Ireland Fattonyni · CC BY-SA 3.0
The descent
The entrance, at 53 m.
The real relief above Killavullen Caves, 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.
53m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
10°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
70m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
10 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 10 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 19 °C at the entrance, 9 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.
- 8°4°Jan
- 8°4°Feb
- 10°4°Mar
- 12°5°Apr
- 15°8°May
- 18°10°Jun
- 19°12°Jul
- 19°12°Aug
- 17°10°Sep
- 14°8°Oct
- 11°6°Nov
- 9°5°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 Ireland
Killavullen Caves is a show cave in Ireland. The entrance is at 53 m. It has an underground river and stalactites and stalagmites. It is open to visitors.
Getting there.
- Show cave: open to visitorsUsually with a guided tour; check times and tickets on the official site.
- Mallownearest town · 8.2 km in a straight line
- Parking 130 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Cork International Airport (ORK)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 34 km in a straight lineCar hire at ORK airport (Cork)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 Blackwater runs highest from November to February.
The Blackwater carries about 39 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from November to February.
- 68 m³/sJan
- 47 m³/sFeb
- 34 m³/sMar
- 23 m³/sApr
- 17 m³/sMay
- 14 m³/sJun
- 15 m³/sJul
- 21 m³/sAug
- 21 m³/sSep
- 43 m³/sOct
- 62 m³/sNov
- 71 m³/sDec
From about 14 m³/s in the lowest month to 71 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 1,266 km².
Follow the Munster Blackwater 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.
- 1other cave entrances within 3 kmKillavullen Caves
- 3marked hiking routes within 3 kmBlackwater (Avondhu) Way, European long distance path E8 - part Ireland, Killavullen Loop
- 2car parks within 2 km
- 1information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 2bus stops within 2 km
- 1hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmGrove Wellness Centre B&B
- springs within 2 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
- campsites within 8 km
- restaurants and cafés within 3 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
- Mallow8.2 km in a straight line
- Fermoy16 km in a straight line
- Rathcormac18 km in a straight line
- Kilworth19 km in a straight line
- Watergrasshill19 km in a straight line
- Mitchelstown21 km in a straight line
- Courtbrack22 km in a straight line
- Blarney24 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Killavullen 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.
Peakyas7 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 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 11 | 9 |
| Afternoon | 8 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 11 | 9 |
| Night | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 |
| Rain (mm) | 117 | 88 | 86 | 78 | 84 | 90 | 96 | 102 | 89 | 120 | 124 | 124 |
| Rainy days | 19 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| Sun hours/day | 1.6 | 2.6 | 4.1 | 5.9 | 6.3 | 6.2 | 5.3 | 5.1 | 4.5 | 3.1 | 1.9 | 1.2 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 8 | 8 | 4 | 117 | 1.6 |
| Feb | 8 | 8 | 4 | 88 | 2.6 |
| Mar | 10 | 10 | 4 | 86 | 4.1 |
| Apr | 12 | 12 | 5 | 78 | 5.9 |
| May | 15 | 15 | 8 | 84 | 6.3 |
| Jun | 18 | 18 | 10 | 90 | 6.2 |
| Jul | 19 | 19 | 12 | 96 | 5.3 |
| Aug | 19 | 19 | 12 | 102 | 5.1 |
| Sep | 17 | 17 | 10 | 89 | 4.5 |
| Oct | 14 | 14 | 8 | 120 | 3.1 |
| Nov | 11 | 11 | 6 | 124 | 1.9 |
| Dec | 9 | 9 | 5 | 124 | 1.2 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (53 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 | 87% | 214% | 87% | 78% | 56% | 107% | 118% | 177% | 70% | 117% | 208% | 136% |
| 2021 | 112% | 203% | 82% | 28% | 181% | 45% | 90% | 77% | 112% | 148% | 38% | 113% |
| 2022 | 37% | 129% | 77% | 73% | 56% | 106% | 44% | 33% | 146% | 168% | 151% | 86% |
| 2023 | 105% | 30% | 210% | 89% | 56% | 75% | 160% | 114% | 186% | 367% | 87% | 239% |
| 2024 | 79% | 188% | 177% | 133% | 121% | 60% | 58% | 84% | 101% | 107% | 117% | 70% |
| 2025 | 137% | 166% | 52% | 140% | 50% | 87% | 107% | 80% | 163% | 123% | 149% | 113% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Killavullen Caves
Ireland
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 53 mEntrance altitude
- 10 °CInside, all year
Mitchelstown Cave
Ireland · 35 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 76 mEntrance altitude
- 10 °CInside, all year
Dunmore Cave
Ireland · 108 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 120 mEntrance altitude
- 10 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q6407337) · 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?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountains
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Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
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Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.You are here
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit 
birdwatching
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