Ireland MarvinVells · CC BY-SA 3.0
The descent
The entrance, at 57 m.
The real relief above Aillwee 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
10°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
230m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
10 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 10 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 17 °C at the entrance, 7 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.
- 8°6°Jan
- 8°5°Feb
- 9°5°Mar
- 11°7°Apr
- 14°9°May
- 16°11°Jun
- 17°13°Jul
- 17°13°Aug
- 16°12°Sep
- 13°10°Oct
- 11°8°Nov
- 9°6°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 system in County Clare, Ireland
Aillwee Cave is a show cave in Ireland. The entrance is at 57 m. It has stalactites and stalagmites and several entrances and long galleries. It is open to visitors.
Getting there.
- Show cave: open to visitorsUsually with a guided tour; check times and tickets on the official site.Official site↗
- Bearnanearest town · 18 km in a straight line
- Parking 130 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 1.3 km from the entrance
- Shannon Airport (SNN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 46 km in a straight lineCar hire at SNN airport (Shannon)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.
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 kmAillwee Cave
- 2springs within 2 km
- 3viewpoints within 3 km
- 3marked hiking routes within 3 kmBallyvaughan Wood loop, Burren Way, Fanore to Ballyvaughan Trek
- 5car parks within 2 km
- 1information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 22hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmHylands Burren Hotel, Clare's Rock Hostel, Dolmen Lodge and 19 more
- 7restaurants 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
- bus stops within 2 km
- campsites within 8 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
- Bearna18 km in a straight line
- Ennistimon19 km in a straight line
- Galway21 km in a straight line
- Gort22 km in a straight line
- Oranmore25 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Aillwee 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.
Peakyas11 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 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 9 |
| Afternoon | 8 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 9 |
| Night | 6 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 134 | 105 | 95 | 76 | 87 | 90 | 104 | 111 | 103 | 118 | 149 | 142 |
| Rainy days | 20 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 17 | 20 | 21 | 21 |
| Sun hours/day | 1.4 | 2.6 | 4.1 | 6.0 | 6.5 | 6.1 | 4.9 | 4.6 | 4.2 | 3.1 | 1.7 | 1.0 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 8 | 8 | 6 | 134 | 1.4 |
| Feb | 8 | 8 | 5 | 105 | 2.6 |
| Mar | 9 | 9 | 5 | 95 | 4.1 |
| Apr | 11 | 11 | 7 | 76 | 6.0 |
| May | 14 | 14 | 9 | 87 | 6.5 |
| Jun | 16 | 16 | 11 | 90 | 6.1 |
| Jul | 17 | 17 | 13 | 104 | 4.9 |
| Aug | 17 | 17 | 13 | 111 | 4.6 |
| Sep | 16 | 16 | 12 | 103 | 4.2 |
| Oct | 13 | 13 | 10 | 118 | 3.1 |
| Nov | 11 | 11 | 8 | 149 | 1.7 |
| Dec | 9 | 9 | 6 | 142 | 1.0 |
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.
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 | 92% | 243% | 130% | 53% | 46% | 120% | 177% | 148% | 92% | 146% | 236% | 127% |
| 2021 | 115% | 125% | 113% | 33% | 148% | 49% | 73% | 91% | 107% | 155% | 52% | 94% |
| 2022 | 48% | 154% | 64% | 69% | 77% | 126% | 48% | 46% | 108% | 154% | 122% | 93% |
| 2023 | 100% | 44% | 200% | 102% | 57% | 100% | 197% | 109% | 125% | 159% | 80% | 291% |
| 2024 | 79% | 160% | 167% | 132% | 92% | 72% | 62% | 116% | 75% | 107% | 88% | 73% |
| 2025 | 85% | 115% | 48% | 138% | 77% | 117% | 110% | 102% | 167% | 123% | 114% | 102% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Aillwee Cave
Ireland
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 57 mEntrance altitude
- 10 °CInside, all year
Mitchelstown Cave
Ireland · 113 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 76 mEntrance altitude
- 10 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q405285) · 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 |
| 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?
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