If you don't want to visit that larger well known cave in the town of Postojna in the busy July and August periods then why not take a bike and cycle through the forest from Lipizzaner Lodge to the Black cave, connected to the Pivka cave and backing onto the end of the Postojnja cave?

Don't worry, you don't have to cycle there.. you could also walk from the Lodge! It's another route and a really great way through forest, over a river, then along some countryside tracks.. But yes of course you can also drive there, no probs!

Lets get the confusing name out of the way first, as if you look at a map, you will think why is the Pivka cave in Postojna!? There is a town not far from the Lodge called Pivka, (home of the museums of the 17 Disappearing Lakes and the Museum of Slovenian Independence with a few tanks as well)!

The cave is called Pivka cos the river is called the Pivka and it also flows through the Postojna cave. The Pivka cave runs into the Black cave and you can see them both on the tour we will describe below: 

The Pivka cave can be found on the way to the Postojna cave from the Lodge at the imaginatively named "Pivka" camp site. There is a sign from the main road and a really great curvy road up into the forest to get to camp reception. You get your cave tickets here. They also have a swimming pool here by the way that you can use for a small fee, so maybe combine that with your visit?

As said, rather annoyingly, guided tours are only available at these caves during the summer season, July and August and then just one tour in the morning and one in the late afternoon.. but don't let that put you off, these caves are fantastic.

We cannot advocate enough to visitors that the future of Slovenian tourism is off the beaten path and for especially caves it is visiting this lesser known giants and others close by such as Dimnice (Devils Barbeque cave), Divaca or Planina (Baby Dragon cave).

There will be no crowds, the group will be very small, you will get time to know your guide a bit and ask them a question if you want and most importantly, you won't feel that you have been packaged like a hamburger!

You need to be relatively fit to go down the Pivka cave as it has one of the most impressive entrances to a cave you will ever see. You wait for the guide by a series of stone steps, only partly revealed until you start going down. The nature here is absolutely stunning and you will be surrounded by green and Karst rock as the temperature dips slowly the more you descend.    

You enter the Pivka cave and come out of the Black cave.. Yep, you first make your way steeply down the steps into the Pivka cave, following the river and finishing up in the Black cave, where the amazing dripstones have been turned black over the centuries from the smoke used by ancient man to ward off animals with big teeth.

There is even a secret back door from this cave into the Postojna cave, which the Nazis wish they had known about before they disgracefully decided to hide their supplies and weapons in the Postojna cave in WW2 and the Partisans cleverly bravely and exploited it, but we wont tell you any more about this cave adventure, you can find that out for yourselves when you do it.. we will heavily recommend it as a serious alternative to the better known caves.

The nature, the guide, the unique cave experience and the sheer beauty of this place will blow you away and leave you wondering that you could have completely missed seeing this wonderful place if you had not read this "secret place to visit" article!

Times and dates can change each year, so please try to check admission before you go, or just ask us at the Lodge, (every new season we check these things for our guests). 

And when you visit the cave, don't be surprised if you get a little deja vu for the Sony phone advert filmed here a few years ago.. A guy in a tux playng a piano in this beautiful cave.. remember?.. if you don't, we did a blog about it at the time which you can read in A WORLD OF WOW and still see the add on utube.