Gavarnie Cirque, Natural amphitheater in Hautes-Pyrénées, France

Gavarnie Cirque is a glacial cirque in the Pyrenees, a curved wall of grey limestone rising in three tiers to nearly 1,500 metres above a floor at about 1,570 metres. It spans roughly 3,000 metres at the top and 800 metres at its deepest. The Gavarnie Falls drop 422 metres down the eastern side, and the rim is broken by crags and the Brèche de Roland.

This geological shape developed over many millions of years as water and ice slowly carved into the mountains. Ancient glaciers moved slowly through the landscape, grinding away rock and creating the bowl-shaped valley we see today.

In Gascon the cirque is called ola de Gavarnia; Gavarnie may derive from gave, the local word for a mountain stream, and Marcel Lavedan suggested the name means "high place located inside". Since 1985 the Gavarnie festival has drawn about 10,000 spectators over two weeks each year, an influx that sits uneasily with the site's protection.

The cirque is reached on foot from the village of Gavarnie along the valley floor, or from above via the Échelle des Sarradets. Cars must be left in the paid public parking by the village; access to the Port de Boucharo is closed to traffic, with a large free car park at the Tentes pass. Ice climbing is practised when the waterfalls freeze.

A major waterfall plunges down from the upper rock walls here and stands as one of the tallest in the continental region. During spring when snow melt flows down the mountainside, many smaller waterfalls appear across the rock face.