Grotte Prehistorique de Sare

Gruta de Sare

Useful Information

photography — Entrance Portal, Grotte de Sare, France. Public Domain.

Location:	Harrobiko bidea, 64310 Sare. Sare, 20 km from Saint Jean de Luz, Basque Country. A63 exit Bayonne, Biarritz or St Jean de Luz North, then follow the signs. (43.2681458, -1.5715479)
Open:	12-FEB to 17-MAR Mon-Fri 14-17, Sat, Sun 13-17. 18-MAR to 03-NOV daily 10-18. 04-NOV to 06-JAN Mon-Fri 14-17, Sat, Sun 13-17. Closed 25-DEC, 01-JAN. [2024]
Fee:	Adults EUR 10, Children (14-17) EUR 8.50, Children (5-13) EUR 6, Children (0-4) free, Student EUR 8.50, Family (2+3) EUR 32. Disabled: Adults EUR 6.50, Children (14-17) EUR 5.50, Children (5-13) EUR 4, Student EUR 5.50. Groups (15+): Adults EUR 8, Children (14-17) EUR 6.50, Children (5-13) EUR 5, Disabled EUR 6.50. Online booking mandatory. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	LED Son et Lumière
Dimension:
Guided tours:	L=900 m, St=40, D=60 min, Max=35, T=14 °C. Audioguide free V=92,000/a [2018]
Photography:	not allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Grotte Prehistorique de Sare, F-64310 Sare, Tel: +33-559-54-21-88. E-mail: Bureau de l'Office de Tourisme de Cambo les Bains, 3, Avenue de la Mairie, 64250 Cambo-les-Bains, Tel: +33-559-29-70-25.
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

Description

The Grotte de Sare is located 5 km south of the village Sare, right at the border to Spain. This southern part of Aquitaine belongs to Basque country, and there are numerous caves on both sides of the border. The entrance of the Grotte de Sare is a huge portal, which was used as a shelter since prehistoric times. The remains discovered in the entrance area are the reason for the name Grotte Prehistorique de Sare. However, the actual Basque name of the cave is Sarako Lezeak.

The cave is equipped with a modern light system using LED technology and offers the typical French son et lumière, light and sound show. Among the stories told by the guides are some Basque legends and the story of the Basque peoples origin, according to J. M. de Barandiaran. He was an anthropologist and lived in Sare for 15 years, studying the history of the basques.

The cave is located at the western end of a huge, homonymous limestone quarry, which is still in operation. The site has a ticket office, a souvenir shop, a megalithic park, a museum, and a park with picnic tables in front of the cave portal. The museum is dedicated to the evolution of man from prehistory to the present day, the life and work of J. M. de Barandiaran, eminent Basque prehistorian and ethnologist, and the biology of bats living in the cave. The megalithic park was created by Dr Blot, and shows reconstructions of different monuments erected by Humans during the period called Protohistory, which lasted from 2800 BC to the metal age. So there is enough to see and do while waiting for the beginning of the tour.

Like so many other sites, the cave visit requires is mandatory online booking since the Corona Pandemic. It is essential to book ahead and be at the cave 30 minutes before the start of the tours. However, unlike many others, they allow same day booking, but be aware that this is a gamble. Also, they have free audioguides online as smartphone app. To listen to them during the tour, it is essential to bring headphones. They say it’s for hygiene, but that’s obviously nonsense, you are not allowed to hear them by speaker because this would disturb the tour, so you must bring headphones to hear them silently. It’s also possible for disabled people to visit the lower level of the cave, but they are not able to visit the other levels because there are stairs. Quite exceptional are the photography rules, as photography is forbidden, but they offer free photos for download from flicker. It seems they did not really understand how licences work, as they selected "all rights reserved" on Flicker, but their website states they are free to use. Probably they mean they are free to look at.

We have no recent pictures of the cave, but we found a few out-of-copyright postcards, which show the cave portal. They are quite interesting because they show that the cave river was dammed at that time, and there was a great lake in the cave entrance. Visitors were taking a boat tour inside the cave.