Les Combarelles is a cave in Les Eyzies de Tayac, Dordogne, France, which was inhabited by Cro-Magnon people between approximately 13,000 to 11,000 years ago.
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I don’t speak French, so the website is very difficult to understand and the reviews for this cave and Grotto de Dont-de-Gaume have a lot of negativity. I took the time to copy and paste and type the French website text into Google translate because I really wanted to see these caves. I booked the tour, I then translated the tour tickets. Grotto de Dont-de-Gaume does offer an English tour once a day but Grotte Les Combarelles does not offer an English tour. Children under 7 are not allowed. Very few tickets are sold each day to preserve the paintings and because you need a small group to see and appreciate the cave paintings. Both of our tours were limited to 8 or fewer guests and any more would have made viewing the paintings impossible. I knew to take screenshots of our tickets in case the WiFi didn’t work. We also had printed backups, because I wasn’t going to make a mistake that would prevent me from seeing these sites! I also understood that arriving “30-minutes before the tour” was a polite suggestion…. But it is required! If you are not early, you may be denied entrance especially at Dont-de-Gaume because there is a brief hike to access the cave entrance. We met 6 different cave employees and every one was very kind, patient, helpful… even though we speak basically no French. We arrived an hour early to each of the two tours to minimize risk of missing our ticket times. Parking was easy, restrooms were available. Dont-de-Gaume has an affordable Souvenir shop and Grotte Les Combarelles has some lovely binders you can flip through for information and sketches (although French only). You cannot take photos of the cave paintings, but I literally took photos of photos in the Grotte Les Combarelles binders and they look like I took photos in the cave!! Haha. At Grotte Les Combarelles the incredibly generous and talented and informative tour guide translated everything into English for my mother and I!!! We did not expect this and very much appreciated the effort. The tour was absolutely lovely at both locations, I appreciate that we saw Grotte Les Combarelles second (because this cave allows you to appreciate the carvings) and Grotto de Dont-de-Gaume focuses on the pigments. I don’t think it’s possible to see both in one day and it would actually be a bad idea because I think it’s good to have time for what you have seen and learned to settle in your mind and memory. These two caves and the lovely tours are a memory I will cherish for the...
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You buy tickets at the Font de Gaume visitor center. Tickets are limited, and visiting the cave is only possible in small groups as part of a guided tour. The cave is 15 minutes walk up the road away from the town. A very intimate experience.
The Combarelles cave is a very narrow, low-ceilinged, zigzagging, 160 meter deep tunnel decorated with over 800 engravings and drawings. Decorations start 70 meters from the entrance, subjects depicted range very widely: From the more common bisons, horses, aurochs, mammoths and reindeer, to some spectacular cave lions, and human representations.
Looking at the famous 'headless women', it is easily said: 'So that is where it all started to go wrong..,' but who says the original artist were men (and hence representing their views)? Research of hand-prints in ancient cave art suggests most of the artist might have been women, for a serious treatment see the National Geographic article: 'Were the First Artists...
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An amazing experience! The real paintings (rare to see in the world). It was beautiful, extremely interesting also from a geologic point of view and the guide was passionate, and knowleadgeable.
Access to the caves is very limited, even more exclusive than Font de Gaume: only 42 people per day can access, of which 7 lucky ones manage to book online (VERY early in the year) and 35 are "walk ins" that buy the tickets at the counter of Font de Gaume. The system is easy: first to arrive get in, and the queueing method is that as you arrive you sit on the numbered seats (not covered, by the way).
The time assigned for the visit doesn't seem to be a choice but depends on availability and if several caves are visited or just the one.
If you are lucky/in low season you should be fine with arriving at 08.30, but in high season add at least an hour to make...
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