The flow around a circular cylinder is a classical case study in fluid dynamics that received a lot of attention and gave rise to a huge amount of literature, because it shows a complex and rich behaviour (see for example Zdravkovich 1997 for a review). A well-known phenomenon that contradicts common intuition is the so-called Drag Crisis: a sudden drop of the drag coefficient when the Reynolds number reaches a critical value of order 105 (the exact value depends on the geometry, free stream turbulence and surface roughness, see Achenbach 1971). Cavitation is another phenomenon largely studied in hydrodynamics, particularly on highly loaded lifting surfaces such as propeller blades and hydrofoils (Brennen 1995). Cavitation around circular cylinders has been studied in the past (e.g. Gnanaskandan 2016, Brandao 2020), but no information is given on the effect of cavitation on the drag crisis phenomenon. This work presents an experimental investigation of cavitation in the flow around a circular cylinder in the critical regime (Re ~105). In such conditions, the cylinder undergoes strong fluctuating forces and classical force measuring systems commonly used in hydrodynamic tunnels are not appropriate, as they are violently shaken and may be damaged. A more robust system to measure the hydrodynamic forces was then developed by setting strain gauges directly on the cylinder itself. Cavitation is also visualised with high-speed cameras. It is shown that with a little of cavitation (cavitation number =3.5 and 3), the drag coefficient is reduced in the subcritical regime, and the drag crisis is slightly anticipated: critical Reynolds number Rec=2.5 105, compared to Rec=2.7 105 in the non-cavitating flow. When cavitation is strongly developed, in the supercritical regime (Rec >2.5 105; =2.5), the drag coefficient is much higher than without cavitation.