The laser damage characteristics of calcium fluoride (CaF₂) crystals with various lattice planes irradiated by 355-nm pulse laser are investigated. Further, the damage thresholds and damage morphologies of three different lattice planes, i.e., (100), (110), and (111), are measured under a 7.8-ns pulse laser irradiation. In addition, the photothermal absorption is evaluated by using the surface thermal lensing technique. The (111) CaF₂ crystal exhibits the highest photothermal absorption and lowest laser damage threshold. The (111) damage morphology comprises a melt pit, which is accompanied by lamellar peeling, indicating that this plane is easily cleaved by the 355-nm laser. The (100) and (110) damage morphologies also comprise a melt pit; however, the damage threshold and photothermal absorption have no clear correlation with the two lattice planes.