Switzerland Laténium · CC BY-SA 3.0
The descent
The entrance, at 868 m.
The real relief above Grotte du Bichon, 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.
868m
Entrance altitude
published (Wikidata)
8°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
185m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
8 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 8 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 22 °C at the entrance, 14 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.
- 1°-5°Jan
- 2°-4°Feb
- 7°-1°Mar
- 12°3°Apr
- 15°7°May
- 20°11°Jun
- 22°13°Jul
- 21°12°Aug
- 17°8°Sep
- 13°4°Oct
- 6°0°Nov
- 2°-4°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 and archaeological site in the municipality of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Grotte du Bichon is a cave in Switzerland. The entrance is at 868 m.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Les Boisnearest town · 5.1 km in a straight line
- Le Bichonnearest viewpoint · 0.1 km from the entrance
- Bern Airport (BRN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 56 km in a straight lineCar hire at BRN airport (Bern)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.
- 4other cave entrances within 3 kmL'Antre du Loup, Grotte du Bichon and 2 more
- 1springs within 2 km
- 1sinkholes within 3 km
- 6viewpoints within 3 kmPoint de vue Sur les Roches, La Roche Guillaume, Le Bichon and 3 more
- 9marked hiking routes within 3 kmMaison Monsieur - Chez Bonaparte, Chez Bonaparte - Les Graviers, Chemin de l'abeille verte and 6 more
- 10car parks within 2 km
- 4information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 6bus stops within 2 km
- 9campsites within 8 kmCamping Creux-des-Biches, Site bivouac, Bois-du-Couvent and 6 more
- 32hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmHôtel de la Croix d'Or, Hôtel de la Fleur de Lys, Auberge de la Maison-Monsieur and 29 more
- 2restaurants and cafés 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
- Les Bois5.1 km in a straight line
- La Chaux-de-Fonds6.0 km in a straight line
- Charquemont7.3 km in a straight line
- Le Russey9.1 km in a straight line
- Damprichard11 km in a straight line
- Fontainemelon11 km in a straight line
- Cernier11 km in a straight line
- Saint-Imier11 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Grotte du Bichon.
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 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 15 | 20 | 22 | 21 | 17 | 13 | 6 | 2 |
| Afternoon | 1 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 15 | 20 | 22 | 21 | 17 | 13 | 6 | 2 |
| Night | -5 | -4 | -1 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | -4 |
| Rain (mm) | 85 | 66 | 86 | 83 | 124 | 112 | 113 | 118 | 83 | 100 | 85 | 96 |
| Rainy days | 12 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 14 |
| Sun hours/day | 2.2 | 3.5 | 5.1 | 6.5 | 6.8 | 8.4 | 8.5 | 7.6 | 6.4 | 4.3 | 2.4 | 1.7 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 16 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 15 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 1 | 1 | -5 | 85 | 2.2 |
| Feb | 2 | 2 | -4 | 66 | 3.5 |
| Mar | 7 | 7 | -1 | 86 | 5.1 |
| Apr | 12 | 12 | 3 | 83 | 6.5 |
| May | 15 | 15 | 7 | 124 | 6.8 |
| Jun | 20 | 20 | 11 | 112 | 8.4 |
| Jul | 22 | 22 | 13 | 113 | 8.5 |
| Aug | 21 | 21 | 12 | 118 | 7.6 |
| Sep | 17 | 17 | 8 | 83 | 6.4 |
| Oct | 13 | 13 | 4 | 100 | 4.3 |
| Nov | 6 | 6 | 0 | 85 | 2.4 |
| Dec | 2 | 2 | -4 | 96 | 1.7 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (868 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 | 55% | 187% | 90% | 46% | 92% | 150% | 42% | 94% | 96% | 178% | 31% | 92% |
| 2021 | 122% | 73% | 62% | 49% | 128% | 148% | 158% | 64% | 73% | 74% | 63% | 147% |
| 2022 | 54% | 119% | 28% | 124% | 45% | 102% | 36% | 65% | 214% | 88% | 136% | 113% |
| 2023 | 92% | 23% | 137% | 126% | 64% | 40% | 89% | 81% | 55% | 141% | 281% | 160% |
| 2024 | 119% | 108% | 113% | 112% | 143% | 132% | 82% | 78% | 228% | 150% | 83% | 113% |
| 2025 | 154% | 58% | 50% | 88% | 70% | 107% | 108% | 109% | 189% | 135% | 155% | 28% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Grotte du Bichon
Switzerland
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 868 mEntrance altitude
- 8 °CInside, all year
Cotencher, Palaeolithic residential cave
Switzerland · 21 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 680 mEntrance altitude
- 9 °CInside, all year
Glacière de Monlési
Switzerland · 31 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,138 mEntrance altitude
- 0 °CInside, all year
Nidlenloch
Switzerland · 49 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,285 mEntrance altitude
- 4 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q29785936) · 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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