Hello! We are trying to determine how many caves we should see while in Slovenia. We are in the country for 13 days. We are interested in the more off the beaten path tours.
For example, Postojno cave offers an "Adrenaline Tour" but only on Tuedays and Saturdays. We have already booked our accomodations so we would have to take one of the three days we are in Ljubljana and drive to the cave for a tour on Saturday. We would be able to see the cave on the regular public tour on our way driving Piran to/from Ljubljana.
We could also see the Skojan cave on our drive to/from Piran/Ljubljana.
I also found another cave that does a boat tour called Krizna Jama cave and I have requested a reservation for the day we would be driving nearby.
Are there any other caves I am missing? Our tour of Slovenia will take us from the LJU airport to Piran (3 days), Ljubljana (3 days), Lake Bled (3 days), Triglav National Park (3 days in Trenta), and then from there we will drive to Venice.
Thank you!
Posted by
Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico
1743 posts
Is there a reason you particularly want to visit caves? I went to Skocjan Caves when I was in Slovenia, and it was worth a visit, but I wouldn't want to spend a lot of my time in Slovenia visiting caves. That's not to say you shouldn't, but if you want to decide how many caves to visit, it all depends on what you are interested in seeing and doing besides exploring caves.
The best cave I saw in Slovenia was the Veliki Kozjak on the Kobarid Historical Trail. It's actually a waterfall inside a sort of a cave.
There are also some small caves at Tolmin Gorge. This is lesser known than Vintgar Gorge, which was closed because of winter damage when I was there in May of 2014, but several people told me it's actually better, and there were very few people there, so it's a good option if you're looking for something off the beaten path.
Posted by
OP
Boulder, CO, USA
50 posts
Well...it isn't so much that I am into caves but my kids are 14 and 16 and I am looking for things to keep them interested and they also like active tours and the one cave offers an "adrenaline" caving tour. They are not amused when we go to museums or cafes so just looking to keep everyone in our family engaged.
Posted by
midwest- Michigan
489 posts
We visited Skojan caves this fall. It is really great! I think my fitbit registered over 70 flights of stairs on that day. We did not do the additional hike.
We actually went with a very small tour (found on tripadvisor) and the cave was combined with the Lipica Horse farm. The Skojan caves tour is with a guide, so you can not do it on your own, but the additional hike is not with a guide.
We really liked it!
Posted by
Slovenia
470 posts
Michele, you don't have to rely on caves to keep your kids entertained, there are plenty of activity options all over the country. Besides, while they are no doubt worth visiting, caves can often become a sort of "seen one, seen them all" experience. To most visitors, I recommend visiting just one of the two main caves - Postojna or Skocjan. Visiting both may end up being somewhat superfluous, even though each has its own unique features. Krizna Jama is a very different experience overall as it's a completely wild cave with no infrastructure. I am not familiar with the Adrenaline Tour of the Postojna Cave.
Given your itinerary, I don't see a particular need for visiting too many caves. There are numerous activity possibilities in the Lake Bled and Soca Valley areas (activities on the lake, canyoning, whitewater rafting, adventure parks, summer tobogganing, zip lines, hiking, cycling, etc.) and visiting the seaside is always a fun experience for the kids. You can also go cycling along the Parenzana cycle route while in Piran if you want a more active day out. If the girls like horses, consider visiting the Lipica Stud Farm.
There are many fun options in Ljubljana, too. The city is perfect for cycling, you can visit the zoo, go to an escape room, visit the House of Experiments or even hike to one of the nearby hills that offer great views of the city below. While the girls may not enjoy most museums, they might enjoy the fun Museum of Illusions or the Puppetry Museum.
Posted by
1 posts
Hello, Michele,
in Slovenia we have approx 10.000 caves, but open for the visitors we have these caves: Dimnice (Length: 6020 m ), Divaška jama (672 m ), Kostanjeviška jama (1871 m ), Križna jama (8273 m), Pekel pri Zalogu (1310 m), Pivka jama (794 m), Planinska jama (6656 m), Postojnska jama (20570 m), Predjamski sistem (13092 m), Rotovnikova jama (41 m), Snežna jama na Planini Arto (1167 m), Sveta jama (231 m), Vilenica (841 m), Škocjanske jame (5800 m), Jama pod babjim zobom (300 m), Županova jama (710 m).
The most adventures visit will be the visit of Krizna jama. And yes, it is quite a high probability, that you will be saturated with all these caves in such a short period. Maybe it is worth of seeing the Predjamski sistem with the bigest cave castle in the world. It is close to Postojna cave. Postojna cave is our biggest cave, second Skocjan cave and then the third is Planinska cave (also very interesting and beautifull)..
Posted by
OP
Boulder, CO, USA
50 posts
One of our favorite restaurants ever was a restaurant in a cave in the Loire region in France. With 10,000 caves, I am now wondering if there are any cool restaurants in a cave setting?
Posted by
Slovenia
470 posts
No restaurants in caves, I'm afraid. Only a handful of caves are open to the public and they are protected areas, so there is very little in the way of commercial activity outside of the main show caves. That said, there are occasional concerts in one of the halls of the Postojna Cave, Vilenica is home to a literature festival and there is an old church in Socerb Cave. There are also cycling tours of the Peca Mine in Mezica.