Plan your visit
Grotte de Saint-Marcel-d'Ardèche is one of France’s great natural sites — bring good shoes and a camera. Locate it on the map, book a room nearby in a click, or add it to your travel list to build your itinerary.
About Grotte de Saint-Marcel-d'Ardèche
Overlooking the wild Gorges de l'Ardèche, the Grotte de Saint-Marcel-d'Ardèche is a vast underground network whose show-cave section reveals one of the great treasures of the region: a spectacular staircase of natural rimstone dams, or gours, cascading in tier upon tier of stone basins, subtly lit to glow in the darkness. Guided walkways lead through cathedral-like chambers hung with stalactites and draped in flowstone, cool and silent whatever the heat outside. The wider cave, running for many kilometres into the plateau, is a renowned site for cavers. Perched above one of France's most famous river canyons and its celebrated Pont d'Arc, Saint-Marcel makes a fascinating underground counterpart to the wild beauty of the Ardèche above ground.