Palestine RaedHajj · CC0
The descent
The entrance, at 210 m.
The real relief above Shuqba 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.
210m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
20°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
116m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
20 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 20 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 34 °C at the entrance, 13 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from May to October. The wettest months are from November to February: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 16°8°Jan
- 18°8°Feb
- 21°10°Mar
- 24°12°Apr
- 29°16°May
- 32°19°Jun
- 34°21°Jul
- 34°22°Aug
- 32°20°Sep
- 29°18°Oct
- 24°13°Nov
- 19°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.
Cave and archaeological site in the West Bank
Shuqba cave is a cave in Palestine. The entrance is at 210 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.
- Shuqbānearest town · 0.6 km in a straight line
- תצפית ניל"יnearest viewpoint · 2.0 km from the entrance
- Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 15 km in a straight lineCar hire at TLV airport (Tel Aviv)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 January to February.
The the river carries about 0.77 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from January to February. It is lowest from April to November.
- 2.5 m³/sJan
- 2.1 m³/sFeb
- 1.2 m³/sMar
- 0.5 m³/sApr
- 0.2 m³/sMay
- 0.1 m³/sJun
- 0.1 m³/sJul
- 0.1 m³/sAug
- 0.1 m³/sSep
- 0.1 m³/sOct
- 0.6 m³/sNov
- 1.8 m³/sDec
From about 0.07 m³/s in the lowest month to 2.5 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 107 km².
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.
- 2other cave entrances within 3 kmמערת שוקבא, מערת עופרים
- 1viewpoints within 3 kmתצפית ניל"י
- 1car parks within 2 km
- 5bus stops within 2 km
- 3campsites within 8 kmواد العين, دار سبعي, ارض دير بزيع
- 11hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmدار ابو مازن, منزل نزيه ابو عادي, منزل شعبان عيد and 8 more
- 12restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- marked hiking routes within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 3 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
- Shuqbā0.6 km in a straight line
- Nili2.1 km in a straight line
- Dayr Abū Mash‘al3.0 km in a straight line
- Na'ale3.0 km in a straight line
- Qibyah3.2 km in a straight line
- Dayr Qiddīs3.7 km in a straight line
- Ni‘līn4.4 km in a straight line
- ‘Ābūd4.5 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Shuqba cave.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Peakyas2 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 | 16 | 18 | 21 | 24 | 29 | 32 | 34 | 34 | 32 | 29 | 24 | 19 |
| Afternoon | 16 | 18 | 21 | 24 | 29 | 32 | 34 | 34 | 32 | 29 | 24 | 19 |
| Night | 8 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 20 | 18 | 13 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 88 | 62 | 37 | 21 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 46 | 83 |
| Rainy days | 10 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 9 |
| Sun hours/day | 5.4 | 6.1 | 8.1 | 9.4 | 11.3 | 13.0 | 12.8 | 11.8 | 10.5 | 8.5 | 6.9 | 5.6 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 16 | 16 | 8 | 88 | 5.4 |
| Feb | 18 | 18 | 8 | 62 | 6.1 |
| Mar | 21 | 21 | 10 | 37 | 8.1 |
| Apr | 24 | 24 | 12 | 21 | 9.4 |
| May | 29 | 29 | 16 | 5 | 11.3 |
| Jun | 32 | 32 | 19 | 1 | 13.0 |
| Jul | 34 | 34 | 21 | 1 | 12.8 |
| Aug | 34 | 34 | 22 | 0 | 11.8 |
| Sep | 32 | 32 | 20 | 2 | 10.5 |
| Oct | 29 | 29 | 18 | 14 | 8.5 |
| Nov | 24 | 24 | 13 | 46 | 6.9 |
| Dec | 19 | 19 | 9 | 83 | 5.6 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (210 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 | 288% | 105% | 292% | 480% | 148% | — | — | — | — | 20% | 323% | 71% |
| 2021 | 111% | 194% | 70% | 49% | 50% | — | — | — | — | 26% | 64% | 317% |
| 2022 | 265% | 144% | 315% | 3% | 12% | — | — | — | — | 42% | 132% | 81% |
| 2023 | 46% | 252% | 144% | 452% | 80% | — | — | — | — | 40% | 166% | 85% |
| 2024 | 425% | 140% | 56% | 64% | 80% | — | — | — | — | 0% | 41% | 110% |
| 2025 | 20% | 100% | 94% | 35% | 38% | — | — | — | — | 6% | 68% | 164% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Shuqba cave
Palestine
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 210 mEntrance altitude
- 20 °CInside, all year
Ayalon Cave
Israel · 14 km
- —Depth
- 2.5 kmGalleries
- 52 mEntrance altitude
- 21 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q7505195) · 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 viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit 
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