Visit Europe’s largest cave, just a stone’s throw from your campsite!
Spectacular scenery, accessible and full of history: discover three good reasons to visit Lombrives.
Incredible landscapes
Lombrives is world-renowned for its spectacular galleries and huge chambers. Galerie de la Carène, Passage du crime, Amphithéâtre, Lac Akka… These are just some of the evocative names that describe the different passages and chambers of the Grotte de Lombrives, where you’ll discover a rare mineral splendor. These spectacular subterranean sites are as much a source of contemplation as they are of wonder, to be discovered by lovers or the whole family.
An exceptional site accessible by various means
Before your visit, a few precautions should be taken: it’s very humid and 10°C inside the cave, so bring warm clothes. The floor is uneven, so wear sports shoes. You need to be in good physical condition to visit the cave, but you don’t have to be a great athlete!
Once you’re equipped, drive up from your campsite to the N20, which you’ll leave less than 5 minutes later, and you’ve already arrived at your destination!
The visit begins with a 15-20 minute walk up to the cave entrance. Alternatively, you can take the train up the hill! A 2-hour hike then takes you through most of the rooms, with explanations of the signs and signatures left by past visitors.
If you wish, you can also explore an area rarely open to the general public on a half-day hike.
Concerts and unusual tours take place in the cave all year round, including in autumn!
For tour prices and other practical information, visit the cave’s official website.
A rich history
Whether you like history with a capital H or more mythical tales, Lombrives has something to delight you!
This cave has been used as a refuge for centuries, even in prehistoric times! Neolithic groups took shelter here from predators and the elements, then later all kinds of outcasts, loners and adventurers: bandits, heretics, hermits… Priests and nobles took refuge here during the French Revolution, then Republicans during the First Empire. Having attracted and fascinated people through the ages, the cave was also a burial site in the Bronze Age and a sacred place for the Cathars.
To our great delight, these successive visitors have left their mark on the cave – enigmatic signatures and symbols for you to discover during your visit! King Henri IV, for example, left an autograph…
According to specialists, Lombrives is the cave about which the most tales, legends and epics have been written. According to tradition, it is the site of the tomb of Princess Pyrene, after whom the Pyrenees are named.
More recently, in 2021, an astonishing scientific mission called “Deep Time” took place in its depths: for 40 days, fifteen people lived in a vacuum, suppressing all notion of time, in order to better understand how circadian rhythms, the internal clock that regulates our sleep, are regulated.
But don’t hide in the cave for the night – you might catch a cold… or even run into Pyrene’ s ghost!