Cueva de Llamazares

Useful Information

Location:	Calle Deogracias Suárez, 1, 24843 Llamazares, León, Spain. León LE-311 towards Matallana de Torío, in Robles de la Valcueva CL-626 to La Vecilla, turn left on LE-321 towards the Vegarada pass, in Lugueros turn left to Llamazares. 45 min walk from the village Llamazares. Start and ticket office at the Museo Paleontológico. (42.9678180, -5.4444413)
Open:	JUN Sat, Sun 10:30, 16:30. JUL to AUG Thu-Sun 10:30, 16:30. SEP Sat, Sun 10:30, 16:30. [2024]
Fee:	Adults EUR 20, Children (6-12) EUR 10, Children (0-5) free. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	T=7 °C, A=1,475 m asl.
Guided tours:	L=700 m, VR=50 m, D=40 min. V=4,000/a [2019]
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	Darío Fidalgo, Sofía Jimeno, Ismael Coronado, Juncal A. Cruz, Daniel Ballesteros, Esperanza Fernández-Martínez (2022): First approach to the palaeoenvironmental and biochronological context of the new Quaternary site of Cueva de Llamazares (León, Spain) through the study of microvertebrates Poster on the 19th EAVP Conference researchgate Esperanza Fernández-Martínez, Rodrigo Castaño de Luis, Juncal Cruz Martínez, Ismael Coronado Vila, Javier Fernández Lozano, Darío Fidalgo Casares, Daniel Ballesteros Posada, Sofía del Río Jimeno (2021): Cueva de Llamazares Ayuntamiento de Valdelugueros © 2021, ISBN: 978-84-0929-805-1 researchgate
Address:	Cueva de Llamazares, Calle Deogracias Suárez, 1, 24843 Llamazares, León, Tel: +34-669-34-92-14, Tel: +34-646-33-88-16. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

2015	opened to the public as a show cave.

Description

The Cueva de Llamazares (cave of Llamazares) was named after the nearby village. It is also called Cueva de Coribios or Cueva de Coribos. The cave is entered through a small triangular entrance, only 2 m wide and 2 m high. The tour shows the main passage of the cave, but there is also a second, parallel passage which is smaller and not developed.

The Cueva de Llamazares is famous for an abundance of cave corals. Cave Corals are speleothems which form under certain conditions and look like normal corals, hence the name. But they are not real corals, formed by living animals, which build calcite shells and thus form the reef. They are formed by calcium rich water in the cave depositing limestone in a chemical process.

But there is also an abundance of fossils in the 200 Ma old Jurassic limestones, which were formed as a sediment in an oxygene rich shallow sea which was full of life. Many fossilized remains can be found in the limestones, but several were freed from the surrounding rock by the formation of the cave. This cave has numerous fossil corals in the limestone, and depending on the language and the author, both are dubbed "cave coral" So the cave has two types of cave corals, speleothems of that name and fossils of that name. The fossils are presented in the Museo Paleontológico (Paleontological Museum) which was created in the old school house of Llamazares. They have a great collection of over 250 spectacular items, including a 300 Ma old Lepidodendron or giant fern. Most of the local fossils are from the Triassic and Jurassic periods.

The museum is also the starting point for cave tours and the ticket office. The cave is located 45 minutes walk from the village, the full tours walking to the cave, visiting the cave, and walking back with some pauses, and some geology along the trail takes 3 hours. As a result, it is visited by only 4,000 people per year. The cave is closed during rain, we guess the hiking trail to the cave is too dangerous during rain. The hike is only 1 km, but it is an ascent of 208 m, and thus it requires a little physical fitness. The location we have given is the ticket office, the location of the cave entrance is (42.971122, -5.440777).