Best Caves with Cave Paintings
Most original painted caves are now closed to tourism for conservation. The list below includes both the closed originals (for reference) and the high-quality replicas open to visitors, plus the still-open originals where small-group access is permitted.
Chauvet Cave / Chauvet 2, France
Original 36,000 years old, closed since discovery in 1994; the full-scale replica Chauvet 2 / Caverne du Pont d'Arc opened 2015.
Lascaux / Lascaux IV, France
Original 17,000 years old, closed since 1963; Lascaux IV (the fourth replica) opened 2016, the most faithful version yet.
Altamira / Neocueva, Spain
Original 14,000-18,500 years old, severely restricted; visitors see the replica "Neocueva" at the adjacent museum.
Cosquer Cave / Mediterranean Cosquer, France
Original is underwater (entered by divers via a submerged tunnel), 27,000 years old; the Mediterranean Cosquer replica opened in 2022.
Grotte de Niaux, France
Original Magdalenian paintings still accessible to small lamp-lit groups by booking — one of the few originals you can still see.
Grotte de Pech Merle, France
Original Aurignacian paintings (including the famous spotted horses) still accessible by daily-quota tickets.
Tito Bustillo, Spain
Original Solutrean and Magdalenian art still accessible by very limited daily quotas in Asturias.
Cueva de El Castillo, Spain
Contains the world's oldest known cave art (dated >40,800 years). Limited daily-quota original visits.
Why the replicas matter
Replica caves preserve the originals from the carbon dioxide and humidity that human visitors bring. Lascaux's mould outbreaks of the 1960s drove the entire global movement toward replicas.
See them all in one view
See every painted cave on the interactive map.