Pech Merle

Wow superb unique !!! Let's go back in history at least 25,000 years and see first hand primitive art not seen by modern man before 1996. Well preserved, group controlled in limited numbers and a MUST SEE CAVE! afterwards, enjoy the museum and watch more history in the 25 minute film. What a delightful outing...and the route is an eye full too!!

We’re doing the GR65 and stopping in Cabrerets so decided in advance to pop in. The website is a bit of nightmare from outside of France, but worked perfectly once we were in-country. You MUST buy tickets in advance as it sells out. There is an English spoken tour, but if you miss this there is a free audio tour (via app and headphones). The tour itself is very good and the caves are spectacular. Amazing that it was discovered by three teenagers. Well worth the visit and while obviously touristy, it wasn’t horribly so. Staff were pleasant and helpful.

I had always wanted to see these petroglyphs, and they were not a disappointment. It was difficult to get there without a car, but it was worth it. The tour was excellent.

What an amazing site! I enjoyed this much more than Lascaux 4. Our guide was well informed, patient and helpful. We had more time to enjoy the tour - so very stunning and moving!!! The museum, theater, and cafe were very good too.

Spectacular! Amazing to have the chance to see these drawings up close on one of the guided tours. Tour lasted about 90 minutes and our English speaking guide was great. The local area is also stunning with lots to see and do.

These caves are an international treasure! It's marvelous that they are so well managed and preserved. There is nothing like seeing the images in person - it helped me understand the incredible level of artistry involved and its incredibly moving!

Great experience. Underground natural cave dating back to 29,000 years ago. Beautiful and very interesting. Well kept, very clean and safe! The tour guide only spoke French, but English audio guides and guide books are available. There is also a museum which explains all that you'll find inside the cave. Highly recommended visit. Book tickets in advance for no waiting time.

So interesting to go back in time. New museum is great and the staff and guides could not be more helpful. Highly recommend a visit, but book to avoid disappointment. There is a small restaurant on site. You can also walk up from the village (about 1km up hill on footpaths), where there are other establishments and a small river beach for a picnic.

The cave of Pech Merle is a wonderful experience. The caves are among the most beautiful I've been in with fabulous natural displays of nature's artistry. If you enjoy exploring underground wonderlands, it is worth going just for that. The icing on the cake (and our primary purpose for going!) are the incredible drawings left on several walls of the cave by Neolithic humans 29,000 years ago. As someone who has explored caves with a flashlight and candle as my only light source, the idea of negotiating the thin passageways and crawling under overhangs with only a shallow bowl of deer fat and juniper lamp is amazing! Let alone finding dry walls to serve as your canvas for creating your art on! The drawings themselves are breathtakingly beautiful. With just a few lines they convey their subject. The guided tour is over a paved walkway with several sets of stairs.

I have dreamed of viewing an actual cave, not a replica of prehistoric paintings, and this tour lived up to my dream. Something about seeing these artistic renderings, realizing these have been dated to 29,000 BC (carbon dated by charcoal used on the horse's mane), gave me a frisson of wonder. The oldest art I have seen, and so beautifully drawn in manganese, with the style going on for 10,000 years in this cave until a landslide closed the entrance, only rediscovered in 1922. Only a few tours are available each day to protect the cave, which has numerous beautiful cave stalactites and stalagmite formations as well as the aon-site. Book tickets in advance online to be assured of a spot. Photos are not allowed in the cave. My photos are photos taken from a book available in the gift shop. An outdoor cafe and informative museum are also onsite.

This cave contains some of the oldest paintings still open to the public. They are almost twice as old as Lascaux, yet amazingly sophisticated. The "spotted horse" is probably the most famous image, but I was equally impressed by the use of the rock contours to produce 3-dimensional effects in many other images. I have visited 4 other caves in France and Spain, and this remains my favorite. Guides officially speak only French, but there are large-print packets in several languages that do a good job of explaining the images. Besides, the guide will often speak some other language at least well enough to answer some questions, or translate a bit of the tour. Incidentally, right at the intersection where you turn off the main road along the river, there is a delightful inn called Hotel des Grottes. Great location for touring the area, and an excellent chef.

Pech Merle is one of the few caves that are still open where you can see an early artistic masterpiece. The cave is famous for its painting of horses. We took the English tour (tickets purchased online in advance), which was very informative and gives a guided tour of the entire cave. The guide spoke excellent English and gave us many insights into the significance of the paintings and etchings. My only complaint is that I would have liked more time to study the famous horses. I recommend that you study the pictures online before you go so that you can use your time well. It is a magical experience!