Origins
How the plateau got a hole in it
The Causse de Gramat is limestone, and limestone dissolves. Over millions of years an underground river carved galleries beneath the plateau; at Padirac the roof of one chamber collapsed, leaving a shaft 75 metres deep and 35 across. Local legend blamed the Devil, who was said to have dug it with his heel while bargaining with Saint Martin.
A timeline
Key moments at the chasm
1889 — Édouard-Alfred Martel descends and discovers the river. 1898 — the site opens to visitors. 1947 — the first electric lift. 1990s–2000s — the galleries are pushed to over 40 km. 2019 — 130 years of visits.
Martel
The father of modern caving
Martel was a Paris lawyer who spent his holidays underground. On 9 July 1889 he and his companions lowered a canvas boat into the chasm and paddled into galleries no one had ever seen. Within ten years he had turned Padirac into one of the first show caves in the world, with a spiral staircase and, later, a lift.
Martel called it 'the most extraordinary underground spectacle in Europe'. The river has not changed its mind since.
The visit
Down, along, across and up
You descend by lift (or 172 steps) to the bottom of the shaft, walk 300 metres along the Galerie de la Source to the river, take the boat 500 metres to the Lac de la Pluie, then continue on foot to the Lac des Gours and the Salle du Grand Dôme before returning the same way.
Underground
Four spaces, one river
Each stage of the route has its own character.
The shaft
Open to the sky, 75 metres deep — the only daylight you will see for an hour.
The river and the Lac de la Pluie
The boat section, under the 60-metre Grande Pendeloque stalactite.
The Salle du Grand Dôme
A chamber 94 metres high, reached by a staircase with views over the Lac des Gours.
With your ticket
What you actually see with your ticket
Your ticket covers the full visit — descent, gallery, boat trip, lakes and Grand Dôme — with an audio guide in French, English, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian or Japanese, and a children's version in four languages. Allow about 1h30 underground.
