France Show cave
Grottes Pétrifiantes de Savonnières
12 °C inside, all year.
Duch.seb · CC BY-SA 3.0
The descent
The entrance, at 54 m.
The real relief above Grottes Pétrifiantes de Savonnières, 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.
54m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
12°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
48m
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 July the afternoon reaches 27 °C at the entrance, 15 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.
- 7°1°Jan
- 8°1°Feb
- 12°3°Mar
- 16°6°Apr
- 20°9°May
- 24°13°Jun
- 27°14°Jul
- 27°14°Aug
- 23°11°Sep
- 18°8°Oct
- 12°4°Nov
- 8°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.
Cave
Grottes Pétrifiantes de Savonnières is a show cave in France. The entrance is at 54 m. It has an underground river and 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↗
- Savonnièresnearest town · 1.4 km in a straight line
- Parking 50 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 1.1 km from the entrance
- Tours Val de Loire Airport (TUF)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 18 km in a straight lineCar hire in SaumurDiscover 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 Le Cher runs highest from November to March.
The Le Cher carries about 99 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from November to March.
- 154 m³/sJan
- 137 m³/sFeb
- 133 m³/sMar
- 110 m³/sApr
- 105 m³/sMay
- 79 m³/sJun
- 62 m³/sJul
- 45 m³/sAug
- 37 m³/sSep
- 74 m³/sOct
- 114 m³/sNov
- 153 m³/sDec
From about 37 m³/s in the lowest month to 154 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 13,664 km².
Follow the Cher from source to mouth on Riveryas
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.
- 46other cave entrances within 3 km
- 5viewpoints within 3 kmBelvedère and 4 more
- 10marked hiking routes within 3 kmVia Sancti Martini - Chemin d'été de la Saint-Martin, Ballan-Miré Sentier du Grand Moulin, Villandry Sentier découverte and 7 more
- 83car parks within 2 km
- 11information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 28bus stops within 2 km
- 11campsites within 8 kmL'Islette - Fondettes, La Confluence, Camping municipal and 8 more
- 29hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmDomaine de Beauvois, L'Épicerie Gourmande, Le Clos Armandie and 26 more
- 13restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- springs within 2 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
- Savonnières1.4 km in a straight line
- Villandry1.7 km in a straight line
- Saint-Étienne-de-Chigny4.2 km in a straight line
- Luynes4.6 km in a straight line
- Cinq-Mars-la-Pile5.5 km in a straight line
- Ballan-Miré6.3 km in a straight line
- Fondettes8.1 km in a straight line
- Langeais10 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Grottes Pétrifiantes de Savonnières.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Figures 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 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 27 | 27 | 23 | 18 | 12 | 8 |
| Afternoon | 7 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 27 | 27 | 23 | 18 | 12 | 8 |
| Night | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 4 | 2 |
| Rain (mm) | 64 | 51 | 59 | 48 | 67 | 59 | 51 | 49 | 40 | 69 | 68 | 72 |
| Rainy days | 13 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 13 | 13 |
| Sun hours/day | 1.9 | 3.4 | 5.0 | 6.8 | 7.3 | 8.2 | 8.5 | 7.6 | 6.8 | 4.1 | 2.5 | 1.8 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 7 | 7 | 1 | 64 | 1.9 |
| Feb | 8 | 8 | 1 | 51 | 3.4 |
| Mar | 12 | 12 | 3 | 59 | 5.0 |
| Apr | 16 | 16 | 6 | 48 | 6.8 |
| May | 20 | 20 | 9 | 67 | 7.3 |
| Jun | 24 | 24 | 13 | 59 | 8.2 |
| Jul | 27 | 27 | 14 | 51 | 8.5 |
| Aug | 27 | 27 | 14 | 49 | 7.6 |
| Sep | 23 | 23 | 11 | 40 | 6.8 |
| Oct | 18 | 18 | 8 | 69 | 4.1 |
| Nov | 12 | 12 | 4 | 68 | 2.5 |
| Dec | 8 | 8 | 2 | 72 | 1.8 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (54 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 | 70% | 144% | 128% | 78% | 86% | 118% | 13% | 82% | 86% | 141% | 34% | 174% |
| 2021 | 110% | 101% | 32% | 29% | 133% | 174% | 110% | 39% | 87% | 85% | 50% | 112% |
| 2022 | 50% | 47% | 42% | 83% | 31% | 115% | 24% | 53% | 128% | 68% | 95% | 73% |
| 2023 | 101% | 28% | 115% | 82% | 59% | 70% | 95% | 82% | 150% | 140% | 142% | 72% |
| 2024 | 73% | 151% | 128% | 89% | 154% | 137% | 81% | 99% | 227% | 160% | 75% | 49% |
| 2025 | 133% | 45% | 37% | 48% | 19% | 23% | 64% | 37% | 60% | 42% | 42% | 34% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Grottes Pétrifiantes de Savonnières
France
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 54 mEntrance altitude
- 12 °CInside, all year
Fontéchevade cave
France · 185 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 131 mEntrance altitude
- 13 °CInside, all year
Grotte du Visage
France · 185 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 130 mEntrance altitude
- 13 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q1643834) · 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
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
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