France Cave
Sabart cave
136 m deep, 2.8 km of galleries.
JYB Devot · CC BY-SA 4.0
The descent
136 metres down, to scale.
The real relief above Sabart cave, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
Big Ben (96 m) would fit upside down 1.4 times.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey.
136m
Depth
published (Wikidata)
2.8km
Galleries
surveyed length (Wikidata)
582m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
12°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
601m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
12 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 12 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 29 °C at the entrance, 16 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from July to August.
- 8°0°Jan
- 9°-1°Feb
- 12°2°Mar
- 16°5°Apr
- 20°8°May
- 26°13°Jun
- 29°15°Jul
- 28°15°Aug
- 24°11°Sep
- 20°8°Oct
- 12°3°Nov
- 9°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 in France
Sabart cave is a cave in France. It goes down 136 m below the entrance and has 2.8 km of surveyed galleries. The entrance is at 582 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.
- Tarascon-sur-Ariègenearest town · 1.7 km in a straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 1.5 km from the entrance
- Pirineus - la Seu d'Urgel Airport (LEU)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 57 km in a straight lineCar hire at CCF airport (Carcassonne)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'Ariège runs highest from November to May.
The L'Ariège carries about 3.7 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from November to May.
- 7.3 m³/sJan
- 6.4 m³/sFeb
- 7.1 m³/sMar
- 7.8 m³/sApr
- 7.6 m³/sMay
- 4.2 m³/sJun
- 1.6 m³/sJul
- 0.8 m³/sAug
- 1.6 m³/sSep
- 3.7 m³/sOct
- 6.8 m³/sNov
- 6.1 m³/sDec
From about 0.83 m³/s in the lowest month to 7.8 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 355 km².
Follow the Ariège 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.
- 28other cave entrances within 3 kmGrotte de Niaux, Grotte de la Petite Caougno, Grotte de Lombrives and 25 more
- 3springs within 2 kmFontaine Saint-Martin
- 3viewpoints within 3 kmCastella
- 7marked hiking routes within 3 kmCamí de l'Últim Càtar, Chemin de Génat, Génat-Lapege and 4 more
- 7climbing crags within 3 kmSabart, Génat, Alliat and 4 more
- 43car parks within 2 km
- 8information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 2bus stops within 2 km
- 11campsites within 8 kmAriège Evasion, La Prairie, Camping des Grottes and 8 more
- 24hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmPoint d'accueil randonneurs, Hostellerie de la poste, Gite Le Souleillan Le Chalet and 21 more
- 15restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- sinkholes 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
- Tarascon-sur-Ariège1.7 km in a straight line
- Mercus-Garrabet5.6 km in a straight line
- Saint-Paul-de-Jarrat10 km in a straight line
- Montgaillard12 km in a straight line
- Foix15 km in a straight line
- Villeneuve-d'Olmes20 km in a straight line
- Lavelanet23 km in a straight line
- Ax-les-Thermes23 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Sabart cave.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Peakyas4 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 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 26 | 29 | 28 | 24 | 20 | 12 | 9 |
| Afternoon | 8 | 9 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 26 | 29 | 28 | 24 | 20 | 12 | 9 |
| Night | 0 | -1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 1 |
| Rain (mm) | 76 | 60 | 64 | 76 | 82 | 56 | 47 | 50 | 53 | 68 | 84 | 67 |
| Rainy days | 12 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 13 | 12 |
| Sun hours/day | 2.8 | 4.6 | 6.0 | 6.8 | 7.3 | 8.7 | 9.0 | 8.4 | 7.4 | 5.4 | 3.5 | 3.0 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 11 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 10 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 8 | 8 | 0 | 76 | 2.8 |
| Feb | 9 | 9 | -1 | 60 | 4.6 |
| Mar | 12 | 12 | 2 | 64 | 6.0 |
| Apr | 16 | 16 | 5 | 76 | 6.8 |
| May | 20 | 20 | 8 | 82 | 7.3 |
| Jun | 26 | 26 | 13 | 56 | 8.7 |
| Jul | 29 | 29 | 15 | 47 | 9.0 |
| Aug | 28 | 28 | 15 | 50 | 8.4 |
| Sep | 24 | 24 | 11 | 53 | 7.4 |
| Oct | 20 | 20 | 8 | 68 | 5.4 |
| Nov | 12 | 12 | 3 | 84 | 3.5 |
| Dec | 9 | 9 | 1 | 67 | 3.0 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (582 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 | 89% | 55% | 141% | 143% | 119% | 177% | 83% | 118% | 174% | 201% | 68% | 205% |
| 2021 | 99% | 77% | 29% | 43% | 61% | 139% | 89% | 50% | 155% | 58% | 127% | 123% |
| 2022 | 54% | 34% | 93% | 79% | 37% | 77% | 68% | 86% | 143% | 22% | 115% | 49% |
| 2023 | 96% | 36% | 55% | 61% | 98% | 196% | 86% | 99% | 75% | 90% | 123% | 95% |
| 2024 | 53% | 120% | 124% | 70% | 95% | 104% | 67% | 72% | 160% | 175% | 43% | 76% |
| 2025 | 37% | 17% | 124% | 49% | 44% | 31% | 90% | 93% | 76% | 17% | 47% | 57% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Sabart cave
France
- 136 mDepth
- 2.8 kmGalleries
- 582 mEntrance altitude
- 12 °CInside, all year
Cave of Niaux
France · 1 km
- —Depth
- 2.0 kmGalleries
- 718 mEntrance altitude
- 11 °CInside, all year
Grotte de Bédeilhac
France · 5 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 774 mEntrance altitude
- 11 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q3117170) · 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.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
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
Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Coming soonVisit 
forests
Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit