Le Gouffre de Padirac & Boat Trip – Road Trip by Car in France #18
While it has been 130 years since tourists have been allowed to explore the Padirac Abyss, it is only in 2020 that we hear about it. For the road trip in France, I tagged all the “must-see” of all the regions of France listed in my Lonely Planet guide, and when I saw the picture of the Padirac chasm, I reworked the itinerary so that we could go there.
Note: this blog article is part of the “Road Trip in France” made in August 2020. To read the previous parts, click here : #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16 and #17
Part 1: Travel Diary
Part 2: Practical Tips
Part 1: Travel Diary
Going directly from Carcassonne to the Gouffre de Padirac must displease our readers who know the Gers well. I too am sad to drop so many beautiful villages on the way, but we don’t have much time left and we plan to spend 3-4 days in the Périgord, so no choice. We wanted to make a small jump to Gimont for the “marché au gras” compatible for late risers (it opens from 10am on Sunday), but it only takes place from the end of October until the end of March. We try to stop at noon at a foie gras producer but likewise, everything is closed on Sundays. Sorry but we’ll come back, I promise, because I love foie gras, I can’t miss such a region next time.
Abyss of Padirac, 103 meters underground
In short, the time to prepare ourselves, take pictures of Carcassonne (without tourists), have lunch, drive to the Gouffre de Padirac, it’s already 5:10 pm, it’s perfect since we booked tickets for 5:30 pm. It is complete several days in advance, especially mid-August covid version so fortunately, we reserved more than one month in advance.
The flyer of the abyss is enviable, but in reality, without a drone, without professional equipment, it is impossible to have the same pictures.
This abyss was known to all but no one dared to explore it, for fear that this huge hole on the surface of the earth might be the door to hell, or catch fire – intended to protect a hidden treasure.
It was in 1889 that Edouard-Alfred Martel decided to descend into one of the hidden faces of the Earth, one of the most mysterious chasms ever explored. There he found an underground river, which he first explored on foot. Then, he decided to go down in small boats, assembled on the spot, to explore the river. But the means of the time did not allow him to precisely estimate the total length of the river. Now, with modern equipment, it is necessary to equip oneself with inflatable boats, and diving equipment to travel the 19km of the underground river, which leads to the Dordogne River.
The story goes that Edouard-Alfred Martel lacked the funds to open this place to the public. While passing through Paris, he forgot in a hansom cab his bag containing the plans of the Abyss and all his project of opening to the public. The next passenger, George Beamish, heir to the Irish beers, found it, opened it and decided to support his project. It was in 1899 that the Abyss was opened to the public and in 2019 it counted 500,000 visitors. We do not know for 2020, however.
We are each given an audioguide and encouraged to walk down (via the metal stairs) and then go back up, if we wish, by elevator. The height impresses me a little but I try not to look down. The audioguide is automatically triggered as soon as we pass an interesting place.
Seeing the pictures, I imagine that we can take the boat as soon as we go down the stairs (the green part on the picture), but this isn’t the case. The well is 75 meters deep. You have to go down to the green part (-75m), then continue for a long time, walking along the underground river to the boats. So we are 103m underground. The temperature is constant: 13°C. The vaults are very high, it isn’t quite the same, I know, but one has the impression to be in the Grand Canyon. It’s enormous so each one goes at his own rhythm, there are many moments when we are alone.
On this map, our route is from right to left.
We finally arrive at the boats. They are very well made and the two boats cross each other without difficulty despite the narrowness of the walls. The boats aren’t motorized, and yet one advances rather quickly in spite of the number of tourists per boat. We cover one kilometer of river by boat, with explanations of the guide and Question/Answer session if necessary.
At the end of the route, we arrive at the Rainy Lake. Just above it, the Grande Pendeloque, a 60 meters long calcite waterfall, seems to fall on our heads soon. If we have a lot of imagination, we could have thought that it has the shape of a sheep drinking. Well, I put an official photo because we aren’t allowed to take pictures during the boat ride.
We follow the route and are amazed by everything we see.
We then arrive at the Hall of the Grand Dome with a ceiling at 94 meters. This room is considered an “unfinished chasm”. Fortunately, there is no risk that this ceiling will fall on our heads because nowadays, the climate isn’t conducive to the erosion of limestone and the structure is now stable.
In Lake Superior, we see a “stack of plates” formed of stalagmites. The water is beautiful, we want to swim in it ahaha.
At the end of the course, we find ourselves at the Lac des Gours, which has natural levels. It makes me think too much of Pamukkale, and less pretty of course.
Our journey stops here, but the river still continues for tens of km. It emerges on the surface in four places in the village of Montvalent. The most important one is the Fontaine Saint-Georges, with several tens of meters deep and a place of diving par excellence (like a cenote roughly).
We then go back up via the elevator, a little too tightly glued in the Covid counter, but everyone wears his mask, it’s still okay.
In short, we are a bit disappointed by the entrance of the abyss because the Photoshoped photos do not correspond to what we see in reality.
On the other hand, the rest: the walls, the vaults, the underground river (that we had not seen in photos finally) are incredible. The boat ride makes us think too much of the glow-worm cellar in New Zealand, but much, much better.
It’s a titanic project to arrange all this, to bring down so many boats, so that we can have access to them. The same abyss in a less developed country wouldn’t have been open to tourists, or we would have stayed at -75 meters and the rest would have been caving, with a private guide and flashlight lighting. The same chasm in another developed country would have cost twice as much. We are so lucky to be able to explore this kind of place in France, for a very affordable price. In short, I am a fan and highly recommend it! 😀
We will then spend the night in a bed and breakfast(link Booking) close to the chasm. The organic breakfast, from the garden, is served with a lot of love. I also recommend it!
Our next article, it’s this way
Part 2: Practical Tips
Useful links
- Our guest room : Moulin de Latouille (link Booking)
- Reservation of tickets for the Gouffre de Padirac: https: //www.gouffre-de-padirac.com/fr/
- 4 weeks Road Trip in France by car: program & detailed plans here
- These points of interest are part of the +800 tourist places in France that we recommend. To access free Google Maps of the 800 places in question, click here
- More info about our car rental at Leclerc (5€/day + 8cts per km) here
Budget
- Accommodation : Moulin de Latouille (link Booking), 55€ per double room, organic breakfast included
- Gouffre de Padirac: 17€/person, must be booked in advance – free parking on site, but not supervised
