Yep, you did read it correctly! This may be the only cave you have ever heard of and maybe one of the reasons you finally decided to come visit the most beautiful small Green country in Europe.. but in our humble opinion, the Postojna Cave comes in at a respectable Number 8 on our own list of fave caves in Green Slovenia..

We have been wanting to do this and other lists for a while, cos we get a bit frustrated reading those phone monkey Top 10 lists done for Slovenia by visitors who were only here for 3 days and perhaps managed to squeeze in the usual suspects, Lake Bled, Ljubljana, Postojna Cave and Piran.. (Each one being world class too, in our humble opinion, by the way)!

It's just that Green Slovenia is so ridiculously blessed with so many more, unknown, Secret Green Treasures, that if we even attempted to do a true Top Ten from all of them, then we would need to have a minimum of 50 in our own Top 10!!

 

We have been lucky enough to live here for well over a decade now and every year we still go find new Green treasures, often visiting a completely new cave from the list of over 30 show caves! 

Green Slovenia is almost half covered in leaky limestone Karst Rock, which means there are a lot of caves in all shapes, sizes and accesibilty here.. Over 15,000 have been discovered, but there might even be one or two as big as Postojna still to be found!

That is just not fair to the rest of Europe and we are confident that if you were lucky enough to have ANY ONE of the 30+ Slovenian show caves in your country, it would be the top dog cave attraction!

 

How we Chose our FAVE CAVE!

This Top Ten list contains OUR own personal favourites in order, but is also taken from the feedback we get from our own guests AND we attempt to take into account other factors, like how pleasantly surprising & epic the cave visit is, value for money, fun, location, visitor numbers and the general all round cave experience..

You can walk with decent shoes into ALL of these caves and most of them are run by a collection of dedicated cave enthusiasts or local cave societies.. 

We are not interested at all in which cave is marketed the most, with bill boards splashed all over the place, or indeed, which one is visited the most.. 

We are just trying to give you our best all round cave experiences, so you have some alternatives to pick from and then you can do your own Top 10, but if you only know about one cave, you can only do a Top 1!!

 

Our Top Ten list is fast coming up, but here is just one more thought.. 

It might be number 8 on our list, but you still absolutely MUST visit Postojna Cave at least once in your life.. Inside it is uber amazing, overwhelming and stunningly beautiful.. You might have read about the large crowds outside, but it is all VERY WELL organised and the tour is timed to perfection.. 

 

We would also ALWAYS argue this world class cave visit is priced absolutely correctly and if you think the admission is a bit steep, just step back a second and imagine how much this spectacular cave would cost and how much longer the queues would be if you were lucky enough to have it in your country!

(The only thing we do not agree with, is having to pay extra for the car park, which should surely be incorporated into the price of the ticket)..

 

Kids will especially love the train that takes you deep into the cave to start the tour and in many ways we are delighted that so many people do go visit this particular cave, cos it leaves the other show caves relatively free in the shadow..

Green Slovenia is lucky indeed to have the most visited tourist cave in Europe.. But here are a few others that might tickle your fancy and you can click on the individual cave's title to go read more about it, if you like! 

 

Our Top Ten FAVE CAVES in Green Slovenia!

1.. Planina Cave (16 mins from the Lodge, 30 mins by E Bike)..

 

The Longest water cave in Slovenia and the only show cave in Europe where you can see two rivers crashing into each other inside the cave to make a new river..This river is also a brand new section of the River of 7 Names. 

There is a one and a bit hour daily tour from around May to September and another uber epic 5 hour rubber boat tour along the river to the very end of the cave, with Baby Dragons swimming next to you in the water and some other Green surprises we will not spoil for you here..

 

This cave is also the largest tap in Green Slovenia, providing huge volumes of water to fill the Planina Disappearing Lake and we just cannot explain in words how much we love this cave!

The Italian occupiers tried to blast through from this cave underground to the Postojna cave after WW1 and created 7 unique bridges, but luckily nature won this battle..

Planina village is also a pocket rocket of a secret Green destination to go explore and don't be surprised if you might be the ONLY people on the daily Planina Cave 5pm tour..

 

2.. Skocjan Cave (21 mins from the Lodge)..

 

Unesco protected giant and you might remember we said you need to visit Postojna Cave once in your life.. Well we have been ONCE a YEAR to Skocjan cave every single year we have been lucky enough to live here and will continue to take friends, family or guests to make sure we see it at least once a year for as long as our legs will allow us.

The scale and beauty will totally blow you away and it feels like you get an extra Green adventure tour for free when you exit the uber enormous cave and choose from hikes 1, 2 or 3 back to the visitor centre.. (Choose exit 3 if your legs will take it)..

 

3.. Križna Cave (40 mins from the Lodge)..

 

Another epic water cave with 22 lakes forming a river that is still creating this cave and making it highly rare and protected.

There are daily one hour tours and another slightly longer walking tour finishing with a small boat trip at the end AND then two more rubber boat trips you have to book up in advance and we have been lucky enough to do both these 4 hour and 7 hour trips in different years.. (Each one was the best Green adventure we did that particular year and that is saying something)..

Only 1,000 people per year get to do the 4 hour boat adventure to the underground waterfall and only 100 per year get to go the whole way to Crystal mountain, taking 7 hours, with a 2-3 year waiitng list..

The time flies by in a place where time has stood still and it feels like you have travelled to another world.. Enormous stone mushrooms, pyramids, pirate ships and even an underground island await you on the longer tours.. just wow..

 

4.. Dimnice Cave (35 mins from the Lodge)..

 

A caver friend of ours told us this might be the most complete cave in the world with a little bit of everything, including a river, giant cave stack and a sensationally beautiful underground show.

Located in the stunning Brkini mini region, there is a weekly guided tour on the weekend, otherwise it is well worth booking a local cave guide to show you around for a private, excellent value for money tour..

The entrance is literally out of this world with a huge spiralling stone staircase built into the rock, taking you deeper underground into the massive hole and producing "smoke" in the winter, which the locals thought many years ago was the Devil cooking up a surprise.. Go see this cave and visit the Brkini too!

 

5.. Vilenica Cave (26 mins from the Lodge)..

 

In our humble opinion, probably the most beautiful, colourful cave in this list, with a huge "Fairy chamber" and step filled 1 hour long tour.

Like so many of these caves, we have the local cave society to thank for looking after this special chamber and showing it to us.. Tours every Sunday, so plan your week carefully..

This is the first visited tourist cave in Europe, opened in the same year as the Great Fire of London, but that doesn't get it any extra bonus points in our Top Ten list!

 

6.. Divaca Cave (22 mins from the Lodge)..

 

Another mainly weekend tour cave, but with more access in the summer.. We really love the deep entrance into the "Dancing Hall" and then two distinct sections of the cave, one part conjuring up imaginations of walking in Eygpt next to the pyramids..

Like so many of these secret caves, the very low group size will surprise you and takes a little getting used to, especially when you get to explore a natural wonder so spectacularly beautiful.. But you will get used to it!!

 

7.. the Bat Cave, Predjama Castle (10 mins from the Lodge, 40 min walk, 15 mins by E Bike)..

 

So many people do not even bother to go into the largest cave castle in the world, just taking a quick photo of the breath taking exterior, then rushing off to complete their own hit lists.. massive mistake.

But many Lodge guests will leave after breakfast to walk just 40 mins along a secret forest path directly to the most unique castle in the world, explore inside the castle AND go do the fantastic tour into the secret caves behind the castle, have some late lunch and then stroll back to the Lodge in the mid afternoon and not have to pay a penny for parking!

 

We will not spoil the surprise for where this cave tour finishes, but it will blow your mind and very young children can also do this tour, so do not be apprehensive..

We call it the "Bat Cave", cos no other cave in the world has more different species of bats in one cave, but don't worry, in summer they have gone on their holidays, so this is why we are all lucky enough to do this most extraordinary one hour cave tour.. 

 

8.. Postojna Cave (10 mins from the Lodge, 90 min walk, 20 mins by E Bike)..

Many guests will do the Predjama Bat Cave tour with Predjama castle AND walk back to the Lodge in time to do the recommended latest tour available for Postojna Cave, (with usually fewer visitors to contend with later on), for another epic day in Green paradise..

Highly organised, spectacular and jaw dropping, guests simply do not believe, when we tell them, in our humble opinion, there are even better cave experiences than the one that just blew them away.. that is, until they go see for themselves!

 

9.. Pekel Cave (1 hour 20 mins from the Lodge,)..

 

Like we said, there are pockets of Karst all over Green Slovenia and this cave might tickle your fancy if you are heading East for a day trip.

The setting is lovely, with a remote forest feel and Pekel means "Hell", which is highly appropriate when you see the image of the devil looming above the entrance to the cave.

You can feel very close and personal with the cave on this tour and there is a section of wall inside that feels a bit like an Indiana Jones movie.

Outside, if it has rained, look out for the little yellow and black Fire Salamanders, that look a bit like cousins of the Baby Dragons in other caves!

 

10.. Zupanova Cave (60 mins from the Lodge)..

 

In Yugoslavian times this was the main tourist cave on the other side of the Italian border, but this magnificent cave seems to have been a little forgotten.

The cave is part of our Grosuplje Fab Four, (A disappearing Lake, two different fortess churches and this cave) AND sits exactly in the middle of a hiking trail from a fab Kingfisher Reserve.. It would be well worth your while booking a private tour into this cave and then you will get to see the Ice cave section immediately inside and the other levels descending inside the cave like an underground apartment block..

Zupanova means "mayor" in Slovenian and legend has it the big guy first discovered this cave from another hidden roof entrance, which is just crying out to have a rope attached, to create a unique cave entrance for visitors to drop down from and possibly even propel Zupanova cave up this Top 10 list like a supernova!

But don't hold your breath!

 

Honourable Mention.. Grotte Gigante Cave (35 mins from the Lodge)..

 

We really must give an honourabe mention to a cave that would have certainly appeared in this Slovenian Top Ten Caves if we had compiled the list pre WW2, cos then Grotte Gigante was in Slovenia!

Now just over the new border in Italy, this is another massive hole with two giant almost 100m high knitting needles or chopsticks rising from the cavern floor to the top of the chamber.

This cave has 500 steps down and another 500 up and would be an excellent part of an Italian escapade day out during your Green Slovenian holiday, with lots of other castles, beaches, cliff top walks, wine tasting and the pretty city of Trieste as possibilities to combine into your adventures, so we just had to mention it!

 

Well there you go, at the very minimum, we hope to have given some food for thought for your cave adventures here in the European capital of caves and you might find some more info to read on our CAVE page too..

We still have several more show caves to go visit that we think will be possibilities for this Top Ten and others that we still do not even know about, so maybe we will need to do a Top 20 for caves in a few years time!

We hope you find the best cave options for you and your friends or family and if you thought it might be an easy option to just go to the one cave you had heard of, then maybe we have got you thinking, but most importantly, helped you make the best choices for you, so you get to experience a European Green holiday you might not have thought still possible in Europe nowadays!