HIDDEN GEMS:AFTER THE initial curiosity has worn off - give it about 10 minutes - most castles, caves and historical monuments on the holiday trail get a thumbs- down from the kids: boring. More than a few grown-ups might secretly agree, Adrienne Cullen
But here's one that's guaranteed not to disappoint: Padirac Cave, or Gouffre de Padirac, near the town of Gramat in the Lot, in southwest France (www. gouffre-de-padirac.com). Think Indiana Jones or maybe Lara Croft meets, er, a French potholer.
Anyway, it's the geological equivalent of a ghost train, with a lift that carries you about 75m down, apparently into the bowels of the earth, an underground river that you navigate by canoe, and a breathtaking array of stalagmites, stalactites and underground waterfalls as you make your way back towards the surface. There simply isn't time to be bored.
Padirac Cave is not as famous or as important as Lascaux Cave, in neighbouring Dordogne, but it's much more dramatic, a real adventure.
It was created when the roof fell into an enormous cavern, sometime before the third century. It opened as a tourist attraction in 1899 and now has about 400,000 visitors a year, mainly French. And although it has at least 40km of galleries, only two kilometres are open to the public. As to its vital statistics, the rim of the cave is 99m long, it's about 35m wide and it's 103m deep. Not many foreigners know that.
One thing to be aware of: the first time we visited, the weather above ground had been beautiful for weeks, and so we assumed it was always dry below. Not so.
If it has been raining heavily topside, the walls below run with water, showers fall from every conceivable surface and the streams overflow, so bring a light raincoat. That's the underworld for you.
• Le Gouffre de Padirac, Padirac, France, 00-33-5- 65336456, www.gouffre-de-padirac.com.
• Do you know any hidden gems? E-mail us at go@irish-times.ie