Spain Cave with prehistoric art World Heritage
Frontón de la Tía Chula
15 °C inside, all year.
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data), CC BY 4.0, with relief shading from Copernicus WorldDEM-30
The descent
The entrance, at 523 m.
The real relief above Frontón de la Tía Chula, 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.
523m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
15°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
236m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
15 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 15 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 34 °C at the entrance, 19 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from June to August. The wettest months are from April to May and from October to November: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 11°2°Jan
- 12°2°Feb
- 16°4°Mar
- 19°7°Apr
- 24°10°May
- 30°15°Jun
- 34°17°Jul
- 33°17°Aug
- 27°14°Sep
- 22°10°Oct
- 14°5°Nov
- 11°2°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.
Cultural property in Oliete, Spain
Frontón de la Tía Chula is a cave with prehistoric art in Spain. The entrance is at 523 m. It has an underground river. It is closed to the public to protect it. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Getting there.
- No public accessProtected for science or for its art. Look for a replica or a visitor centre nearby.
- Olietenearest town · 0.3 km in a straight line
- Zaragoza Airport (ZAZ)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 80 km in a straight lineCar hire at CDT airport (Castellón de la Plana)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 Río Martín runs highest from April to May and in November.
The Río Martín carries about 0.18 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from April to May and in November. It is lowest from July to August.
- 0.2 m³/sJan
- 0.2 m³/sFeb
- 0.3 m³/sMar
- 0.4 m³/sApr
- 0.4 m³/sMay
- 0.2 m³/sJun
- 0.1 m³/sJul
- 0.1 m³/sAug
- 0.1 m³/sSep
- 0.3 m³/sOct
- 0.4 m³/sNov
- 0.2 m³/sDec
From about 0.07 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.42 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 805 km².
The Martín River 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.
- 1marked hiking routes within 3 kmSendero del Río Martín
- 1bus stops within 2 km
- 9hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmHostal Los Cinco Arcos, Balneario de Ariño and 7 more
- 1restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- other cave entrances within 3 km
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- viewpoints within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- car parks within 2 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 3 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
- Oliete0.3 km in a straight line
- Alacón3.6 km in a straight line
- Alcaine5.4 km in a straight line
- Ariño8.1 km in a straight line
- Josa8.8 km in a straight line
- Obón11 km in a straight line
- Muniesa12 km in a straight line
- Alloza13 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Frontón de la Tía Chula.
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
Lakeyas1 lakes 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 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 24 | 30 | 34 | 33 | 27 | 22 | 14 | 11 |
| Afternoon | 11 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 24 | 30 | 34 | 33 | 27 | 22 | 14 | 11 |
| Night | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 15 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 5 | 2 |
| Rain (mm) | 24 | 19 | 35 | 46 | 45 | 32 | 19 | 21 | 35 | 42 | 42 | 19 |
| Rainy days | 6 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| Sun hours/day | 4.8 | 6.5 | 7.7 | 8.6 | 10.1 | 11.5 | 12.2 | 10.8 | 8.9 | 6.9 | 5.2 | 4.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 11 | 11 | 2 | 24 | 4.8 |
| Feb | 12 | 12 | 2 | 19 | 6.5 |
| Mar | 16 | 16 | 4 | 35 | 7.7 |
| Apr | 19 | 19 | 7 | 46 | 8.6 |
| May | 24 | 24 | 10 | 45 | 10.1 |
| Jun | 30 | 30 | 15 | 32 | 11.5 |
| Jul | 34 | 34 | 17 | 19 | 12.2 |
| Aug | 33 | 33 | 17 | 21 | 10.8 |
| Sep | 27 | 27 | 14 | 35 | 8.9 |
| Oct | 22 | 22 | 10 | 42 | 6.9 |
| Nov | 14 | 14 | 5 | 42 | 5.2 |
| Dec | 11 | 11 | 2 | 19 | 4.4 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (523 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 | 365% | 2% | 216% | 204% | 131% | 248% | 46% | 55% | 59% | 36% | 195% | 118% |
| 2021 | 169% | 102% | 20% | 131% | 79% | 197% | 94% | 232% | 188% | 63% | 204% | 52% |
| 2022 | 24% | 11% | 253% | 108% | 67% | 34% | 115% | 116% | 117% | 45% | 95% | 205% |
| 2023 | 55% | 107% | 12% | 14% | 88% | 231% | 84% | 32% | 128% | 63% | 31% | 87% |
| 2024 | 135% | 115% | 128% | 32% | 60% | 160% | 143% | 186% | 245% | 283% | 76% | 33% |
| 2025 | 49% | 53% | 237% | 86% | 76% | 120% | 215% | 50% | 151% | 187% | 64% | 284% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Frontón de la Tía Chula
Spain
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 523 mEntrance altitude
- 15 °CInside, all year
Rock art of Ruta los Estrechos
Spain · 15 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 420 mEntrance altitude
- 16 °CInside, all year
Abrigo del Plano del Pulido
Spain · 57 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 246 mEntrance altitude
- 16 °CInside, all year
Roca dels Moros
Spain · 73 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 496 mEntrance altitude
- 15 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q43148778) · 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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