Spain Cave with prehistoric art World Heritage
Tito Bustillo Cave
15 °C inside, all year.
Falconaumanni · CC BY 3.0
The descent
The entrance, at 57 m.
The real relief above Tito Bustillo Cave, 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.
57m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
15°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
60m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
15 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 15 °C here, in January and in August. In August the afternoon reaches 24 °C at the entrance, 9 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The wettest months are from November to January: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 13°9°Jan
- 13°8°Feb
- 15°9°Mar
- 16°11°Apr
- 18°13°May
- 22°16°Jun
- 23°18°Jul
- 24°18°Aug
- 23°17°Sep
- 20°15°Oct
- 16°11°Nov
- 14°9°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 Spain
Tito Bustillo Cave is a cave with prehistoric art in Spain. The entrance is at 57 m. It has an underground river. It is closed to the public to protect it. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Getting there.
- No public accessProtected for science or for its art. Look for a replica or a visitor centre nearby.
- Ribadesellanearest town · 0.7 km in a straight line
- Mirador de Ardinesnearest viewpoint · 0.0 km from the entrance
- Asturias Airport (OVD)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 79 km in a straight lineCar hire at OVD airport (Ranón)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 Ríu San Pedro runs highest from November to March.
The Ríu San Pedro carries about 43 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from November to March. It is lowest from July to September.
- 67 m³/sJan
- 58 m³/sFeb
- 52 m³/sMar
- 43 m³/sApr
- 31 m³/sMay
- 20 m³/sJun
- 11 m³/sJul
- 8.9 m³/sAug
- 12 m³/sSep
- 32 m³/sOct
- 60 m³/sNov
- 66 m³/sDec
From about 8.9 m³/s in the lowest month to 67 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 1,281 km².
The Sella 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.
- 4other cave entrances within 3 kmCueva de Tito Bustillo, Cuevona de Ardines and 2 more
- 1springs within 2 km
- 16viewpoints within 3 kmMirador de Ardines, La Punta'l Pozu, Podium Vencedores del Sella and 13 more
- 2marked hiking routes within 3 kmCamino del Norte (Asturias), Ruta entre playas
- 44car parks within 2 km
- 8information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 4bus stops within 2 km
- 6campsites within 8 kmCamping Ribadesella, Camping Los Sauces, Camping Playa de Vega and 3 more
- 88hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmHotel rural Amaicha, Villalen, Casa La Bahúa and 85 more
- 50restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- climbing crags within 3 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
- Ribadesella0.7 km in a straight line
- Cangas de Onís13 km in a straight line
- Parres14 km in a straight line
- Colunga17 km in a straight line
- Posada17 km in a straight line
- Carreña24 km in a straight line
- Amieva24 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Tito Bustillo 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.
Riveryas1 rivers at the entranceFigures 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 | 13 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 23 | 20 | 16 | 14 |
| Afternoon | 13 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 18 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 23 | 20 | 16 | 14 |
| Night | 9 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 15 | 11 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 117 | 98 | 90 | 75 | 62 | 53 | 33 | 39 | 48 | 97 | 133 | 114 |
| Rainy days | 15 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 14 |
| Sun hours/day | 2.7 | 3.8 | 5.2 | 6.2 | 7.1 | 7.3 | 7.7 | 7.4 | 6.8 | 4.8 | 3.0 | 2.8 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 5 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 13 | 13 | 9 | 117 | 2.7 |
| Feb | 13 | 13 | 8 | 98 | 3.8 |
| Mar | 15 | 15 | 9 | 90 | 5.2 |
| Apr | 16 | 16 | 11 | 75 | 6.2 |
| May | 18 | 18 | 13 | 62 | 7.1 |
| Jun | 22 | 22 | 16 | 53 | 7.3 |
| Jul | 23 | 23 | 18 | 33 | 7.7 |
| Aug | 24 | 24 | 18 | 39 | 7.4 |
| Sep | 23 | 23 | 17 | 48 | 6.8 |
| Oct | 20 | 20 | 15 | 97 | 4.8 |
| Nov | 16 | 16 | 11 | 133 | 3.0 |
| Dec | 14 | 14 | 9 | 114 | 2.8 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (57 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 | 45% | 29% | 129% | 124% | 97% | 125% | 63% | 193% | 196% | 263% | 37% | 335% |
| 2021 | 172% | 116% | 36% | 73% | 99% | 179% | 96% | 72% | 158% | 71% | 234% | 187% |
| 2022 | 67% | 39% | 118% | 161% | 47% | 113% | 45% | 116% | 203% | 46% | 106% | 125% |
| 2023 | 247% | 79% | 32% | 43% | 82% | 147% | 69% | 116% | 182% | 133% | 124% | 102% |
| 2024 | 109% | 152% | 132% | 68% | 152% | 115% | 79% | 91% | 261% | 179% | 71% | 106% |
| 2025 | 92% | 84% | 145% | 92% | 147% | 72% | 108% | 132% | 160% | 39% | 125% | 121% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Tito Bustillo Cave
Spain
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 57 mEntrance altitude
- 15 °CInside, all year
Santa Cueva de Covadonga
Spain · 17 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 251 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Cueva de La Covaciella
Spain · 22 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 292 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q8352475) · 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 
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