Welcome to the Planetcaver blog, featuring stories from caves and
underground explorations around the world, from the point of view of a
beginner caver. The Planetcaver has explored underground places in
39 countries and 551 locations (408 natural in 33 countries and 144 man-made in 22 countries) and has written about 71 other places. You can also click on the map
on the left to see where in the world they took place.
This "cave" will have to do this week Business trip to Brussels, are there caves? Sadly, there are no caves in town, and I don't have enough free time in the evenings to venture outside. However, there's an intriguing thing in town: a copy of the famous Grotte de Lourdes from France. A chapel or a place of worship. Full story
April 2025, Grotte Notre-Dame Lourdes à Jette, Brussels, Belgium; Grotte de Massabielle, Lourdes, France Caving (Rock, Man-Made, Basic); Caving (None, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst)
Swimming hall on floor -8 Hervanta, a suburb of Tampere. I was told there was a swimming hall here, an underground one. Usually there'd be some signs but now I see nothing, at least not at the parking lot. But the map points to the yard of the nearby apartment block, so after walking just 50 meters I see the entrance, a small concrete building is the only thing that sticks out above ground. Full story
April 2025, Hervannan uimahalli, Hervanta, Tampere, Finland Swimming (Waterbody-Pool, Indoor); Sauna (Normal); Caving (Man-Made, Basic, Rock); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers)
Caves around Annecy, France I had a chance to visit Lac d'Annecy and surroundings last weekend. It is a wonderful area, much closer to nature than the bustling megacity Geneve nearby. Lakes, mountains, and .. caves! Visited three very different caves, Grotte du Grand Pertuis that was only reachable by boat from the lake, Grotte de l'ermitage by high up above the lake and under a church (where the founder of the monastery and church lived for 40 years), and finally closer to Geneve and on the mountains, Grotte du Diable, a mud-infested pit of the devil. Very nice! Full story
April 2025, Grotte du Grand Pertuis, Talloires-Montmin, France; Grotte de l'ermitage, Talloires-Montmin, France; Grotte du Diable, Le Sappey, France; Roselet islet, Duingt, France; Abandoned restaurant, Le Sappey, France Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst); Urban-Exploration (Historic); Urban-Exploration (Buildings)
Caves in Thailand's Ratchaburi region A day off on a conference trip in Bangkok. I've already skied here some years ago (in an indoor ski simulator), so what's left? Caves, of course. Caves. Hours spent in front of Google Maps and DuckDuckGo reveal though that there's nothing in Bangkok or even in the outskirts. I'll have to go further. The absolutely best and most interesting caves would be out of my reach, would require driving for five hours or even flying. But, the Ratchaburi region does offer many interesting caves, and it is only a two and a half hour drive away. I hire a driver for the day and off we go! What we find, though, is quite surprising. It turns out that half of the caves are housing buddhist temples, and even the other half has a shrine or statue or a place of quieting down. Full story
March 2025, Khao Bin Cave, Hin Kong, Thailand; Chomphon Cave, Chom Bueng, Thailand; Unidentified Cave, Ko Phlappla, Thailand; Tham Cham, Ko Phlappla, Thailand; Fa Tho Cave, Ko Phlappla, Thailand; Tham Rusi Khai Ngu, Ko Phlappla, Thailand; Khao Yoi Cave, Khao Yoi, Thailand; Paradise Cave, Khao Yoi, Thailand; Phra Sri-aaraya Cave, Khao Yoi, Thailand Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst, Showtour); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst); Caving (None, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst)
Gagernhöhle cave in Kelkhelm (near Frankfurt) A very nice, very small cave near Frankfurt! On the way to the airport, even. I've been having layovers in Frankfurt and Munich many times, and always looked for the possibility of caves nearby, close enough to drive during the few hours. But nothing was ever close enough. But now when I was on a business trip to Frankfurt I found out that in the suburbs there's a cave, Gagernhöhle, that you can quite easily visit. Full story
March 2025, Gagernhöhle, Kelkheim, Germany Caving (Man-Made, Rock)
Grotte delle Busserailles Grotte delle Busserailles is a small show cave in Valtournenche in northern Italy, four kilometers down the road from the ski resort Cervinia. Actually, it is more of a deep gorge with the roof partially closed. The wonderful part of the cave is the waterfall falling down from the river to the deeper part of the cave. Full story
March 2025, Grotte delle Busserailles, Valtournenche, Italy Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Unknown, Morphology-Erosion, Showtour)
Mongolia 100 monks in a cave Mongolia caving, yay! Freezing temperatures and beautiful red granite rock of the Terelj national park near Ulaanbaatar, what's not to like? On my way to Mongolia I run into to other travelers from Finland, and they were able to join me on the Sunday excursion to Terelj. Together with a guide we headed to the 100 ламын агуй, or the 100 Monk Cave. Besides caves, we also looked at turtle-shaped massive rocks, world's largest horse rider statue, local population's ger (yurt) tents, and snowy mountains. The only question is if the cave will fit 100 monks as advertised ... Full story
Terelj's Crystal Cave(s) I tried hard. Very hard. To find more caves than the 100 Monks Cave... but it was difficult. After long period of Internet searching, I settled on visiting the Crystal "cave", even if it was just an abandoned man-made mine. It was nearby though, also in Terelj, and not 17 hour drive away so that's a positive :-) But my first guide was unable to take me to this place, so I looked for another guide company. A got the whole deal, the driver, the guy who speaks English to me, and the local guide who knows where the mine is :-) Full story
February 2025, East Crystal Cave, Terelj, Mongolia; West Crystal Cave, Terelj, Mongolia; Tiny roof cave among boulders, Terelj, Mongolia; A crack in a cliff, Terelj, Mongolia; Cow shed roof cave, Terelj, Mongolia Urban-Exploration (Mines); Caving (Basic, Man-Made); Hiking; Urban-Exploration (None, Mines); Caving (None, Man-Made); Caving (Basic, Rock); Hiking; Hiking
Mongolian caves I visited Mongolia in February 2025, and of course wanted to visit some caves. It turned out to be a bit challenging, it is a large country with some of the potential caves too far away from Ulaanbaatar where I stayed, some caves would not be possible to visit in the winter, couldn't connect to the local caving association, etc. But I managed to visit one good cave and some tiny holes maybe not classified as caves, and one mine. But in this article I wanted to outline all the Mongolian caves I found out about, for others to explore if you happen to be traveling to Mongolia. Full story
Bogovina Cave The Bogovina cave is a karst/river cave in the village of Bogovina in eastern Serbia. In local alphabet the name of the cave is Боговинска пећина. The cave is (depending on source) 5020 or 5892 meters long, up until few years ago it was Serbia's longest cave. It is a show cave, that is you can't enter on your own but need to arrange the local tourist office to give you a tour. The show cave part is half a kilometer long, consisting first from an excavated tunnel and then the cave proper. The stalactite formations in the cave are wonderful, but at the end in the Hajduk hall they are especially spectacular. Full story
December 2024, Bogovina Cave, Bogovina, Serbia Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Showtour); Swimming (Indoor)
La Canya dels Pujols Caves + 1, Andorra. La Canya dels Pujols, a hundred-meter cave about 80 meters above the riverbed below. Full story
December 2024, La Canya dels Pujols, Margineda, Andorra; La Canya dels Pujols side cave, Margineda, Andorra; La Balma de la Margineda, Margineda, Andorra Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Unknown, Surveying); Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Unknown); Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites)
Dublin caving Portrane caves I was visiting Dublin for a conference, but managed to sneak out for an early morning exploration on one of the days. I had already skied in Dublin eleven years ago. But I had not been to a cave in Ireland! Are there any around? I found an article from the award-winning local cave photographer and author Robert Mulraney which said, "The first thing that can be said of the caves of Dublin is that, there are no caves in Dublin". However, it turns out there are some, and Robert goes through these in his article. The caves are not big.. but very interesting. And actually, they *are* big for someone coming from the land of thousands lakes and mini caves :-) Full story
Caver's X-Mas Party with Dresses I hosted the fall meeting and Christmas party for the caver's association in Kauniainen. The theme was vintage clothing... I was maybe more vintage, clothing and otherwise than the others... Full story
November 2024, House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland Caving (None, Social)
Latokaski mini-caves I was walking back from my car repair shop, having returned by loaner car... and they are working on my Volvo. Let's see if they can fix it. It's been there six months soon, and even under work for more than a month. But on the way back I run into small holes in a rock outcrop in Latokaski. Too small maybe to call a proper cave. But certain space where you can go under a rock. Full story
October 2024, Latokasken kallionkolo, Espoo, Finland; Autofit Latokaski, Espoo, Finland Caving (Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders, Morphology-Crack); Car
The Pitsusköngäs waterfall cave Last month Duncan, Jarmo, Kimmo and me did a cave exploration trip to the Käsivarsi wilderness area. Peeking into every hole we could see, combing through areas of limestone, etc. The most memorable for me was the Pitsusköngäs (Bihčosgorži) waterfalls, highest in Finland at 17m free fall. And there was some space underneath, maybe 10x6-8x8m. Can we classify that as a cave? Full story
August 2024, Pitsusköngäs cave, Enontekiö, Finland; Pitsusköngäs west side cave, Enontekiö, Finland; Pitsusköngäs east side cave, Enontekiö, Finland; Pitsusköngäs, Enontekiö, Finland Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Unknown, Morphology-Erosion, Morphology-Crack); Caving (None, Rock, Rock-Unknown, Morphology-Erosion, Morphology-Crack); Hiking; Flying
The search for Toskaljärvi area caves peek into every hole In August 2024 we explored the surroundings of the Toskaljärvi lake and Doskalharj mountain. Our mission was to find caves, perhaps a desperate mission in this landscape that is mostly marked by small, broken up rock... but there are areas of limestone, larger boulder fields, canyons and cliffs all of which we wanted to check out. The mission turned then into a "walk everywhere and peek into every hole you can see". Of course, most of those holes were rather small in closer inspection. Full story
August 2024, Kolmen miehen luola, Enontekiö, Finland; Uhriluola, Enontekiö, Finland; Kimmon luola, Enontekiö, Finland Caving (None); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone); Caving (Basic, Rock, Morphology-Boulders, Rock-Unknown); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Unknown, Morphology-Crack)
underground explorations around the world, from the point of view of a
beginner caver. The Planetcaver has explored underground places in
39 countries and 551 locations (408 natural in 33 countries and 144 man-made in 22 countries) and has written about 71 other places. You can also click on the map
on the left to see where in the world they took place.
