While going on the Flåm railway (see the other article), I noticed that on Google Maps there was a marking for a "cave waterfall", Grottefossen-Høgabru. I saw it briefly when the train drove by, the river entered the mountain and came out shortly thereafter on the other side. And there was an additional similar underground water flow after the Kjosfossen waterfall, under the station. These seem man-made, however, as in both cases the water is taking a different direction to bypass the station or the bank that the rails were on.
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June 2025, Grottefossen-Høgabru, Flåm, Norway; Kjosfossen station, Flåm, Norway
Travel; Urban-Exploration (Tunnels, Railways); Caving (Man-Made, None)
I went with Ralf's organized caving trip to Turku's Luolavuori (cave mountain) cave. Been there many times, it is a wonderful cave! Also fun to meet new people, perhaps there's some cave trips we can do together at some point! Also, I did a quick 3D scan of the cave with my iPhone.
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June 2025, Luolavuoren luola, Turku, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Crack, Morphology-Boulders)
I'm in Norway, traveling between Oslo and Bergen. But are there any caves that I could visit? Turning to Google, I do find some, but they are generally too far out of my reach. The good caves appear to be much higher up north. However, just a kilometer from the city center of Bergen there's Maraminehollet. It is a city cave, with everything that comes with it. Easy to access, there's a sign, there's a bench next to it. But to enter, you must first pass the beer cans and park chemists :-)
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June 2025, Mareminehollet, Bergen, Norway
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Unknown, Morphology-Unknow, Surveying)
Right across the river in Porvoo, there's a hill with a famous rock and an observation deck on top of it: Näsin kivi. A massive glacial boulder, moved by during the ice age. It is very interesting by itself, including some small crack canyons on its sides. But a hundred meters away is another smaller boulder, cracked open in two points. And there are two narrow tunnels in cracks, passing under the boulder.
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May 2025, Näsin siirtolohkare, Porvoo, Finland
Caving (Basic, Rock, Morphology-Boulders, Morphology-Crack)
We got an update from Kim Petterson about the Solamäki caves.
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May 2025, Solamäen luola, Siuntio, Finland
Caving (None)
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.
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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)
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.
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April 2025, Hervannan uimahalli, Hervanta, Tampere, Finland
Swimming (Waterbody-Pool, Indoor); Sauna (Normal); Caving (Man-Made, Basic, Rock); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers)
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!
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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)
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.
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March 2025, Gagernhöhle, Kelkheim, Germany
Caving (Man-Made, Rock)
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.
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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)
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.
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March 2025, Grotte delle Busserailles, Valtournenche, Italy
Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Unknown, Morphology-Erosion, Showtour)
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.
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February 2025, 100 Monk Cave, Terelj, Mongolia; 100 Monk Side Cave, Terelj, Mongolia; Turtle Rock, Terelj, Mongolia; 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; North Tsenkheri Cave, Mankham Soum, Mongolia; Gurbanzeerdiin Cave, Khanbogd, Mongolia; Dayandeerkhiin Cave, Derhiin Hüryee, Mongolia; Tsakhiryn Agui 1, Khaliun, Mongolia; Tsakhiryn Agui 1 b, Khaliun, Mongolia; Tsakhiryn Agui 2, Khaliun, Mongolia; Tsakhiryn Agui 3, Khaliun, Mongolia; Tsakhiryn Agui 4, Khaliun, Mongolia; Tsakhiryn Agui 5, Khaliun, Mongolia; Irvesiin Agui, Khaliun, Mongolia; Nuramt Tsakhir Agui, Khaliun, Mongolia; Khongil Tsakhir Agui, Khaliun, Mongolia; Gazar Agui 1, Taishir, Mongolia; Gazar Agui 2, Taishir, Mongolia; Gazar Agui 3, Taishir, Mongolia; Gazar Agui 4, Taishir, Mongolia; Gazar Agui 5, Taishir, Mongolia; Gazar Agui 6, Taishir, Mongolia; Gazar Agui 7, Taishir, Mongolia; Gazar Agui 8, Taishir, Mongolia; Gazar Agui 9, Taishir, Mongolia; Gazar Agui 10, Taishir, Mongolia; Gazar Agui 11, Taishir, Mongolia; Gazar Agui 12, Taishir, Mongolia; Gazar Agui 13, Taishir, Mongolia; Saalit Agui 1, Bayan-Ondor, Mongolia; Saalit Agui 2, Bayan-Ondor, Mongolia; Saalit Agui 3, Bayan-Ondor, Mongolia; Tsagaan Agui, Bayan Lig, Mongolia; Taliin Cave, Dariganga, Mongolia; Lobonchombiin Cave, Aguy-sume, Mongolia; Tsagaandeliin Cave, Airag, Mongolia
Caving (Rock, Basic); Caving (Rock, None); Hiking
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 :-)
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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
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 ...
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February 2025, 100 Monk Cave, Terelj, Mongolia; 100 Monk Side Cave, Terelj, Mongolia; Turtle Rock, Terelj, Mongolia
Caving (Basic, Surveying, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Unknown); Caving (Basic, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Unknown); Caving (Basic, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Unknown); Hiking; Climbing (Mountain)
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.
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December 2024, Bogovina Cave, Bogovina, Serbia
Caving (Basic, Swimming, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Showtour); Swimming (Indoor)
Caves + 1, Andorra. La Canya dels Pujols, a hundred-meter cave about 80 meters above the riverbed below.
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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)