France Cave
Massabielle Grotto
14 °C inside, all year.
Mentnafunangann · CC BY-SA 4.0
The descent
The entrance, at 382 m.
The real relief above Massabielle Grotto, 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.
382m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
14°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
396m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
14 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 14 °C here, in January and in August. In August the afternoon reaches 28 °C at the entrance, 15 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from July to August.
- 10°2°Jan
- 10°2°Feb
- 14°4°Mar
- 17°7°Apr
- 20°10°May
- 25°14°Jun
- 28°16°Jul
- 28°16°Aug
- 24°13°Sep
- 20°10°Oct
- 14°5°Nov
- 10°3°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.
Catholic pilgrimage cave in Lourdes, France
Massabielle Grotto is a cave in France. The entrance is at 382 m. It has an underground river.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Lourdesnearest town · 1.1 km in a straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 2.9 km from the entrance
- Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées Airport (LDE)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 10 km in a straight lineCar hire at LDE airport (Tarbes/Lourdes/Pyrénées)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 Ruisseau du Baratchelé runs highest from November to May.
The Ruisseau du Baratchelé carries about 17 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from November to May.
- 32 m³/sJan
- 30 m³/sFeb
- 32 m³/sMar
- 34 m³/sApr
- 35 m³/sMay
- 21 m³/sJun
- 8.6 m³/sJul
- 3.7 m³/sAug
- 5.9 m³/sSep
- 13 m³/sOct
- 25 m³/sNov
- 24 m³/sDec
From about 3.7 m³/s in the lowest month to 35 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 1,092 km².
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.
- 14other cave entrances within 3 kmEspélugues, Grottes du Roy, Grotte du Loup and 11 more
- 1springs within 2 km
- 1sinkholes within 3 km
- 3viewpoints within 3 kmRocher de la Vierge
- 11marked hiking routes within 3 kmChemin de l'Ouest de la Bigorre: Maubourguet-Lourdes, Chemin Henri IV, Chemin de l'Ouest de Bigorre and 8 more
- 3climbing crags within 3 kmGrottes du Roy, Pic du Jer, Col d'Ech
- 164car parks within 2 km
- 11information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 101bus stops within 2 km
- 23campsites within 8 kmParking de l'Arrouza, Camping de la Forêt, Le vieux Berger and 20 more
- 165hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmHôtel Marquette, Chez Passet, Village des Jeunes and 162 more
- 49restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 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
- Lourdes1.1 km in a straight line
- Saint-Pé-de-Bigorre8.3 km in a straight line
- Ossun9.9 km in a straight line
- Pontacq11 km in a straight line
- Argelès-Gazost11 km in a straight line
- Montaut12 km in a straight line
- Lestelle-Bétharram13 km in a straight line
- Juillan13 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Massabielle Grotto.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Lakeyas1 lakes within 10 km
Peakyas1 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 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 25 | 28 | 28 | 24 | 20 | 14 | 10 |
| Afternoon | 10 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 25 | 28 | 28 | 24 | 20 | 14 | 10 |
| Night | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 5 | 3 |
| Rain (mm) | 87 | 69 | 75 | 86 | 93 | 65 | 52 | 52 | 56 | 70 | 93 | 74 |
| Rainy days | 13 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 12 |
| Sun hours/day | 3.0 | 4.7 | 6.0 | 6.7 | 7.1 | 8.3 | 8.6 | 8.1 | 7.4 | 5.4 | 3.7 | 3.2 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 13 | 13 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 11 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 10 | 10 | 2 | 87 | 3.0 |
| Feb | 10 | 10 | 2 | 69 | 4.7 |
| Mar | 14 | 14 | 4 | 75 | 6.0 |
| Apr | 17 | 17 | 7 | 86 | 6.7 |
| May | 20 | 20 | 10 | 93 | 7.1 |
| Jun | 25 | 25 | 14 | 65 | 8.3 |
| Jul | 28 | 28 | 16 | 52 | 8.6 |
| Aug | 28 | 28 | 16 | 52 | 8.1 |
| Sep | 24 | 24 | 13 | 56 | 7.4 |
| Oct | 20 | 20 | 10 | 70 | 5.4 |
| Nov | 14 | 14 | 5 | 93 | 3.7 |
| Dec | 10 | 10 | 3 | 74 | 3.2 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (382 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% | 47% | 148% | 131% | 121% | 148% | 49% | 85% | 162% | 249% | 38% | 247% |
| 2021 | 95% | 49% | 24% | 39% | 59% | 145% | 80% | 32% | 163% | 78% | 84% | 148% |
| 2022 | 56% | 34% | 88% | 74% | 30% | 97% | 40% | 82% | 125% | 74% | 115% | 77% |
| 2023 | 111% | 46% | 50% | 70% | 73% | 200% | 74% | 99% | 113% | 95% | 128% | 99% |
| 2024 | 50% | 144% | 175% | 53% | 101% | 119% | 48% | 131% | 250% | 147% | 51% | 73% |
| 2025 | 87% | 29% | 106% | 77% | 65% | 84% | 35% | 84% | 68% | 42% | 83% | 42% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Massabielle Grotto
France
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 382 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Bétharram caves
France · 11 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 335 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Caves of Gargas
France · 49 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 551 mEntrance altitude
- 12 °CInside, all year
Grotto of Casteret
Spain · 46 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 2,606 mEntrance altitude
- 0 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q1918916) · 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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