Gouffre géant de Cabrespine

Cabrespine

A local resident is said to have fallen accidentally into this chasm, known locally as the 'Barrenc', in 1880; it was two cavers who, in 1968, following the underground watercourse upstream, reached the immense chamber now nicknamed 'the Cathedral', one of the largest underground volumes in Europe open to the public. Developed since 1988, the site receives around 100,000 visitors a year, around 7 km from the Châteaux de Lastours. Long before the great chamber was discovered in 1968, cavers were trying to prove that an underground network linked the caves of Lastours with those of Cabrespine, a theory fed by local legends. Water-tracing tests carried out in 1959 and again in 1961 confirmed a first connection between two caves, without locating the main chamber.

Getting there : Developed site, paid entry since 1988: family route ('Balcons du Diable') or a guided 4-5 hour caving trail

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound