Beware: You should never explore wild caves alone or without proper gear. Consider getting in touch with a Grotto of the National Speleological Society at www.caves.org or a qualified cave club. These groups are skilled and will train you. Without sufficient knowledge, preparation, and equipment, cave exploring can lead to serious injury or death.
Visiting Postojna cave is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The 25-kilometer tour through it doesn’t just allow you to see what the underground world looks like; it lets you explore the history of Slovenia itself.
Postojna Cave is Slovenia’s most popular tourist attraction, and Predjama Castle is the country’s best-known castle. One draws visitors with its natural beauty; the other astounds them with advanced medieval engineering that seems almost impossible to construct today.
If you want to visit Postojna Castle, here are the things you need to know about the place.
About Postojna Cave
Johann Weikhard von Valvasor, a pioneer of karst studies, first described the cave in the 17th century. However, graffiti dating from 1213 indicate that it has been used for much longer than this.
In 1818, when the cave was in the process of preparation for a visit by Francis I, Emperor of Austria-Hungary, one new cave area was discovered accidentally by Luka Čeč. He was in charge of lighting lamps.
The publication of Adolf Schmidl’s “Geologie des Krainer Postojnska-Beckens und Umgebung” in 1852 marked the beginning of the scientific study of Slovenia’s caves.
Postojna Cave is the second-longest among cave systems in Slovenia and one of its top tourist sites. With 24.1 kilometers of passageways, it is also the country’s longest cavern.
Some call Postojna Cave “The Queen of the Underground World”. It’s a world-famous natural marvel, and the only place you can see rare brilliance in its purest form. Beautiful cave formations and the baby dragons are just a few things to experience in this cave.
You will encounter stalactites and stalagmites of all conceivable shapes, as well as mind-boggling ancient passageways that seem to have been plucked from the pages of colorful fantasy novels.
Just like the world above ground, Postojna Cave is full of towering mountains, murmuring rivers, and vast subterranean halls. It’s a real challenge for explorers, and it’s also where speleobiology was born.
Discover a one-of-a-kind train adventure as you travel 3.7 km through the world’s only double-track cave railway, admiring Murano glass chandeliers. Postojna Cave’s Dance Hall’s wonderful atmosphere will make your experience magical!
The Postojna Cave Tour
The caves maintain a constant temperature of 8 to 10 degrees Celsius throughout the year, so dress accordingly. It might be steaming hot outside in summer, but venturing into the caves wearing shorts and flip-flops will do you no favors.
Wear jeans or long pants, a light jacket, and thin gloves to keep your hands warm. For shoes, choose sports ones that will let you walk comfortably for two kilometers.
Postojna Cave tours are short and well organized, so you won’t have to worry about overpacking. If you’re planning for pictures with your phone or camera, ensure it’s fully charged and that you’ve packed everything up before entering the cave.
A Ride Into the Netherworld
When you first enter the cave, you’ll be designated to a group depending on your preferred language (English, Slovenian, Italian, or German).
Then, the fun begins. During the ride through its caverns, an audio guide provides information about the sights along the way.
The journey through the underground cave is exciting and entertaining, not unlike being on a rollercoaster. At first, the carriages move slowly into an opening in the wall of rock, gaining speed as they go. Suddenly you burst out of your tunnel into a massive cavern with spectacular stalagmites reaching you from all sides.
At that moment, you feel rapture and delight, disbelieving the reality of your surroundings. Euphoria takes over as you wander through hallways and passages lost in shadows; columns, arcs, and stalactites surround you.
As you go deeper into the cave with the train, it becomes clear that this is not just one impressive chamber but an entire subterranean world. This experience welcomes you to what Postojna Cave has to offer!
Through the Amazing Underworld
For the next 45 minutes, you will slowly move through five distinctly different chambers. The White Room is pristine and shiny as if covered in ice, a sharp contrast to the Red Room, whose brown walls are stained with iron from the earth below us.
The Spaghetti Hall is covered with tiny stalactites that have been formed over the years. At some point, you will cross a bridge constructed by Russian prisoners of war during World War I. Its name is fittingly the “Russian Bridge.”
The path is vividly marked and easy to follow. It’s all concrete so that any shoes will work, and there are only occasional sloping sections, not stairs.
Other activities at Postojna Cave
Postojna Cave offers several exhibitions and side activities that enhance the experience of visiting the cave. The Vivarium, a combination museum, and a miniature zoo are home to some of these creatures, and it’s where visitors learn more about life beneath our feet! Of course, the star attraction at Postojna is an olm, Postojna Cave’s official mascot and unofficial symbol.
The olm is the only vertebrate living in this cave and has been referred to as both “human fish” and “baby dragon.” So yes, real dragons inhabiting Postojna Cave, even if only baby ones exist.
Expo Cave Karst is an interactive exhibition that explains events and processes that led to the creation of Postojna Cave. It presents historical facts about its formation and more light-hearted educational tidbits for kids.
Vivarium and Expo Cave Karst are both worth seeing, but you can skip them if time is short. Tickets to enter each alone cost €9.90.
A “100% Cave Experience” package that covers the two exhibitions plus admission for all three (Postojna cave) costs only €37.90 more.
A Trip to Predjama Castle
Predjama Castle is another popular attraction located 10 kilometers northwest of Postojna Cave and is a great side trip for area visitors. Unlike other citadels, Predjama isn’t built on top of a cliff. It’s carved right into one!
Predjama Castle has a four-story cave beneath it. In addition, you will find a network of secret tunnels linking its dungeons to various hideouts and surface exits. This is what medieval legends are made of.
A tour of Predjama Castle is €15.80, but you’ll get a discount when buying it together with an admission ticket to Postojna Cave, which is definitely worth seeing as well! Even if you don’t plan on going inside, be sure to come by and admire the castle itself: its sight alone makes the trip worthwhile.
In summer, you can take a free shuttle bus between Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle. Alternatively, it is possible to reach the castle by car or taxi (which you can arrange at the Postojna cave ticket office).
Conclusion
Postojna Cave is one of Slovenia’s greatest natural wonders. The intricate caverns stretching for kilometers underground are spectacular and worth visiting.
There are many more exhibits and areas to explore, so if you ever find yourself in Slovenia, keep this place in mind. You cannot get up close and personal with these impressive sights daily.