Romania Ice cave
Scărișoara Cave
0 °C inside, all year.
Beradrian at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
The descent
The entrance, at 1,184 m.
The real relief above Scărișoara Cave, 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.
1,184m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
0°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
128m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
0 °C inside, all year.
Cold winter air sinks into the cave and stays trapped: the ice lasts all year, even when it is hot outside. In August the afternoon reaches 23 °C at the entrance, 23 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.
- -3°-11°Jan
- -1°-9°Feb
- 4°-6°Mar
- 11°0°Apr
- 16°5°May
- 20°9°Jun
- 23°10°Jul
- 23°10°Aug
- 17°6°Sep
- 11°0°Oct
- 5°-4°Nov
- -2°-9°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.
Ice cave in Romania
Scărișoara Cave is a ice cave in Romania. The entrance is at 1,184 m. It has ice all year. It is open to visitors.
Getting there.
- Show cave: open to visitorsHours in OpenStreetMap: 09:00-17:00Official site↗
- Scărişoaranearest town · 4.0 km in a straight line
- Parking 460 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Avram Iancu Cluj International Airport (CLJ)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 75 km in a straight lineCar hire at CLJ airport (Cluj-Napoca)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.
- 5other cave entrances within 3 kmPeștera Ghețarul de la Scărișoara, Cotețul Dobreștilor, Peștera Poarta lui Ionele and 2 more
- 5springs within 2 km
- 9marked hiking routes within 3 kmsat Ghețar - Complex turistic Padiș, sat Arieșeni - Peștera Ghețarul Scărișoara, Cabana Scărișoara - Ghețarul de la Scărișoara and 6 more
- 5car parks within 2 km
- 4campsites within 8 kmLoc de campare, Casa de Piatră, Camping la Danut and 1 more
- 86hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmPensiunea Viorica Arieșeni, Casa Danciu, Pensiunea Juliana and 83 more
- 3restaurants and cafés within 3 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
- information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- bus stops 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
- Scărişoara4.0 km in a straight line
- Arieşeni4.3 km in a straight line
- Gârda de Sus4.4 km in a straight line
- Horea11 km in a straight line
- Poiana Vadului12 km in a straight line
- Albac12 km in a straight line
- Avram Iancu12 km in a straight line
- Vadu Moţilor16 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 | -3 | -1 | 4 | 11 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 23 | 17 | 11 | 5 | -2 |
| Afternoon | -3 | -1 | 4 | 11 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 23 | 17 | 11 | 5 | -2 |
| Night | -11 | -9 | -6 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 0 | -4 | -9 |
| Rain (mm) | 41 | 39 | 48 | 54 | 79 | 93 | 85 | 61 | 56 | 55 | 49 | 46 |
| Rainy days | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 |
| Sun hours/day | 2.4 | 3.5 | 4.9 | 6.3 | 7.1 | 8.1 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 6.1 | 4.8 | 3.0 | 1.9 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 17 | 16 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 16 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | -3 | -3 | -11 | 41 | 2.4 |
| Feb | -1 | -1 | -9 | 39 | 3.5 |
| Mar | 4 | 4 | -6 | 48 | 4.9 |
| Apr | 11 | 11 | 0 | 54 | 6.3 |
| May | 16 | 16 | 5 | 79 | 7.1 |
| Jun | 20 | 20 | 9 | 93 | 8.1 |
| Jul | 23 | 23 | 10 | 85 | 8.4 |
| Aug | 23 | 23 | 10 | 61 | 8.4 |
| Sep | 17 | 17 | 6 | 56 | 6.1 |
| Oct | 11 | 11 | 0 | 55 | 4.8 |
| Nov | 5 | 5 | -4 | 49 | 3.0 |
| Dec | -2 | -2 | -9 | 46 | 1.9 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (1,184 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 | 54% | 184% | 94% | 37% | 98% | 209% | 148% | 112% | 91% | 199% | 47% | 128% |
| 2021 | 205% | 137% | 77% | 111% | 132% | 38% | 99% | 94% | 82% | 39% | 134% | 199% |
| 2022 | 85% | 76% | 36% | 163% | 65% | 32% | 58% | 123% | 295% | 52% | 155% | 139% |
| 2023 | 148% | 203% | 107% | 100% | 93% | 118% | 87% | 85% | 99% | 72% | 252% | 179% |
| 2024 | 135% | 78% | 89% | 97% | 87% | 90% | 56% | 36% | 137% | 40% | 110% | 51% |
| 2025 | 80% | 26% | 147% | 58% | 124% | 11% | 93% | 50% | 98% | 83% | 112% | 14% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Scărișoara Cave
Romania
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,184 mEntrance altitude
- 0 °CInside, all year
Peștera Coliboaia
Romania · 17 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 535 mEntrance altitude
- 9 °CInside, all year
Peștera Meziad
Romania · 41 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 265 mEntrance altitude
- 11 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q775801) · 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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