Spain Cave with prehistoric art World Heritage

La Garma cave complex

15 °C inside, all year.

Cave system No public access Prehistoric art

The descent

The entrance, at 80 m.

The real relief above La Garma cave complex, 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.

80m

Entrance altitude

from the 30 m relief model

15°C

Inside, all year

the yearly average outside, at the entrance

117m

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 August the afternoon reaches 24 °C at the entrance, 9 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.

outside, at the entrance (80 m)inside

12°8°Jan
12°8°Feb
14°9°Mar
15°11°Apr
18°13°May
21°16°Jun
23°18°Jul
24°19°Aug
22°17°Sep
20°15°Oct
15°11°Nov
13°9°Dec

Inside: 15 °C all yearWettest: Nov–Jan

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

La Garma cave complex is a cave with prehistoric art in Spain. The entrance is at 80 m. It has several entrances and long galleries. 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.
Bareyonearest town · 6.6 km in a straight line
Seve Ballesteros-Santander Airport (SDR)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 12 km in a straight lineCar hire at SDR airport (Santander)Discover Cars · sponsored link

Plan the visit

Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at SDR airport (Santander)Discover CarsSee prices

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.

The ground above La Garma cave complex (Sentinel-2)

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 kmCueva de La Garma
2marked hiking routes within 3 kmCamino del Norte (Cantabria)
2information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
3bus stops within 2 km
13campsites within 8 kmLa Vaca Pinta, Camping Punta Marina, Camping Derby Loredo and 10 more
81hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmHotel Adelma, Apartamentos Turísticos Los Acebos de Peña Cabarga, Vivienda Rural El Rincón de Lucía and 78 more
4restaurants 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
car parks within 2 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

Bareyo6.6 km in a straight line
San Miguel de Meruelo7.1 km in a straight line
Hazas de Cesto7.3 km in a straight line
Solórzano8.3 km in a straight line
Santander12 km in a straight line
Escalante12 km in a straight line
Bárcena de Cicero13 km in a straight line
El Astillero13 km in a straight line

In our other atlases

What else is around La Garma cave complex.

The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.

Peakyas5 mountains within 10 km

La Garma cave complexMonte Llusas · 5.2 kmLastra de las Cuevas · 7.1 kmSierra del Molino de Viento · 8.4 kmLa Corbera · 8.6 km

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	12	12	14	15	18	21	23	24	22	20	15	13
Afternoon	12	12	14	15	18	21	23	24	22	20	15	13
Night	8	8	9	11	13	16	18	19	17	15	11	9
Rain (mm)	125	100	95	78	62	54	34	34	51	100	141	121
Rainy days	15	13	12	14	12	9	8	8	10	14	16	14
Sun hours/day	2.4	3.6	5.1	6.2	7.2	7.5	7.8	7.4	6.7	4.7	2.8	2.6
Snow on the ground (cm)	3	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2

	Afternoon	Afternoon	Night	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	12	12	8	125	2.4
Feb	12	12	8	100	3.6
Mar	14	14	9	95	5.1
Apr	15	15	11	78	6.2
May	18	18	13	62	7.2
Jun	21	21	16	54	7.5
Jul	23	23	18	34	7.8
Aug	24	24	19	34	7.4
Sep	22	22	17	51	6.7
Oct	20	20	15	100	4.7
Nov	15	15	11	141	2.8
Dec	13	13	9	121	2.6

Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (80 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.

Photographs

Inside and around.

Oso garma — Gabinete de Prensa del Gobierno de Cantabria · CC BY 3.0 es

Sepultura mesolítica de la cueva de 'El Truchiro', en Ribamontán al Monte — Gabinete de Prensa del Gobierno de Cantabria · CC BY 3.0 es

Camino en el monte Vizmaya — Emilio Gómez Fernández · CC BY-SA 4.0

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	37%	27%	145%	141%	119%	136%	56%	179%	211%	241%	28%	312%
2021	176%	113%	36%	68%	94%	229%	119%	89%	159%	66%	215%	195%
2022	63%	33%	122%	111%	34%	94%	23%	116%	227%	35%	111%	96%
2023	219%	74%	35%	42%	87%	144%	81%	115%	204%	105%	128%	92%
2024	103%	160%	122%	53%	152%	111%	68%	212%	268%	203%	70%	100%
2025	70%	70%	142%	96%	95%	75%	142%	188%	153%	33%	131%	105%

130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month

Caves nearby.

La Garma cave complex

Spain

—Depth
—Galleries
80 mEntrance altitude
15 °CInside, all year

Cave of Altamira

Spain · 37 km

—Depth
—Galleries
95 mEntrance altitude
15 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Cave of El Castillo

Spain · 29 km

—Depth
—Galleries
201 mEntrance altitude
14 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Cueva de La Pasiega

Spain · 29 km

—Depth
—Galleries
184 mEntrance altitude
14 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name, type, published depth and length, visitors	Wikidata (Q8348804) · 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?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beaches

Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit

lakes

Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit

mountains

Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit

waterfalls

Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit

islands

Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit

rivers

Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit

canyons

Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit

caves

Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.You are here

dark skies Darkskyas

Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit

viewpoints Viewyas

Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit

birdwatching Birdyas

Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Coming soonVisit

forests

Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit

	Afternoon	Afternoon	Night	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	12	12	8	125	2.4
Feb	12	12	8	100	3.6
Mar	14	14	9	95	5.1
Apr	15	15	11	78	6.2
May	18	18	13	62	7.2
Jun	21	21	16	54	7.5
Jul	23	23	18	34	7.8
Aug	24	24	19	34	7.4
Sep	22	22	17	51	6.7
Oct	20	20	15	100	4.7
Nov	15	15	11	141	2.8
Dec	13	13	9	121	2.6

	Afternoon	Afternoon	Night	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	12	12	8	125	2.4
Feb	12	12	8	100	3.6
Mar	14	14	9	95	5.1
Apr	15	15	11	78	6.2
May	18	18	13	62	7.2
Jun	21	21	16	54	7.5
Jul	23	23	18	34	7.8
Aug	24	24	19	34	7.4
Sep	22	22	17	51	6.7
Oct	20	20	15	100	4.7
Nov	15	15	11	141	2.8
Dec	13	13	9	121	2.6

	Afternoon	Afternoon	Night	Rain (mm)	Sun hours/day
Jan	12	12	8	125	2.4
Feb	12	12	8	100	3.6
Mar	14	14	9	95	5.1
Apr	15	15	11	78	6.2
May	18	18	13	62	7.2
Jun	21	21	16	54	7.5
Jul	23	23	18	34	7.8
Aug	24	24	19	34	7.4
Sep	22	22	17	51	6.7
Oct	20	20	15	100	4.7
Nov	15	15	11	141	2.8
Dec	13	13	9	121	2.6