Spain Show cave
Cave of El Soplao
12 °C inside, all year.
Frobles · CC BY-SA 4.0
The descent
The entrance, at 531 m.
The real relief above Cave of El Soplao, 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.
531m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
12°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
142m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
12 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 12 °C here, in January and in August. In August the afternoon reaches 21 °C at the entrance, 8 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.
- 10°6°Jan
- 9°6°Feb
- 11°7°Mar
- 12°8°Apr
- 15°10°May
- 18°13°Jun
- 20°15°Jul
- 21°16°Aug
- 20°15°Sep
- 17°12°Oct
- 12°9°Nov
- 10°7°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
Cave of El Soplao is a show cave in Spain. The entrance is at 531 m. It has stalactites and stalagmites. It is open to visitors.
Getting there.
- Show cave: open to visitorsHours in OpenStreetMap: Mo-Su 10:00-19:00Official site↗
- San Vicente de la Barqueranearest town · 9.9 km in a straight line
- Parking 90 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Mirador de Celisnearest viewpoint · 0.2 km from the entrance
- Seve Ballesteros-Santander Airport (SDR)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 50 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.
- 10other cave entrances within 3 kmCueva de El Soplao, Torca del Juñoso (El Soplao), Cueva de los Tres Sapos and 7 more
- 1springs within 2 kmFuente Senderu
- 3viewpoints within 3 kmMirador de Celis
- 3car parks within 2 km
- 1information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 2bus stops within 2 km
- 2campsites within 8 kmÁrea de autocaravanas del Valle del Nansa
- 19hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmCasa Rural El Coteru, Albergue de peregrinos de Serdio, Hotel Arha Casona de Carmona and 16 more
- 5restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- marked hiking routes within 3 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
- San Vicente de la Barquera9.9 km in a straight line
- Ruente12 km in a straight line
- Comillas14 km in a straight line
- Cabezón de la Sal14 km in a straight line
- Luzmela16 km in a straight line
- Tresviso21 km in a straight line
- Cabezón de Liébana22 km in a straight line
- Potes23 km in a straight line
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 10 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 20 | 21 | 20 | 17 | 12 | 10 |
| Afternoon | 10 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 20 | 21 | 20 | 17 | 12 | 10 |
| Night | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 12 | 9 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 123 | 102 | 94 | 77 | 62 | 53 | 34 | 37 | 50 | 100 | 137 | 118 |
| Rainy days | 16 | 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 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 10 | 10 | 6 | 123 | 2.7 |
| Feb | 9 | 9 | 6 | 102 | 3.8 |
| Mar | 11 | 11 | 7 | 94 | 5.2 |
| Apr | 12 | 12 | 8 | 77 | 6.2 |
| May | 15 | 15 | 10 | 62 | 7.1 |
| Jun | 18 | 18 | 13 | 53 | 7.3 |
| Jul | 20 | 20 | 15 | 34 | 7.7 |
| Aug | 21 | 21 | 16 | 37 | 7.4 |
| Sep | 20 | 20 | 15 | 50 | 6.8 |
| Oct | 17 | 17 | 12 | 100 | 4.8 |
| Nov | 12 | 12 | 9 | 137 | 3.0 |
| Dec | 10 | 10 | 7 | 118 | 2.8 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (531 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 | 40% | 29% | 135% | 143% | 98% | 136% | 55% | 188% | 218% | 266% | 34% | 341% |
| 2021 | 173% | 108% | 39% | 71% | 103% | 197% | 112% | 89% | 161% | 70% | 243% | 202% |
| 2022 | 71% | 35% | 128% | 137% | 36% | 105% | 32% | 117% | 238% | 41% | 119% | 106% |
| 2023 | 247% | 81% | 35% | 43% | 89% | 149% | 84% | 116% | 202% | 114% | 136% | 103% |
| 2024 | 114% | 156% | 139% | 52% | 159% | 102% | 70% | 118% | 286% | 188% | 75% | 108% |
| 2025 | 77% | 76% | 165% | 98% | 114% | 79% | 124% | 175% | 162% | 35% | 129% | 120% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Cave of El Soplao
Spain
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 531 mEntrance altitude
- 12 °CInside, all year
Cave of Altamira
Spain · 25 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 95 mEntrance altitude
- 15 °CInside, all year
Cave of El Castillo
Spain · 36 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 201 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q798648) · 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 |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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