- Bourg-Saint-Andéol13 km in a straight line
- Goudargues14 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Grotte de la Madeleine.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Peakyas6 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 | 9 | 13 | 17 | 22 | 27 | 31 | 30 | 25 | 19 | 12 | 8 |
| Afternoon | 8 | 9 | 13 | 17 | 22 | 27 | 31 | 30 | 25 | 19 | 12 | 8 |
| Night | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 15 | 17 | 17 | 13 | 9 | 5 | 1 |
| Rain (mm) | 62 | 50 | 57 | 74 | 77 | 52 | 45 | 48 | 75 | 113 | 116 | 68 |
| Rainy days | 10 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 10 |
| Sun hours/day | 3.5 | 4.9 | 6.3 | 7.2 | 8.3 | 10.4 | 10.8 | 9.5 | 7.7 | 4.9 | 3.7 | 3.3 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 10 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 8 | 8 | 1 | 62 | 3.5 |
| Feb | 9 | 9 | 0 | 50 | 4.9 |
| Mar | 13 | 13 | 3 | 57 | 6.3 |
| Apr | 17 | 17 | 7 | 74 | 7.2 |
| May | 22 | 22 | 10 | 77 | 8.3 |
| Jun | 27 | 27 | 15 | 52 | 10.4 |
| Jul | 31 | 31 | 17 | 45 | 10.8 |
| Aug | 30 | 30 | 17 | 48 | 9.5 |
| Sep | 25 | 25 | 13 | 75 | 7.7 |
| Oct | 19 | 19 | 9 | 113 | 4.9 |
| Nov | 12 | 12 | 5 | 116 | 3.7 |
| Dec | 8 | 8 | 1 | 68 | 3.3 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (226 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 | 55% | 41% | 63% | 71% | 87% | 190% | 25% | 90% | 106% | 72% | 41% | 159% |
| 2021 | 65% | 75% | 21% | 102% | 119% | 107% | 152% | 62% | 112% | 105% | 45% | 88% |
| 2022 | 38% | 38% | 61% | 52% | 21% | 98% | 23% | 127% | 133% | 45% | 101% | 150% |
| 2023 | 31% | 32% | 62% | 36% | 86% | 176% | 35% | 42% | 67% | 98% | 57% | 73% |
| 2024 | 53% | 135% | 323% | 77% | 157% | 124% | 108% | 58% | 159% | 103% | 33% | 45% |
| 2025 | 76% | 71% | 82% | 50% | 29% | 29% | 42% | 49% | 41% | 29% | 39% | 115% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Grotte de la Madeleine
France
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 226 mEntrance altitude
- 13 °CInside, all year
Cave Saint-Marcel-d'Ardèche
France · 5 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 196 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q17516228) · 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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