Caves

Languedoc-Roussillon is honeycombed with caves and caverns, forming one of the richest areas of subterranean landscape in France. About 15 of them are open to the public.

The region’s caves contain extraordinary shapes, stunning colours, narrow passages and vast chambers… and some surprising images that seem to be sculpted from rock, such as the hundred-thousand soldiers of the Grotte de Trabuc, or the Medusa’s head in the Grotte de Clamouse. In these mineral kingdoms, lakes and rivers sometimes appear, as in the Labeil cave. It’s easy to stroll through the labyrinth of halls and galleries, up flights of steps and along lighted passages.

Aven Armand and Dargilan

The fantastic Aven Armand cavern is a huge chamber, 45 metres high, 110 metres long and 60 wide. Illuminated by specially engineered lighting, more than 400 stalagmites rear up like stone lace, several metres tall. Dargilan is the largest cave in the Cévennes limestone. Named the pink grotto, after the colour of its many stalagmites, it has several chambers: the Chamber of Chaos, the Mosque, the Lake, the Basins … each as beautiful as the last.

Trabuc and La Cocalière

The Trabuc cave is the largest cave in the Cévennes, inhabited in the Neolithic era and a residence during Roman times. The cave is reached by an amazing 40m tunnel, carved out by the miners of Alès. The remarkable formations known as the ‘hundred-thousand soldiers’ looks like an army of Lilliputians. This cave is known for its elaborate and strangely shaped formations. At the end of your visit to the 1200m gallery you’ll return by miniature railway.

The Canalettes and Fontrabiouse

The Canalettes caves were turned into a fortress more than 300 years ago by the military engineer Vauban. Today, you’ll discover calcite crystals in the most amazing forms; and ‘The Table’: a rock formation with fine white drapes, unique in the world. Your visit to Fontrabiouse will take you along galleries into brightly-lit vaults loaded with fabulous calcite formations. You’ll find an emerald-green lake, tapestries, monumental columns, all in shimmering colours. It’s a journey to a mysterious underground world…

The caves of Languedoc-Roussillon