Switzerland Cave
Vallorbe Caves
8 °C inside, all year.
Micha L. Rieser · Attribution
The descent
The entrance, at 851 m.
The real relief above Vallorbe 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.
851m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
8°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
555m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
8 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 8 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 23 °C at the entrance, 14 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.
- 2°-4°Jan
- 3°-4°Feb
- 7°0°Mar
- 12°3°Apr
- 16°7°May
- 20°12°Jun
- 23°14°Jul
- 22°13°Aug
- 18°9°Sep
- 14°5°Oct
- 7°0°Nov
- 2°-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.
Caves near Vallorbe, Switzerland
Vallorbe Caves is a cave in Switzerland. The entrance is at 851 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.
- Vallorbenearest town · 3.0 km in a straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 0.3 km from the entrance
- Geneva International Airport (GVA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 54 km in a straight lineCar hire at GVA airport (Geneva)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'Orbe runs highest from October to June.
The L'Orbe carries about 11 m³/s on average here.
- 15 m³/sJan
- 12 m³/sFeb
- 16 m³/sMar
- 14 m³/sApr
- 16 m³/sMay
- 12 m³/sJun
- 7.3 m³/sJul
- 6.8 m³/sAug
- 4.2 m³/sSep
- 9.3 m³/sOct
- 11 m³/sNov
- 14 m³/sDec
From about 4.2 m³/s in the lowest month to 16 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 258 km².
The Orbe 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.
- 15other cave entrances within 3 kmGrotte de Vallorbe, Entonnoir, La Cave à Metsire, Grotte aux Fées and 12 more
- 1springs within 2 km
- 5viewpoints within 3 kmDent de Vaulion, Roche à l'Aigle and 3 more
- 33marked hiking routes within 3 kmEuropean long distance path E4 - part Switzerland, Grottes de l'Orbe - fixme, Saigne Geret-Les Revines and 30 more
- 1climbing crags within 3 kmMur de grimpe
- 24car parks within 2 km
- 29information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 7bus stops within 2 km
- 14campsites within 8 kmLe Patinage, Le Téléski, Stellplatz Crêt Blanc and 11 more
- 33hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmHôtel de la truite, Le Levant, Les Playnoz and 30 more
- 18restaurants 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
- Vallorbe3.0 km in a straight line
- Jougne7.9 km in a straight line
- La Sarraz13 km in a straight line
- Le Chenit13 km in a straight line
- Orbe14 km in a straight line
- Pampigny14 km in a straight line
- Cossonay15 km in a straight line
- Les Fourgs16 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Vallorbe 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.
Riveryas1 rivers at the entrance
Lakeyas2 lakes within 10 km
Peakyas10 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 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 22 | 18 | 14 | 7 | 2 |
| Afternoon | 2 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 22 | 18 | 14 | 7 | 2 |
| Night | -4 | -4 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 5 | 0 | -3 |
| Rain (mm) | 96 | 75 | 92 | 82 | 117 | 107 | 101 | 107 | 80 | 103 | 100 | 108 |
| Rainy days | 13 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 14 |
| Sun hours/day | 3.3 | 4.4 | 5.5 | 6.3 | 6.6 | 8.5 | 8.9 | 7.9 | 6.9 | 5.0 | 3.1 | 2.6 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 16 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 15 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 2 | 2 | -4 | 96 | 3.3 |
| Feb | 3 | 3 | -4 | 75 | 4.4 |
| Mar | 7 | 7 | 0 | 92 | 5.5 |
| Apr | 12 | 12 | 3 | 82 | 6.3 |
| May | 16 | 16 | 7 | 117 | 6.6 |
| Jun | 20 | 20 | 12 | 107 | 8.5 |
| Jul | 23 | 23 | 14 | 101 | 8.9 |
| Aug | 22 | 22 | 13 | 107 | 7.9 |
| Sep | 18 | 18 | 9 | 80 | 6.9 |
| Oct | 14 | 14 | 5 | 103 | 5.0 |
| Nov | 7 | 7 | 0 | 100 | 3.1 |
| Dec | 2 | 2 | -3 | 108 | 2.6 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (851 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 | 56% | 175% | 92% | 50% | 93% | 142% | 37% | 99% | 104% | 203% | 25% | 89% |
| 2021 | 116% | 62% | 57% | 47% | 132% | 121% | 171% | 61% | 82% | 77% | 57% | 157% |
| 2022 | 50% | 116% | 24% | 120% | 43% | 99% | 32% | 67% | 221% | 88% | 127% | 124% |
| 2023 | 91% | 12% | 145% | 127% | 61% | 59% | 80% | 82% | 77% | 164% | 260% | 162% |
| 2024 | 122% | 102% | 103% | 115% | 146% | 117% | 90% | 92% | 256% | 146% | 69% | 110% |
| 2025 | 155% | 52% | 50% | 104% | 81% | 101% | 109% | 100% | 201% | 151% | 147% | 29% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Vallorbe Caves
Switzerland
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 851 mEntrance altitude
- 8 °CInside, all year
Glacière de Monlési
Switzerland · 32 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,138 mEntrance altitude
- 0 °CInside, all year
Cotencher, Palaeolithic residential cave
Switzerland · 46 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 680 mEntrance altitude
- 9 °CInside, all year
Grotte des Planches
France · 45 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 525 mEntrance altitude
- 9 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q671888) · 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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