There are a large number of caves in Crimea that attract speleologists from all over the country. Every year, more and more new caves of the Crimea are registered. There are about 1100 studied caves of Crimea alone, and 50 of them are natural monuments.
In Crimea, small caves (up to 100 m) predominate in number, but there are also real giants. In the caves of the Crimea were even discovered. Every year more and more new caves of Crimea are opened.
Since ancient times, many legends and tales have been composed about each of the caves. And, indeed, walking under the dark vaults of mysterious caves, you involuntarily begin to believe that a terrible giant once lived here, who stole beautiful girls or the greedy khan hid his incredible treasures.
Do not forget about the indigenous inhabitants of ancient Taurida - Taurus is translated as "highlander". It was they who inhabited the mountainous part of the peninsula and lived in caves. It was in them that they performed rituals of sacrifice to their almighty and ruthless goddess Virgo.
The microclimate in all caves is unique. Thanks to him, many interesting artifacts have survived to this day. After visiting the caves, you will be able to imagine for a while how exactly the ancient people lived. And one more thing: they say that one hour of being in the caves rejuvenates exactly one year!
The most beautiful cave in Crimea - Marble
The most mysterious cave of Crimea - Mammoth Cave or Emine Bair Khosar
Mammoth Cave is one of the most mysterious caves in the world, located near the Marble Cave on the lower plateau of the Chatyr-Dag massif. Its depth is more than 120 m. The total length is about 2 km. One of its most interesting halls is Monomakh's Cap, named after the unique stalagmite located here, covered with "moon milk", the composition of which is still unknown.
During the entire existence of the cave, a huge number of prehistoric animals fell into its natural entrance. Since the temperature in the cave is low, their remains have survived to this day. In the cave you can see the skeleton of a mammoth, an ancient goat, etc.
The most magical cave of Crimea - Skelskaya stalactite cave
It is located at an altitude of 350 m above sea level in the south-west of Crimea, not far from the village of Rodnikovoe (the former village of Skeli). The total length of the Skelskaya cave is 670 m. The cave is listed in the Book of Records as the most populated cave fauna. Spiders, crustaceans, springtails, centipedes, beetles, mammals live here ( the bats).
In addition, plankton was found here, which is no longer on earth. Skelskaya cave constantly attracts magicians and psychics, as it is considered a powerful Place of Power of Crimea.
The fantasy world of the cave is home to incredible creatures that have never seen sunlight. Such animals, spending their lives underground and unable to exist in other conditions, are called troglobionts.
Life in the dark left its mark on their structure and behavior: first of all, there was a complete or partial loss of vision. Blindness made them hypersensitive - developed antennae, bristles and elongated limbs became their perfect organs of touch.
The most unusual cave in Crimea is the Three-Eyed Cave or Emine Bair Koba
It is located on the northeastern outskirts of the lower Chatyr Dag plateau. Its length is 950 m, the depth is -150 m. The cave has 3 entrances. Two of them on the northwest side are difficult to access. The cave contains an underground lake 2.5 m wide and 3 m deep.
In an underground reservoir, peculiar crustaceans, nifargus, have learned to survive. Now only 3-4 species know these strange, almost surreal underground inhabitants, but their diversity is much greater, they are just poorly understood.
All caves are very different and it is impossible to unequivocally judge what the underworld is like. Crimea is a unique place. It concentrates places that are very different in origin and energy.
They are quite different in appearance as well. On the peninsula, there is an amazing opportunity to get to know the underwater and underground world, to plunge into the abyss of the unknown.
Of course, it is impossible to see all the caves of Crimea in a short period of stay on the peninsula. But everyone can look into the most interesting corners of the Crimea and find exactly “their” favorite place.
Caves of Crimea video:
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In Crimea, a unique relief, nature has created on the territory of this peninsula many forms and objects, both aboveground and underground. Crimean caves attract not only extreme sports enthusiasts, but also ordinary tourists, there are even accessible ones for beginners and non-specialists. Often, the size of the cave does not depend on how impressive it will be inside, for example, the small Yalta is no less impressive than the largest Red. When visiting the caves, you need to remember the safety rules and understand that we are visiting nature, take care of everything around.
Sight
This cave is located near the cable car leading to Ai-Petri, so it is quite popular to visit, it is easy to find it by the signs, leaving the cable car to the observation deck. The second name of this cave is Ice, because the temperature here is like in a refrigerator - 10 degrees all year round. In the center of the cave is a meter-long snowdrift, tourists often throw coins into it, making a wish, and under it is a floor of compressed ice. It was also called Vorontsovskaya, they say that it was from here that ice was mined for the table of Count Vorontsov, whose estate is located at the foot of Ai-Petri in Alupka. The name of the cave comes from the entrance: it was formed in the form of a failure with three entrances, which were compared with eyes. A staircase descends into the cave, along which, observing safety precautions, it is necessary to descend backwards. In winter, the entrance to the cave is locked.
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This cave is also located on the Ai-Petri plateau, it was accidentally discovered in 1997 by a Yalta caver and his son under a mountain of leaves, and equipped for visiting by enthusiasts in 2007. This is a small cave, but very spectacular. Only the first hall is open to the public, but it is very impressive; colored lamps are held here, creating real stone flowers, jellyfish or other bizarre images from karst influxes. This cave is recognized as a natural monument.
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This cave was discovered in 1902 by a teacher from the village of Skelya, and it was named after this. It was formed as a result of a tectonic fault. Equipped for visiting this cave in 2003. Since then, excursions have been regularly conducted there, and on a route 270 meters long, which takes about an hour, tourists are shown 5 halls richly cleaned with natural influxes: the Fireplace Hall, the Dolphin Hall, the Knights' Hall, the Organ Hall and the Hall of Ghosts. Inside the cave, you can see the stalagmites "Phoenix Bird", the seven-meter "Knight" and other fairy-tale characters, the names of which everyone will come up with for themselves.
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The system of these caves in Tatar is called Kyzyl-Koba. They are located near Simferopol and are the largest cave in the Crimea. The caves can only be visited with a guide - there are 6 floors going into the depths and many lakes, siphons, reservoirs. There is a large stalactite - 8 meters, over 8000 years old. An underground river flows through this cave, which forms the Su-uchkhan waterfall. The excursion route here lasts 500 meters, which is a little compared to its total length of more than 13 kilometers, but it is dangerous to go further without special preparation. Folk festivals often take place in the valley near the cave, for example, Ivan Kupala Day is celebrated here, birthdays and other holidays are held.
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This cave, discovered by the speleological section of Simferopol in 1987, is located on the lower plateau of Mount Chatyr-Dag. The entrance to it is located at 920 meters above sea level. The exploitation of the cave by tourists began in 1987, since then thousands of people interested in the underworld have been here. For convenience, concrete paths were laid inside, handrails were installed, and artificial lighting was provided. Several routes have been developed, some are accessible even to a child. The length of the routes is up to one and a half kilometers. On the way, you will meet a gallery of fairy tales, in which the walls are decorated with sintered draperies, a tiger passage, named after the skeleton that archaeologists found there, an landslide hall and a stalactite forest. According to speleologists, this is one of the most visited equipped caves in Europe, it is also one of the five most beautiful caves peace.
Mountain Crimea is very rich in caves. The fact is that some mountain plateaus, called yayls, are composed of limestone, which is relatively easy to erode, that is, to wash out soluble rocks with water. Such processes and, as a result, the terrain they create is called karst. An example is the Chatyr-Dag plateau and the Karabi-Yayla mountain range. There are more than 200 caves and more than 1000 sinkholes on the Chatyr-Dag plateau. And on Karabi-Yaila there are even more karst sinkholes - more than 3500. By the 1970s, when the book "Caves of Crimea" by V.N. Dublyansky (geologist, speleologist, professor) knew about 800 karst cavities in the Crimea, currently there are about 1100 of them. 2 pcs.
The best and famous caves in Crimea
If you are interested in the beauty of the underworld, then, of course, with such a quantity, there is a certain difficulty in choosing which caves of Crimea are worth visiting in the first place. We didn't have this problem, they helped us. Often in our choice we turn to some specialists or professionals. In our case, a guide from, located in Adygea, as a professional in his field, advised the three main caves of Crimea:, and (another name for it is Mammoth Cave). Having visited them, we can say with all responsibility: these are really very beautiful caves, moreover, the most famous ones. In this case, we are talking about equipped caves (so that speleologists do not throw tomatoes at us), where you can get as part of an excursion group without special skills (knowledge) and special equipment. Both old and young can visit them. Therefore, if you are not a professional speleologist, but only get acquainted with the mysterious and the most beautiful world underground depths of the Crimean mountains, it is worth starting with a visit to these three caves. So, let's begin.
How to get to the best caves of Crimea
All three caves are located on both sides of the highway Simferopol-Alushta(highway number 35A-002). The Red Cave (Kizil-Koba) is located on the slope of Dolgorukovskaya Yayla, you can get to it by turning off the highway near the village Perevalnoe on the road 35N-554. More details in the article about.
The Marble Cave is considered the most beautiful cave in Crimea and one of the five most beautiful equipped caves in the world. The length is 2 km, the depth is 60 m. The main treasure of the cave is the Perestroika Hall - the largest equipped hall in the Crimea and Europe, 250 m long and 28 m high, area 5,000 m2, and volume 50,000 m3. The age of the cave is about 6-8 million years. The cave was discovered in 1987 by the Simferopol speleological section. In 1988, the Onyx-Tour speleotourism center was founded, which equipped excursion routes for visitors, it also studies and preserves the cave to this day. The name of the cave is associated with marble-like limestone - the main rock in the layers of which the cave lies.
Read more about the cave, how to get there, the cost of visiting, opening hours and photos - in the article.
The Emine-Bair-Khosar Cave can easily compete with the Marble Cave for the title of the most beautiful cave in Crimea. But she does not need to argue, she is unique in her own way. Namely, with its calcite formations and incrustations, located on five different levels. The halls of the highest level are located approximately 30 meters from the surface of the earth, and the lowest level is 180 meters. The length of the cave is about 1460 m. Another unique part of the cave is a sixteen-meter well-failure that goes to the surface, as well as an almost complete skeleton of a mammoth and other prehistoric animals found in this cave. That is why the cave has a second name - Mammoth Cave. And of course, it is worth noting the delightful Kecskemét Hall.
Read more about the cave, how to get there, the cost of visiting, opening hours and photos - in the article
Scientists rank the Crimean Mountains among the oldest mountain systems in the world. Changes in the earth's crust, natural disasters and water contributed to the formation of karst cavities in them, which are now known to tourists around the world as the Crimean caves. Many of them deserve to be included in the list. Consider those of them that are worth the attention of both ordinary vacationers and speleologists.
Stalactite caves
Stalactites are sinter-drop formations hanging from the ceilings of caves in the form of fringes, icicles, tubes, etc. Similar formations that grow from the floor are called stalagmites. These creations of nature have been growing for thousands of years and are able to turn an ordinary cave into an underground labyrinth of unique beauty.
Marble Cave (mountain Chatyr-Dag, near the village of Marble). This place is included in the list of the most beautiful caves in the world. It represents complex system halls and galleries. One of the halls is even able to accommodate a 9-storey building. The stalagmites and stalactites imprinted fabulous figures. All this is complemented by music, beautiful lighting and bizarre drawings.
Skelsky caves (Baydarskaya valley, between the village of Rodnikovoe and the village of Kolkhoznoye). This fantastic realm of stalactites and stalagmites is equipped with stairs, viewing platforms and special lighting. All this creates stunning optical illusions. The calcite sinter formations of these caves resemble animals and people imprinted in stone. Also here you can see the "kiss", which is a meeting of a stalactite and a stalagmite. Among tourists, the 7-meter stalagmite, resembling the figure of a knight, is especially popular.
Red caves or Kizyl-Koba (village Perevalnoe, Simferopol region). The named natural monument is a complex labyrinth of several caves, with a total length of 25 km. It also has lakes and waterfalls. The stalactite 8 meters long and 8000 years old brought world fame to the described place.
Mammoth Cave. The underground galleries of this cave stretch for 1460 m and descend to a depth of 120 m. This natural monument is also known as the Emine-Bair-Khosar cave. Light enters the cave through a pit 17 m deep. At different times, many animals fell through here. Now here you can see the bones of a reindeer and a mammoth. The walls are decorated with colorful calcite crystals.
Other karst caves of Crimea
Crimea is a real paradise for speleotourism, because hundreds of karst caves are located here. There are not many miraculous miracles in the world that could be compared with the caves of the Crimea. Tours of the underground world cannot leave you indifferent. But besides stalactites, it is worth seeing the natural monuments described below.
Snake Cave (10 km south of Simferopol). The length of this underground kingdom is 320 m. People knew about it in the 7th-6th centuries. BC. Fascinated by the beauty and mystery of this place, the ancient inhabitants of Crimea made a sanctuary here. In addition, in this cave of the Crimea, you can find out from a local guide how to get to it, a unique population of bats lives.
Cave MAN (northern slope of Demerdzhi). The length of this cave is only 30 m. However, in ancient times it was the sanctuary of the Taurians. These are not the caves of Emine bair khosar, but here you can see ancient rock paintings and many animal bones. And that means taking good pictures. The caves of Crimea will remain in your memories for a long time.
Underwater caves of Crimea. Many such places can be found in the Sudak region. Among them, it is worth highlighting the "Legend" cave, known for its interesting sinter formations. This is a great gift for experienced divers. But even they should be careful, because the underwater caves of the Crimea, a map with their location, you can ask for in special diving centers, while little explored.
Unique properties of natural salt caves
Interestingly, the salt caves of the Crimea have medicinal properties. The air of natural undergrounds, saturated with mineral salts, soothes, relaxes, and also treats pulmonary and allergic diseases. It is one of the most ancient aero-therapeutic methods of treatment. Therefore, there are many artificial salt caves on the Crimean peninsula.
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