Cave art
 

Some time in the future my daughter and I would like to take her daughter to see the cave paintings in Lascaux, France and/or the Cave of Altamira. Now we understand that these actual sites are closed to the public but we might be interested in the replica caves and museums.

Have any of you been to the replica caves and/or museums and if so would you recommend them?

There aren't "replica caves" all over - the only one I know of that fits that description is Lascaux II. The bulk of them, the original ones, are still open to the public, albeit on limited schedules. I haven't been to Altamira, but as a part-time resident of the Dordogne for 20+ years I've been to dozens of caves (the one next door to my house, just as an example), including all the ones that aren't replicas, plus all the prehistoric sites that aren't caves, like Cap Blanc, Le Grand Roc, Le Village Troglodytique de la Madeleine, La Roque St-Christophe, etc. These aren't closed to the public. What is it you want to know? People visit these places every day. The French government invested a huge amount into the replica of Lascaux; it isn't going to do that for every cave (and there are loads of them).

The Musée de la Préhistoire in Les-Eyzies is exceptional. The bookstores and small exhibits associated with the many prehistoric sites, plus bookstores in the are, are treasure troves of information on the sites.

Sounds like you need to do a bit more research on this to get a grasp of what the actual situation with regard to prehistoric caves is. Not sure where you heard "these actual sites are closed to the public." They're not, though some recently discovered will never open to anyone but paleontologists and scientific cave experts. That still leaves dozens open to the public (there are 150 prehistoric sites alone in the Vézère Valley).

The replica cave at Lascaux is very much worth a visit. It was meticulously copied right down to every crack in the rock and if no one told you then you'd have no idea it wasn't the original. Probably the most spectacular original cave you can visit in France is Pech Merle.

http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/?lng=en#/fr/00.xml

http://www.pechmerle.com/english/

Hi!

You can enter and visit Altamira NOW, although there are just a few tickets for day. Next to the old site there is a very good replica, which shows how the original place looked like.

http://www.cuevamuseoaltamira.com/

The Cave of Altamira has "restricted access", allowing only a few visitors each day, and must be booked well in advance. The replica cave is only so-so.

BBC Arts & Culture - The Prehistoric Cave Art of Altamira http://bbc.in/X5D1Tb

Thanks, everyone. Apparently I have received some erroneous information or probably misunderstood what I read. We have plenty of time to sort this out as the young lady in question is only 5 years old. So by the time her turn to travel with Gran comes around she may not be interested at all.

We will continue to research.

I hope she will still be interested. When I was 7 years old my 2nd-grade teacher made a trip to see the original Lascaux cave and sent me a postcard from there over summer vacation. To this day, it's one of the things I think that steered me to a lifelong interest in prehistory and the purchase of a home in the area. Small things lead to big ideas and decisions.

Thank you, StCirq. That is most encouraging.

Well,encourage it,jaja. If I can be a help in steering you to some resources, let me know. After half a lifetime in the area, I do know a bit (just a bit, even after 20 years...I mean, we are talking about 50,000 years of history here... but I do still dig up prehistoric tools in my garden and feel the presence of way-long-ago folks on moonless nights in the Dordogne). It's a magical thing, and your grand-daughter could be exposed to something incredibly wondrous.

We loved our visit to Pech Merle this last summer. An advantage to this cave is that you can prebook a tour online. I felt privileged to be able to visit such a special site.

I agree with the answers above. I was taken to Altamira when I was about 7. Since then I have taken children and grandchildren to many caves. just the getting into the cave and (sometimes) a little crawling makes the visit as interesting as identifying animals painted.

My last visits with kids have been to "Tito Bustillo" in Asturias, easier tan Altamira and you see NO A REPLICA.
http://www.centrodearterupestredetitobustillo.com/

And a second one, the best for children in my opinión is in the South, "Cueva de la Pileta" close to Ronda and Gibraltar.
It is huge and you carry lanterns as it is not too "tourist adapted". It makes the visit a quite an adventure

http://www.cuevadelapileta.org/texto...vos/visita.htm

Oh, my, thank you all. I have much to think about for the next few years.