Greece 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 520 m.
The real relief above Megalakkos, 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.
520m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
14°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
398m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
14 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 14 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 33 °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 October to January: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 8°1°Jan
- 9°1°Feb
- 13°4°Mar
- 17°7°Apr
- 22°12°May
- 28°16°Jun
- 33°19°Jul
- 33°19°Aug
- 26°14°Sep
- 21°10°Oct
- 15°6°Nov
- 9°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 near Kleidonia, Ioannina, Greece
Megalakkos is a cave in Greece. The entrance is at 520 m. It has an underground river.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Kalpákinearest town · 9.2 km in a straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 0.4 km from the entrance
- Ioannina King Pyrrhus National Airport (IOA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 31 km in a straight lineCar hire at IOA airport (Ioannina)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 the river runs highest from November to February.
The the river carries about 6.5 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from November to February. It is lowest from June to August.
- 13 m³/sJan
- 12 m³/sFeb
- 11 m³/sMar
- 7.8 m³/sApr
- 5.1 m³/sMay
- 2.8 m³/sJun
- 1.4 m³/sJul
- 1.2 m³/sAug
- 4.1 m³/sSep
- 7.8 m³/sOct
- 12 m³/sNov
- 14 m³/sDec
From about 1.2 m³/s in the lowest month to 14 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 337 km².
The Voidomatis 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.
- 1other cave entrances within 3 km
- 1springs within 2 km
- 18viewpoints within 3 kmΘέα Φαραγγιού, Γέφυρα Βοϊδομάτη (Αρίστης) and 16 more
- 9marked hiking routes within 3 kmΕθνικό μονοπάτι O3, Monodendri Vikos Trail, Papigko Ano Kleidona Trail and 6 more
- 5car parks within 2 km
- 3information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 1bus stops within 2 km
- 3campsites within 8 kmCamping RV Parking
- 29hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmVikos View, Aristi Mountain Resort, Astraka Guesthouse I and 26 more
- 9restaurants and cafés within 3 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
- Kalpáki9.2 km in a straight line
- Kónitsa12 km in a straight line
- Asprángeloi15 km in a straight line
- Zagorochória18 km in a straight line
- Delvináki19 km in a straight line
- Çarshovë22 km in a straight line
- Leskovik23 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Megalakkos.
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
Peakyas5 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 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 17 | 22 | 28 | 33 | 33 | 26 | 21 | 15 | 9 |
| Afternoon | 8 | 9 | 13 | 17 | 22 | 28 | 33 | 33 | 26 | 21 | 15 | 9 |
| Night | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 19 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 2 |
| Rain (mm) | 107 | 94 | 82 | 56 | 55 | 37 | 22 | 29 | 82 | 103 | 129 | 136 |
| Rainy days | 11 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 13 |
| Sun hours/day | 3.7 | 4.4 | 5.4 | 6.5 | 8.2 | 10.3 | 11.3 | 10.2 | 7.6 | 6.2 | 4.3 | 3.5 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 11 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 8 | 8 | 1 | 107 | 3.7 |
| Feb | 9 | 9 | 1 | 94 | 4.4 |
| Mar | 13 | 13 | 4 | 82 | 5.4 |
| Apr | 17 | 17 | 7 | 56 | 6.5 |
| May | 22 | 22 | 12 | 55 | 8.2 |
| Jun | 28 | 28 | 16 | 37 | 10.3 |
| Jul | 33 | 33 | 19 | 22 | 11.3 |
| Aug | 33 | 33 | 19 | 29 | 10.2 |
| Sep | 26 | 26 | 14 | 82 | 7.6 |
| Oct | 21 | 21 | 10 | 103 | 6.2 |
| Nov | 15 | 15 | 6 | 129 | 4.3 |
| Dec | 9 | 9 | 2 | 136 | 3.5 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (520 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 | 25% | 51% | 104% | 103% | 63% | 128% | 146% | 154% | 92% | 115% | 8% | 144% |
| 2021 | 279% | 280% | 300% | 92% | 40% | 205% | 109% | 50% | 31% | 209% | 190% | 250% |
| 2022 | 31% | 99% | 48% | 87% | 50% | 143% | 78% | 188% | 51% | 51% | 107% | 78% |
| 2023 | 186% | 15% | 108% | 141% | 199% | 261% | 87% | 118% | 64% | 50% | 173% | 40% |
| 2024 | 113% | 59% | 108% | 110% | 95% | 22% | 109% | 122% | 110% | 42% | 88% | 99% |
| 2025 | 80% | 50% | 135% | 68% | 107% | 105% | 14% | 143% | 42% | 127% | 413% | 38% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Megalakkos
Greece
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 520 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Lake Neuron
Albania · 16 km
- —Depth
- 0.1 kmGalleries
- 492 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Theopetra Cave
Greece · 91 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 280 mEntrance altitude
- 16 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q6808412) · 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?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
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Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.You are here
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viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit 
birdwatching
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Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit