The resurgent spring known as the Fontaine de Vaucluse presents an amazing spectacle and absolutely unmissable! It gushes out of a cave at the foot of the Vaucluse Plateau and can be visited by following a footpath from the village.

At its peak, the water can flow at the rate of more than 150 cubic metres/second (nearly 33,000 gallons). This makes it one of the most powerful resurgent springs in the world. (In summer it slows to a sedate 4.5 cubic metres/second). At about 22 cubic metres per second the river is said to be in full spate.

The fountain, a typical karst or limestone spring, and river are fed by rainwater draining through the Vaucluse Plateau and its cave system in which speleologists have searched in vain for the underground river Sorgue.

Explored by Jacques Cousteau

The cave of the fountain was first explored during the 19th Century when a diver descended to 23 metres. In 1967 Jacques Cousteau using a remote controlled miniature submarine, reached a depth of 106m/347ft. More recently, in 1985 another submarine submerged to a depth of 315m/1033ft trying to find the base of the fountain. However, all the camera showed was a sandy floor! Even now no one is sure how deep the system is.