France Show cave
Grotte d'Osselle
11 °C inside, all year.
JGS25 · CC BY 4.0
The descent
The entrance, at 234 m.
The real relief above Grotte d'Osselle, 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.
234m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
11°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
132m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
11 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 11 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 26 °C at the entrance, 15 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.
- 5°-1°Jan
- 7°-1°Feb
- 11°2°Mar
- 16°6°Apr
- 19°10°May
- 24°14°Jun
- 26°15°Jul
- 25°15°Aug
- 22°11°Sep
- 17°7°Oct
- 10°3°Nov
- 6°0°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 France
Grotte d'Osselle is a show cave in France. The entrance is at 234 m. It has stalactites and stalagmites. 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↗
- Saint-Vitnearest town · 5.2 km in a straight line
- Parking 60 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Dole Tavaux Airport (DLE)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 33 km in a straight lineCar hire at GVA airport (Geneva)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 kmGrotte d’Osselle
- 2marked hiking routes within 3 kmSentier sur les Roches, Besançon - Arc-et-Senans
- 5car parks within 2 km
- 1information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 3bus stops within 2 km
- 5campsites within 8 kmLes lacs d’Osselle, Aire de camping-cars Plage d'Osselle, Camping Municipal Les Promenades and 2 more
- 11hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmHôtel de la truite de la Noue, Au Doubs Repos, Gîtes de Cahuzac and 8 more
- 3restaurants and cafés 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
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
- Saint-Vit5.2 km in a straight line
- Quingey5.3 km in a straight line
- Boussières5.5 km in a straight line
- Fraisans5.9 km in a straight line
- Montferrand-le-Château7.2 km in a straight line
- Dampierre7.4 km in a straight line
- Dannemarie-sur-Crête7.8 km in a straight line
- Grandfontaine8.2 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 | 5 | 7 | 11 | 16 | 19 | 24 | 26 | 25 | 22 | 17 | 10 | 6 |
| Afternoon | 5 | 7 | 11 | 16 | 19 | 24 | 26 | 25 | 22 | 17 | 10 | 6 |
| Night | -1 | -1 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| Rain (mm) | 88 | 70 | 82 | 74 | 101 | 90 | 85 | 92 | 72 | 98 | 99 | 103 |
| Rainy days | 13 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 15 |
| Sun hours/day | 1.9 | 3.4 | 5.1 | 6.7 | 7.0 | 8.4 | 8.5 | 7.5 | 6.5 | 4.2 | 2.3 | 1.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 13 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 10 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 5 | 5 | -1 | 88 | 1.9 |
| Feb | 7 | 7 | -1 | 70 | 3.4 |
| Mar | 11 | 11 | 2 | 82 | 5.1 |
| Apr | 16 | 16 | 6 | 74 | 6.7 |
| May | 19 | 19 | 10 | 101 | 7.0 |
| Jun | 24 | 24 | 14 | 90 | 8.4 |
| Jul | 26 | 26 | 15 | 85 | 8.5 |
| Aug | 25 | 25 | 15 | 92 | 7.5 |
| Sep | 22 | 22 | 11 | 72 | 6.5 |
| Oct | 17 | 17 | 7 | 98 | 4.2 |
| Nov | 10 | 10 | 3 | 99 | 2.3 |
| Dec | 6 | 6 | 0 | 103 | 1.4 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (234 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 | 58% | 165% | 95% | 39% | 95% | 125% | 26% | 79% | 108% | 192% | 27% | 113% |
| 2021 | 127% | 78% | 60% | 49% | 147% | 119% | 195% | 60% | 84% | 93% | 54% | 144% |
| 2022 | 60% | 108% | 36% | 117% | 41% | 138% | 17% | 78% | 173% | 84% | 115% | 99% |
| 2023 | 94% | 19% | 135% | 120% | 64% | 64% | 83% | 90% | 76% | 190% | 202% | 123% |
| 2024 | 108% | 126% | 124% | 133% | 147% | 129% | 89% | 79% | 219% | 158% | 69% | 99% |
| 2025 | 159% | 65% | 52% | 97% | 82% | 142% | 129% | 105% | 202% | 171% | 157% | 41% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Grotte d'Osselle
France
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 234 mEntrance altitude
- 11 °CInside, all year
Grotte des Planches
France · 29 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 525 mEntrance altitude
- 9 °CInside, all year
Gouffre de Poudrey
France · 31 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 580 mEntrance altitude
- 9 °CInside, all year
Vallorbe Caves
Switzerland · 62 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 851 mEntrance altitude
- 8 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q3117117) · 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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