Croatia 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 43 m.
The real relief above Vrtare Male, 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.
43m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
15°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
299m
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 28 °C at the entrance, 13 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from July to August. The wettest months are in September and in November: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 8°4°Jan
- 9°4°Feb
- 12°7°Mar
- 16°11°Apr
- 20°15°May
- 25°19°Jun
- 28°22°Jul
- 28°22°Aug
- 23°17°Sep
- 18°14°Oct
- 14°10°Nov
- 10°6°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 in Croatia with remnants of prehistoric animals
Vrtare Male is a abyss in Croatia. The entrance is at 43 m.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Dramaljnearest town · 0.0 km in a straight line
- Gavranova stijenanearest viewpoint · 1.6 km from the entrance
- Rijeka Airport (RJK)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 8 km in a straight lineCar hire at RJK airport (Rijeka)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.
- 1other cave entrances within 3 kmVrtare Male
- 1sinkholes within 3 km
- 7viewpoints within 3 kmGavranova stijena, Kavranova stena, Sopalj and 4 more
- 2marked hiking routes within 3 kmRiječka planinarska obilaznica (RPO), Camino Crikvenica Vinodol
- 26car parks within 2 km
- 16information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 28bus stops within 2 km
- 5campsites within 8 kmCamp Tiha, Kamp Slamni Klimno, Autocamp Selce and 2 more
- 170hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmHostel Karlovac, Apartments Oaza, Villa Ana and 167 more
- 60restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- springs within 2 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
- Dramalj0.0 km in a straight line
- Crikvenica2.6 km in a straight line
- Jadranovo5.7 km in a straight line
- Selce5.8 km in a straight line
- Bribir8.4 km in a straight line
- Omišalj9.1 km in a straight line
- Njivice11 km in a straight line
- Hreljin11 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Vrtare Male.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Peakyas4 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 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 25 | 28 | 28 | 23 | 18 | 14 | 10 |
| Afternoon | 8 | 9 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 25 | 28 | 28 | 23 | 18 | 14 | 10 |
| Night | 4 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 15 | 19 | 22 | 22 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 6 |
| Rain (mm) | 86 | 93 | 77 | 72 | 88 | 66 | 52 | 72 | 122 | 114 | 140 | 108 |
| Rainy days | 10 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 11 |
| Sun hours/day | 2.4 | 3.4 | 4.8 | 6.1 | 7.4 | 8.9 | 9.6 | 8.5 | 5.8 | 4.1 | 2.2 | 2.1 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 8 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 8 | 8 | 4 | 86 | 2.4 |
| Feb | 9 | 9 | 4 | 93 | 3.4 |
| Mar | 12 | 12 | 7 | 77 | 4.8 |
| Apr | 16 | 16 | 11 | 72 | 6.1 |
| May | 20 | 20 | 15 | 88 | 7.4 |
| Jun | 25 | 25 | 19 | 66 | 8.9 |
| Jul | 28 | 28 | 22 | 52 | 9.6 |
| Aug | 28 | 28 | 22 | 72 | 8.5 |
| Sep | 23 | 23 | 17 | 122 | 5.8 |
| Oct | 18 | 18 | 14 | 114 | 4.1 |
| Nov | 14 | 14 | 10 | 140 | 2.2 |
| Dec | 10 | 10 | 6 | 108 | 2.1 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (43 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 | 21% | 39% | 81% | 38% | 55% | 141% | 101% | 126% | 133% | 239% | 40% | 193% |
| 2021 | 195% | 77% | 59% | 158% | 108% | 15% | 169% | 80% | 82% | 55% | 122% | 134% |
| 2022 | 41% | 65% | 78% | 80% | 95% | 88% | 55% | 36% | 200% | 26% | 117% | 183% |
| 2023 | 174% | 63% | 100% | 131% | 163% | 178% | 206% | 247% | 49% | 147% | 169% | 107% |
| 2024 | 121% | 95% | 163% | 92% | 202% | 106% | 107% | 63% | 150% | 150% | 65% | 87% |
| 2025 | 117% | 98% | 191% | 155% | 127% | 30% | 247% | 112% | 109% | 146% | 83% | 42% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Vrtare Male
Croatia
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 43 mEntrance altitude
- 15 °CInside, all year
Biserujka cave
Croatia · 5 km
- 13 mDepth
- —Galleries
- 40 mEntrance altitude
- 15 °CInside, all year
Škocjan Caves
Slovenia · 74 km
- —Depth
- 6.2 kmGalleries
- 378 mEntrance altitude
- 12 °CInside, all year
Lokvarka Cave
Croatia · 20 km
- 275 mDepth
- 1.2 kmGalleries
- 760 mEntrance altitude
- 8 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q12633480) · 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?
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