It is rather rare that show caves are located high up in the mountain, because its difficult to get there, so there would be no visitors. Nevertheless, there are some show caves and other tourist sites which are actually pretty high. This is a list of such exceptional sites which are listed on showcaves.com without any hope to be complete. We checked the caves we listed above 2,000 m asl. There are less than 20, and we included some semi-wild caves in the list.
Name | Location | Altitude | Explanation |
---|---|---|---|
Gruta de Huagapo | Junín Departamento, Perú | 3,992 m asl | semi-wild, but with guided tours, the highest tourist cave of the world. |
Amarnath Cave | Kashmir, India | 3,888 m asl | Located on Mount Amarnath in the Indian part of the Himalaya, a pilgrimage destination with half a million visitors per year. |
Huánglóng dòng | Sichuan, China | 3,568 m asl | Located in the Minshan Mountains in the northwest of the province, a part of the Tibetan Plateau. |
Baishiya Karst Cave | Gansu Province, China | 3,280 m asl | |
Natur Eis Palast Hintertuxer Gletscher | Tirol, Austria | 3,250 m asl | This is a natural cave in the glacier, so it is not only the highest in Europe, but also the most exceptional cave opn this list. |
Ghar-e-Qūrī Qal'eh | Kermanshah Province, Iran | 3,000 m asl | Located in the mountains at the border between Iran and Irak. |
Grotte Conturines | Trentino and Alto Adige, Italy | 2,750 m asl | Actually, the tourist site is the museum in the valley below, there are guided tours into the cave though, which require some fitness. |
Gruta San Pedro | Bolivia | 2,590 m asl | The only show cave in the country, and as the whole country is pretty high... |
Spannagelhöhle | Tirol, Austria | 2,521 m asl | No long and strenuous climb required, located at the second stop of the cable car. |
Drachenloch | Kanton St. Gallen, Switzerland | 2,445 m asl | Famous for cave bear bones, a long hike, only visited by mountaineers. |
Grutas los Herrara | Queretaro, México | 2,415 m asl | The capital Mexico City lies at an altitude of over 2,200 m asl, which is why we are surprised that only one Mexican show cave has made it onto this list. |
Minnetonka Cave | Idaho, U.S.A. | 2,346 m asl | |
Wannian Ice Cave | Shanxi Province, China | 2,300 m asl | |
Xia Bing Dong | Chongqing Province, China | 2,200 m asl | |
Glenwood Caverns | Colorado, U.S.A. | 2,164 m asl | |
Cave of the Winds | Colorado, U.S.A. | 2,150 m asl | |
Eiskogelhöhle | Salzburg, Austria | 2,100 m asl | Although it is listed as a semi-wild cave, it has guided tours with carbide lamps. |
Lehman Caves | Nevada, U.S.A. | 2,080 m asl | |
Timpanogos Cave National Monument | Utah, U.S.A. | 2,051 m asl | |
Sahoolan Cave | West Azarbaijan Province, Iran | 2,000 m asl |