Germany Kora27 · CC BY-SA 3.0
The descent
The entrance, at 342 m.
The real relief above Prinzenhöhle, 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.
342m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
9°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
213m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
9 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 9 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 24 °C at the entrance, 16 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The wettest months are in July: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 1°-4°Jan
- 3°-4°Feb
- 8°-1°Mar
- 14°3°Apr
- 18°8°May
- 22°12°Jun
- 24°14°Jul
- 24°13°Aug
- 19°9°Sep
- 13°5°Oct
- 7°1°Nov
- 3°-2°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.
Prinzenhöhle is a cave in Germany. The entrance is at 342 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.
- Hartensteinnearest town · 3.4 km in a straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 0.4 km from the entrance
- Karlovy Vary Airport (KLV)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 51 km in a straight lineCar hire at LEJ airport (Schkeuditz)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 Zwickauer Mulde runs highest from January to September.
The Zwickauer Mulde carries about 6.2 m³/s on average here.
- 14 m³/sJan
- 12 m³/sFeb
- 15 m³/sMar
- 12 m³/sApr
- 13 m³/sMay
- 9.8 m³/sJun
- 10 m³/sJul
- 8.2 m³/sAug
- 7.3 m³/sSep
- 5.3 m³/sOct
- 3.5 m³/sNov
- 2.9 m³/sDec
From about 2.9 m³/s in the lowest month to 15 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 798 km².
The Zwickau Mulde from source to mouth on Riveryas — coming soon
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 kmPrinzenhöhle
- 1springs within 2 kmRadiumquelle
- 1sinkholes within 3 km
- 17viewpoints within 3 kmBastei, Alexanderstein, Blick auf den Förderschacht 371 and 14 more
- 26marked hiking routes within 3 kmFernwanderweg Ostsee–Saaletalsperren (Abschnitt Freiberg – Ziegenrück), Ww Glauchau-Hartenstein, Floßgraben and 23 more
- 1named waterfalls within 4 kmWasserfallkaskade
- 25car parks within 2 km
- 40information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 8bus stops within 2 km
- 11campsites within 8 kmStellplatz Kurhotel, Wohnmobilstellplatz Anton-Günther-Platz, Stellplatz Berghotel Steiger and 8 more
- 48hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmNaturherberge Affalter, Blauer Engel, Sachsenhof and 45 more
- 7restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- climbing crags 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
- Hartenstein3.4 km in a straight line
- Bad Schlema3.5 km in a straight line
- Lößnitz3.6 km in a straight line
- Aue5.1 km in a straight line
- Schneeberg5.2 km in a straight line
- Wildenfels6.5 km in a straight line
- Zschorlau7.8 km in a straight line
- Lauter8.7 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Prinzenhöhle.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Riveryas1 rivers at the entrance
Peakyas41 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 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 18 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 19 | 13 | 7 | 3 |
| Afternoon | 1 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 18 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 19 | 13 | 7 | 3 |
| Night | -4 | -4 | -1 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 5 | 1 | -2 |
| Rain (mm) | 63 | 45 | 52 | 42 | 71 | 76 | 86 | 76 | 65 | 56 | 61 | 64 |
| Rainy days | 14 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 14 |
| Sun hours/day | 1.3 | 2.8 | 3.9 | 5.9 | 6.3 | 6.8 | 6.8 | 6.1 | 4.8 | 3.1 | 1.2 | 1.0 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 16 | 16 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 16 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 1 | 1 | -4 | 63 | 1.3 |
| Feb | 3 | 3 | -4 | 45 | 2.8 |
| Mar | 8 | 8 | -1 | 52 | 3.9 |
| Apr | 14 | 14 | 3 | 42 | 5.9 |
| May | 18 | 18 | 8 | 71 | 6.3 |
| Jun | 22 | 22 | 12 | 76 | 6.8 |
| Jul | 24 | 24 | 14 | 86 | 6.8 |
| Aug | 24 | 24 | 13 | 76 | 6.1 |
| Sep | 19 | 19 | 9 | 65 | 4.8 |
| Oct | 13 | 13 | 5 | 56 | 3.1 |
| Nov | 7 | 7 | 1 | 61 | 1.2 |
| Dec | 3 | 3 | -2 | 64 | 1.0 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (342 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 | 42% | 196% | 96% | 37% | 84% | 135% | 37% | 170% | 76% | 130% | 24% | 77% |
| 2021 | 162% | 133% | 92% | 107% | 160% | 140% | 175% | 169% | 62% | 52% | 98% | 89% |
| 2022 | 115% | 153% | 38% | 152% | 50% | 101% | 52% | 130% | 173% | 59% | 65% | 80% |
| 2023 | 80% | 125% | 170% | 142% | 38% | 83% | 70% | 167% | 35% | 137% | 167% | 189% |
| 2024 | 104% | 178% | 43% | 124% | 162% | 113% | 71% | 113% | 165% | 109% | 77% | 79% |
| 2025 | 95% | 33% | 56% | 110% | 80% | 79% | 129% | 50% | 150% | 120% | 63% | 36% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Prinzenhöhle
Germany
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 342 mEntrance altitude
- 9 °CInside, all year
Drachenhöhle Syrau
Germany · 44 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 469 mEntrance altitude
- 8 °CInside, all year
Koněprusy Caves
Czechia · 127 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 434 mEntrance altitude
- 8 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q2110676) · 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
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