Plan your visit
Grotte des Merveilles 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 des Merveilles
Tucked into the cliffs near Rocamadour in the Quercy, the Grotte des Merveilles is a small but precious painted cave, one of the prehistoric treasures of the Lot valley. Discovered in 1920, its low chambers preserve delicate Palaeolithic art some 20,000 years old — outlines of horses, a deer, a cat and, most movingly, negative hand stencils blown onto the rock by hunters of the Ice Age. Around these ancient images hang fine concretions mirrored in shallow pools of water, and a guide brings the paintings and the cave's slow geological life to light. Intimate, atmospheric and rich in the mystery of humanity's first art, the Grotte des Merveilles is a wonderful complement to a visit to the pilgrimage cliffs of nearby Rocamadour.