Belgium Utilisateur:Bel Adone · Public domain
The descent
The entrance, at 147 m.
The real relief above Schmerling Caves, 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.
147m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
10°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
48m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
10 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 10 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 24 °C at the entrance, 14 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.
- 4°-1°Jan
- 5°-1°Feb
- 9°1°Mar
- 14°4°Apr
- 18°8°May
- 22°12°Jun
- 24°14°Jul
- 23°13°Aug
- 20°10°Sep
- 15°7°Oct
- 9°4°Nov
- 5°0°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.
Archaeological site in Belgium
Schmerling Caves is a cave in Belgium. The entrance is at 147 m.
Getting there.
- No public accessProtected for science or for its art. Look for a replica or a visitor centre nearby.
- Awirsnearest town · 0.9 km in a straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 0.4 km from the entrance
- Liège Airport (LGG)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 6 km in a straight lineCar hire at LGG airport (Grâce-Hollogne)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 kmGrottes Schmerling, Les grottes de Lyell et de Rosée, Grotte de la Carrière d'Engis and 2 more
- 1viewpoints within 3 km
- 17marked hiking routes within 3 kmGR 121 De Liège à Bruxelles, GR 412 Sentier des Terrils, 7. La réserve naturelle Sous les Roches and 14 more
- 4climbing crags within 3 kmCarrière des Awirs, Partie centrale, Partie gauche and 1 more
- 56car parks within 2 km
- 20information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 78bus stops within 2 km
- 1campsites within 8 kmBivouac à Chokier
- 5hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmStations de Plein Air Liégeoises, Airbnb Bois Malette, Le Nid du Sanglier and 2 more
- 8restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 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
- Awirs0.9 km in a straight line
- Engis1.4 km in a straight line
- Flémalle-Haute2.7 km in a straight line
- Gleixhe2.8 km in a straight line
- Clermont-sous-Huy2.8 km in a straight line
- Saint-Georges-sur-Meuse3.7 km in a straight line
- Ivoz-Ramet4.0 km in a straight line
- Horion-Hozémont4.0 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Schmerling Caves.
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 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 18 | 22 | 24 | 23 | 20 | 15 | 9 | 5 |
| Afternoon | 4 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 18 | 22 | 24 | 23 | 20 | 15 | 9 | 5 |
| Night | -1 | -1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 0 |
| Rain (mm) | 81 | 72 | 67 | 48 | 70 | 72 | 77 | 87 | 60 | 66 | 75 | 87 |
| Rainy days | 15 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 17 |
| Sun hours/day | 1.3 | 2.4 | 4.2 | 6.3 | 6.8 | 7.2 | 7.1 | 6.2 | 5.5 | 3.5 | 1.6 | 1.0 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 12 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 4 | 4 | -1 | 81 | 1.3 |
| Feb | 5 | 5 | -1 | 72 | 2.4 |
| Mar | 9 | 9 | 1 | 67 | 4.2 |
| Apr | 14 | 14 | 4 | 48 | 6.3 |
| May | 18 | 18 | 8 | 70 | 6.8 |
| Jun | 22 | 22 | 12 | 72 | 7.2 |
| Jul | 24 | 24 | 14 | 77 | 7.1 |
| Aug | 23 | 23 | 13 | 87 | 6.2 |
| Sep | 20 | 20 | 10 | 60 | 5.5 |
| Oct | 15 | 15 | 7 | 66 | 3.5 |
| Nov | 9 | 9 | 4 | 75 | 1.6 |
| Dec | 5 | 5 | 0 | 87 | 1.0 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (147 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 | 51% | 162% | 100% | 33% | 26% | 82% | 50% | 43% | 94% | 125% | 39% | 95% |
| 2021 | 109% | 63% | 64% | 88% | 92% | 159% | 210% | 92% | 52% | 88% | 56% | 74% |
| 2022 | 72% | 95% | 25% | 106% | 56% | 158% | 26% | 33% | 212% | 88% | 96% | 110% |
| 2023 | 143% | 47% | 217% | 152% | 93% | 94% | 128% | 130% | 229% | 172% | 171% | 136% |
| 2024 | 118% | 188% | 134% | 212% | 265% | 163% | 156% | 79% | 187% | 181% | 105% | 103% |
| 2025 | 193% | 58% | 20% | 110% | 78% | 119% | 127% | 47% | 217% | 132% | 82% | 39% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Schmerling Caves
Belgium
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 147 mEntrance altitude
- 10 °CInside, all year
Grotte de Rosée
Belgium · 2 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 83 mEntrance altitude
- 10 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q3117248) · 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.
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Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit 
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Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
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Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
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Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
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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 canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.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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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
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit 
birdwatching
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