Spain Show cave World Heritage
Cave of El Castillo
14 °C inside, all year.
Gabinete de Prensa del Gobierno de Cantabria · CC BY 3.0 es
The descent
The entrance, at 201 m.
The real relief above Cave of El Castillo, 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.
201m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
14°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
267m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
14 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 14 °C here, in January and in August. In August the afternoon reaches 23 °C at the entrance, 9 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.
- 11°8°Jan
- 11°7°Feb
- 13°8°Mar
- 14°10°Apr
- 17°12°May
- 20°15°Jun
- 22°17°Jul
- 23°18°Aug
- 22°17°Sep
- 19°14°Oct
- 14°10°Nov
- 12°8°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 with prehistoric art
Cave of El Castillo is a show cave in Spain. The entrance is at 201 m. It has stalactites and stalagmites. It is open to visitors. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Getting there.
- Show cave: open to visitorsUsually with a guided tour; check times and tickets on the official site.
- Puente Viesgonearest town · 0.7 km in a straight line
- Parking 240 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Mirador de Puente Viesgonearest viewpoint · 0.1 km from the entrance
- Seve Ballesteros-Santander Airport (SDR)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 19 km in a straight lineCar hire at SDR airport (Santander)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.
- 7other cave entrances within 3 kmCueva de El Castillo, Cueva de Las Monedas, Cueva de la Flecha and 4 more
- 1springs within 2 kmFuente Las Pias
- 3viewpoints within 3 kmMirador de Puente Viesgo, Mirador del Monte Castillo, Mirador del Pas
- 3marked hiking routes within 3 kmPaseo Verde desde Puente Viesgo a El Soto, Ruta al Monte del Castillo desde Puente Viesgo, Camino Natural del Valle de Toranzo. Ruta de Corvera
- 16car parks within 2 km
- 6information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 5bus stops within 2 km
- 3campsites within 8 kmÁrea de autocaravanas de Castañeda, Aparcamiento para autocaravanas Torrelavega
- 40hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmEl Reposo de Aés - Guest House, Torrelavega, Saja and 37 more
- 12restaurants 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
- Puente Viesgo0.7 km in a straight line
- Zurita6.2 km in a straight line
- Santiurde de Toranzo6.4 km in a straight line
- Villafufre6.5 km in a straight line
- Renedo6.8 km in a straight line
- Vioño8.0 km in a straight line
- Torrelavega9.2 km in a straight line
- Los Corrales de Buelna9.2 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Cave of El Castillo.
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
Peakyas2 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 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 23 | 22 | 19 | 14 | 12 |
| Afternoon | 11 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 23 | 22 | 19 | 14 | 12 |
| Night | 8 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 18 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 125 | 100 | 95 | 78 | 62 | 54 | 34 | 34 | 51 | 100 | 141 | 121 |
| Rainy days | 15 | 13 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 16 | 14 |
| Sun hours/day | 2.4 | 3.6 | 5.1 | 6.2 | 7.2 | 7.5 | 7.8 | 7.4 | 6.7 | 4.7 | 2.8 | 2.6 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 11 | 11 | 8 | 125 | 2.4 |
| Feb | 11 | 11 | 7 | 100 | 3.6 |
| Mar | 13 | 13 | 8 | 95 | 5.1 |
| Apr | 14 | 14 | 10 | 78 | 6.2 |
| May | 17 | 17 | 12 | 62 | 7.2 |
| Jun | 20 | 20 | 15 | 54 | 7.5 |
| Jul | 22 | 22 | 17 | 34 | 7.8 |
| Aug | 23 | 23 | 18 | 34 | 7.4 |
| Sep | 22 | 22 | 17 | 51 | 6.7 |
| Oct | 19 | 19 | 14 | 100 | 4.7 |
| Nov | 14 | 14 | 10 | 141 | 2.8 |
| Dec | 12 | 12 | 8 | 121 | 2.6 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (201 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 | 37% | 27% | 145% | 141% | 119% | 136% | 56% | 179% | 211% | 241% | 28% | 312% |
| 2021 | 176% | 113% | 36% | 68% | 94% | 229% | 119% | 89% | 159% | 66% | 215% | 195% |
| 2022 | 63% | 33% | 122% | 111% | 34% | 94% | 23% | 116% | 227% | 35% | 111% | 96% |
| 2023 | 219% | 74% | 35% | 42% | 87% | 144% | 81% | 115% | 204% | 105% | 128% | 92% |
| 2024 | 103% | 160% | 122% | 53% | 152% | 111% | 68% | 212% | 268% | 203% | 70% | 100% |
| 2025 | 70% | 70% | 142% | 96% | 95% | 75% | 142% | 188% | 153% | 33% | 131% | 105% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Cave of El Castillo
Spain
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 201 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Cave of Altamira
Spain · 16 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 95 mEntrance altitude
- 15 °CInside, all year
Cueva de La Pasiega
Spain · 0 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 184 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Cueva de El Pendo
Spain · 11 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 85 mEntrance altitude
- 15 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q770666) · 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?
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