The winners for the largest caves in the world can be based on several different conceptions. If the largest caves are those with the largest chambers, then there is a clear winner. The cave with the largest chamber is the Malaysian cave Gua Nasib Bagus, located in Gunung Mulu National Park, with the chamber in question being named Sarawak Chamber. Sarawak Chamber is 2,300 feet (700 m) long, 1300 feet (400 m) wide, and around 230 feet (70 m) high. The runner-up is Carlsbad Caverns, located at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, in which the Big Room, a natural limestone chamber, is 4,000 feet (1219 m) long, 625 feet (190.5 m) wide, and 255 feet (78 m) high at the highest point.

There are other caves, however, that would take the prize for the largest caves if we considered length or depth. If the largest caves are the longest caves, then we also have a standout candidate. The longest cave is the Mammoth Cave System in Kentucky, with a length of 367,000 miles (590,629 m). It is nearly twice the length of the runner-up, Jewel Cave in South Dakota, with a length of 140,060 miles (225405 m). Of the top ten caves for length, five are in the United States, with two in Kentucky and two in South Dakota—the other is in New Mexico. There are also two in Mexico, two in Switzerland, and one in the Ukraine.

But it could be that the largest caves are the ones with the greatest depth. In this case, the winner is not so far and above the others, nevertheless, Krubera, or Voronja, Cave in the country of Georgia is the deepest cave at 7185 feet (2190 m). The runner-up for depth is Illyuzia-Mezhonnogo-Snezhnaya, also in George, with a depth of 5751 feet (1753 m). It is interesting that the runner-up is more than twice as long as the winner, in this case: 14,963 miles (24080 m) compared to 6,754 miles (10,870 m). Of the top ten deepest caves, four are in Georgia, two in Spain, two in France, one in Austria, and one in Slovenia.