Located in the heart of the Dordogne Valley, in Lot Department and very close to Rocamadour, the Gouffre de Padirac is France's first underground natural heritage site.
Traditionally open to the public from the start of the Easter holidays to early November, this unmissable tourist site in Occitania Region has welcomed over 25 million visitors since it was discovered in 1889.
In 2019, the Gouffre de Padirac will celebrate the 130 years of its discovery by Edouard-Alfred Martel, with an anniversary year ponctuated by unique cultural and festive events!
If you would like more information on our site and our seasonal events,
you will find here all you need to get to know the Gouffre de Padirac better and to make your work easier:
GOUFFRE DE PADIRAC PRESS DEPARTMENT CONTACT
WORDCOM CONSULTING
01 45 44 82 65
Eglantine de Cossé Brissac
rp@wordcom.fr
GOUFFRE DE PADIRAC PRESS DEPARTMENT
Magdaléna Mauguéret
mma@gouffre-de-padirac.com
06 33 44 82 84
The Gouffre de Padirac: its history, mysteries, resources, and tools
Please see below for our latest press releases
Please see below for our press review
Click here to access the Gouffre de Padirac photo and video gallery and to download HD visuals.
If you wish to contact our press office or our communications department.
In 2022, the Gouffre de Padirac set up black bee hives on its grounds, just two minutes from the chasm. In collaboration with the Pêle-Miel apiary, this project is part of an initiative to preserve this endangered species but also to promote local producers and products from the region, which are featured in the Gouffre's delicatessen.
View the press release
Young explorers are the first to be amazed by the journey to the heart of the earth that opens up beneath their feet. A fascinating adventure supported by the many youth materials offered by the Gouffre, whether before the visit, during the tour or in the shop to take home wonderful souvenirs.
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On 24 September, 600 bottles and 24 magnums of Probus 2017 were buried at the foot of the Grand Dôme hall in exceptional conditions: 13° and 98% humidity constant. This new limited series of top-of-the-range wine is coming back to the surface on June 24th.
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From 1st July, the Kiosque of the Gouffre will open every day during the summer. Located in the site's wooded park, this retro chic shop offers to the visitors, local products carefully selected by the team.
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Before winter closure, the Gouffre de Padirac, celebrating in 2019 the 130th anniversary of its discover, offers a final opportunity to come and enjoy a wonderful visit during these school holidays and the exceptional exhibition «Robert Doisneau at the Gouffre de Padirac» ending with the 2019 season, until November, 3 incl.
View the press release
Over an evening, experience the unbelievable underground adventure of the Gouffre de Padirac just as Édouard-Alfred Martel did in 1889. With lamps to light your way you will you will get the fullest sense of the Gouffre, in the silence, the dark, and the cool...
Explorers Tours dates: June 1st, 20th and 27th July, 24th August and 26th October 2019.
Dedicated to budding explorers and to little gourmets aged 4 to 12, the Easter egg hunt 103 metres underground is not to be missed! Several hundred eggs are just waiting to be found and tasted during the visit...
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This exhibition, with its original scenography, was designed to highlight Robert Doisneau's photographs and preserve the naturalness of the site. It brings together fifty pictures and is based on two themes: the visit to the Gouffre de Padirac, and the Dordogne Valley region, in the summer of 1954. Exhibition to be explored throughout the 2019 season.
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After four months of winter closure, the Gouffre de Padirac will welcome the first visitors of the 2019 season from Saturday 30 March until Sunday 3 November.
View the press releaseCome and enjoy a wonderful guided tour and learn about this remarkable geological phenomenon before the Gouffre de Padirac closes for the winter on 4 November.
View the press releaseThe next european heritage day will be held on september 15-16, 2018 within the framework of the european year of cultural heritage.
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As part of the seasonal rendezvous of the 13th edition of the Rocamadour Festival, the Gouffre de Padirac welcomes the Mikrokosmos choir on the occasion of a very special music festival! An unusual rendezvous for members of the public who wish to experience the Gouffre filled with heavenly voices and with percussion with age-old sounds… an experience that is out of the ordinary.
View the press release
Over an evening, experience the unbelievable underground adventure of the Gouffre de Padirac just as Édouard-Alfred Martel did in 1889. With lamps to light your way you will you will get the fullest sense of the Gouffre, in the silence, the dark, and the cool…
View the press release
Dedicated to budding explorers and to little gourmets aged 4 to 12, the Easter egg hunt 103 metres underground is not to be missed! Several hundred eggs are just waiting to be found and tasted during the visit…
View the press release
After four months of winter closure, the Gouffre de Padirac will welcome the first visitors of the 2018 season from Saturday 24 March until Sunday 4 November.
View the press release
For the second collaboration with the "Partage-Handicaps" Association, based in Ariège Department, the Gouffre de Padirac offers 15 disabled people the chance to experience a unique journey to the centre of the Earth.
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During the All Souls' holiday break, from 21 October to 5 November, the Gouffre de Padirac offers visitors facilitation and mediation workshops to add to their exploration of Europe's first underground heritage site.
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New collaborations, encouraging visitor figures, teams strengthened, and projects in the development stage.
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This summer, the Gouffre de Padirac offers visitors facilitation and mediation workshops to add to their exploration of Europe's first natural underground heritage site.
View the press release
Nothing like an underground kingdom for Prince Probus. The prestigious vintage of the 130 years of the gouffre
has reached the bowels of Padirac, to age at 103 meters deep.
(RTL is a private national radio).
All along the summer, Arnaud Tousch, radio journalist, draws the portarits of seasonal workers essential for everyone to have good holidays.
Listen to the radio programme
Summer jobs : in the heart of the Gouffre de Padirac
Every summer, the Gouffre de Padirac hires seasonal people to drive tourists in boats at more than 100 meters underground.
Watch the video
On the occasion of the Fête de la Musique, Mikrokosmos, a choir of forty singers under the age of 30, gave voice to the bottom of the Gou re de Padirac on Thursday 21 June 2018 but also on Friday and Saturday.
Watch the video
Heavenly voices bounce off the rock in the bowels of the Earth.
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In this natural cavity plunging 103 meters underground from the Dordogne Valley, 50 chorists mingle with the public to interpret modern and contemporary works in a noctural wandering.
A unique program for a festival of masterful and spectacular music.
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On the occasion of the second edition of the International Day of Tourists Caves, Wednesday 6 June 2018, Le Figaro offers you a selection of these underground wonders of Nature.
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(France Bleu is a public network of local and regional radio stations)
Jean-François Mangin pour les Ateliers "Toussaint" au Gouffre de Padirac.
Listen to the radio programme
(A daytime magazine programme on television channel France 2)
Loïc Ballet takes you to the heart of Lot department for an extraordinary visit over 103 metres underground.
Watch the video
I explored Padirac by lamp!
In the middle of the arid plateau of the Causses de Quercy, in Lot Department, lies a gaping hole: the Gouffre de Padirac. Léopold explored it for GEO Ado under the conditions of its first exploration, in 1889…
(France Inter is a public radio station)
The Gouffre de Padirac has always stirred the imagination and enriched the legends of the Quercy region. The enormous opening and its galleries are now a geological enigma.
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(Europe 1 is a private radio station)
Worth a visit - the Gouffre de Padirac by night
Each day during summer, Europe 1 helps you explore a hidden location on your holiday route.
("Le 1245" is a television current-affairs programme on channel M6)
The Gouffre de Padirac is one of the most beautiful geological sites in France. It is 103 metres deep, and is crossed by a river that erodes rock over the years, offering a superb spectacle. Over 420,000 visitors explore it each year.
Watch the video
The Gouffre de Padirac is in Lot Department, and is listed as France's first underground heritage site. It is considered one of France's greatest geological curiosities. We know less about the man who discovered it in 1889, and who is the father of modern speleology
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("E = M6" is a television programme popular science on channel M6)
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The geological site located on the Causse de Lamat (Lot Department) is explored under the same conditions as when Édouard-Alfred Martel and his companions explored it in 1889.
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A team of speleologists succeeded in making an unprecedented crossing to reach the Gouffre de Padirac (Lot Department). A journey of 20 km in three days, through the cold, through clay, and through damp. Exclusive report.
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