See another map of the cave

The mouth of the Mendukilo cave is some 750 metres above sea level. Mendukilo can be considered to be a surface cave. This is shown by the fact that it only takes an hour for water to reach the cave after heavy rainfall. The cave is 90 metres deep at its deepest point, although the Ormazarreta sinkhole is one of the deepest in the Aralar range- with a depth of 575m. The mouth is very spacious and leads down a paved ramp to the chamber known as Artzainzulo (The Shepherd's Shelter). Thanks to the size of the mouth, the Artzainzulo chamber receives a lot of natural light, which is why it was used as a mountain refuge for centuries.

The temperature inside the cave averages 13ºC and humidity approaches saturation point.

There is abundant water in Autumn and Winter, as the precipitation in the area reaches the cave very quickly. However, the cave is quite dry in the Summer.

From Artzainzulo we take the Jentileio passageway (The Gentiles Window) down 90 steps (30 metres) to reach the Hartz-zuloa chamber (The Bear's Lair). From here we enter Laminosin   (The Lake Room) and walk around it to return along Hartz-zulo . The last chamber we visit is the Dragon's Lair or Herensugearen Gotorlekua . From here we return to the surface through Artzainzulo and Jentileio .

Although they are not open to the public, the cave has another two chambers: the first is known as The Warrior's Chamber or Gerlariaren gela . This chamber is very spacious and slopes upward for 50 metres. The second chamber, known as Intxixuen gordelekua (The Lair of the Intxixus) , is a narrow tube that leads downwards . Apart from these two areas, Laminosin also has a chamber that is not open to the public.