Cuevas de Oñati-Arrikrutz

Basque Country


Located 5.5km southwest of Oñati, this cavern system has numerous slow-growing stalagmites and stalactites. Visits are by guided tour and take you through one 500m gallery of this vast 15km-long network, where skeletons of woolly rhinoceroses, Irish elks and cave hyenas have been discovered. Along the way, you'll see replicas of the now-extinct creatures that lived 35,000 years ago. Book tours through Oñati's tourist office before heading out.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Basque Country attractions

1. Santuario de Arantzazu

2.28 MILES

Situated 10km south of Oñati, the Santuario de Arantzazu is a busy Christian pilgrimage site that's a fabulous conflation of piety and avant-garde art…

2. Iglesia de San Miguel

2.47 MILES

This late Gothic confection has a cloister built over the river and a 17th-century crypt where the Counts of Guevara are buried. The church faces onto the…

3. Universidad de Sancti Spiritus

2.47 MILES

Oñati’s most prominent building is the Renaissance treasure of the Universidad de Sancti Spiritus. Built in the 16th century, it was the first university…

4. Monastery of Bidaurreta

2.51 MILES

Founded in 1510, this monastery contains a beautiful baroque altarpiece. As a still-functioning cloistered convent for the Poor Clares, it's rarely open…

5. Santuario de Loyola

14.23 MILES

The portentous Santuario de Loyola is dedicated to St Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuit order. Its domed basilica, laden with grey marble and carved…

6. Anillo Verde

14.88 MILES

Ringing the city is the Anillo Verde (Green Belt), a series of interconnecting parks, ponds and marshes linked to one another by 31km of cycling paths,…

7. Artium

15.85 MILES

Art lovers shouldn't miss Vitoria’s palace of modern art. The large subterranean galleries are filled with engrossing pieces by artists from the Basque…

8. Museo Fournier de Naipes

15.94 MILES

The eccentric Museo Fournier de Naipes is in the 16th-century Palacio de Bendaña, with an impressive collection of historic presses and playing cards,…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "spain/basque-country/onati/attractions/cuevas-de-onati-arrikrutz/a/poi-sig/1129785/1315814",
      "destination": "Basque-Country",
      "continent": "Europe",
      "country": "Spain",
      "region": "Basque-Country",
      "position": "superzone"
    }