Visiting the Postojna Cave, also known as Postojnska Jama, is not just any cave experience in Slovenia. But is this renowned cave worth the hype? We’re taking you inside to see the incredible rock formations, catch a glimpse of a dragon, and enjoy the natural wonders of the hidden subterranean world. If you’re considering visiting Postojna Cave, read our honest guide to get an idea of what you are in for!
What is Postojna Cave?
The cave of Postojna is often ranked as the most visited cave in Europe. More than 39 million visitors from all over the world have entered the historic entrance of the tunnel since its opening in the early 1800s. The cave stretches for 24,120 m (79,130 ft) deep inside the earth, and it is the second longest cave system in Slovenia, second only to the Migovec System in the Triglav National Park.
The 2-million-year-old cave system of Postojna was created by the Pivka River, a karst-lost river that disappears in Planina Cave. Here, it merges with the Rak River below the earth’s surface, creating one of Europe’s largest subterranean confluences.
Postojna is also a cave setting records. To access the cave, you hop on an underground train for a 3.7-km-long journey on the world’s only double-track cave railway. The railway sneaks into some narrow tunnels and beautiful rooms, filled with stalactites and stalagmites.
One magical room is referred to as the Postojna Cave’s Dance Hall, where countless Murano-glass chandeliers elegantly hang from the ceiling, creating a fairytale atmosphere.
Looking for more caves in Slovenia? Don’t miss Krizna Jama and its underground lake!
How to get to Postojna Cave?
Postojna Cave is hard to miss. There are signs indicating its location all around Slovenia, as it’s one of the country’s top attractions. The cave is located in the town of Postojna, about 50km southwest of Slovenia’s capital city Ljubljana, and it can be reached by car or by public transport.
Although located in Slovenia, the Postojna Cave is also very close to the Italian city of Trieste and not far from Rijeka in Croatia.
🚗 BY CAR:
Postojna Cave is about 40 minutes from Ljubljana via the E61 road. The E61 is a road with tolls so you’ll need an E-Vignette to drive there. We got ours on evinjeta.dars.si and it cost €15 for 7 days.
➤ From Lake Bled: The Postojna Cave is 1-hour (100km) away from Lake Bled, on a toll road. A toll-free road option is available but it takes twice as long.
➤ From Trieste, Italy: Drive on the E61 road in direction of Ljubljana. The total drive time is about 35 minutes, and you need the same Vignette as mentioned above.
➤ From Rijeka, Croatia: Postojna Cave can be visited on a day trip from the city of Rijeka in Croatia. The ride takes 1h 30m on a toll-free road and it’s just 70km away.
🅿️ PARKING AT POSTOJNA: Being amongst Slovenia’s top tourist attractions, the Postojna Cave comes has huge parking areas dedicated to cars, busses, and campervans. Even though the entrance ticket to Postojna isn’t exactly cheap, keep in mind that parking is not included in the fee. A full-day parking ticket costs €6.
🚆 PUBLIC TRANSPORT:
From Ljubljana, take the Ljubljana – Postojna train. Trains leave every hour all day long and the travel time is about an hour. An adult ticket costs €5.80. You can find information on train timetables and fares on potniski.sz.si.
Postojna is right on the Vienna-Venice railway line with connections to Zagreb, Salzburg, Rijeka and Koper.
You can also take the bus from Ljubljana to the town of Postojna, which leaves several times a day. More bus options to Postojna Cave can be found here.
Visiting options at Postojna Cave & Ticket Info
There are several tour options when it comes to visiting the Postojna Cave. During high season, such as in the summer months, expect there to be many people visiting and several guided tours inside the cave.
Due to the complexity of the cave, guided tours are your only option if you want to visit. The following tours and prices are updated as of October 2022.
• Postojna Cave Tour – €27.90: This is the base ticket to visit the Postojna Cave. With this ticket, you will hop on the train for a 2km ride through some enchanting cave halls, the Gothic Hall and the Congress Hall. After that, you’ll get off the train and walk through the Great Mountain, the Russian Bridge and the Beautiful Cave, where you can admire the “Brilliant” (the most famous stalagmite and the symbol of Postojna Cave). Lastly, you will hop on the train again and go back to the surface after 1h 30 min.
The basic Postojna Cave Tour takes every day, several times a day. The frequency of the visits ranges from 3 times a day in low season (November-March) to 14 times a day during the months of July and August.
• Combined Ticket (Postojna Cave Tour + Predjama Castle) – €40.30: For those interested in also visiting the nearby Predjama Castle (€16.90), you can buy a combined ticket which includes the Postojna Cave Tour and the Predjama Castle for a total of €40.30 instead of 44.80€.
• Other Combined Tickets: There are also ticket options which include visits to the Postojna Cave, the Vivarium and the Expo Cave Karst with (or without) the Predjama Castle. The option with the Cave, the Vivarium, the Expo and the Castle costs €46.60, while the one without the castle costs €39.20.
• Trek through Three Caves – €60: This option includes the same visit described in the Postojna Cave Tour, with the addition of two separate caves: Black Cave and Pivka Cave. The train ride as well as the trail inside the cave is shared with the previous tour, but at some point along the trail you’ll be walking away from the other groups through some man-made tunnels built during the period between WWI and WWII. The trek takes 2-3 hours and no special equipment is required to complete it, however, this trek is only available from May through September.
• Adventure Tours – €300: For more adventurous backpackers, check out one of the Adventure Tours. For this tour, you’ll be provided with caving boots and oversuits, fitted with a rope, a headlamp and a helmet, and you will set off for an adventure into the Postojna accompanied by experienced guides. This tour is designed for smaller groups (2-3 people), and it’s only available by reserving in advance. This tour option is available from May through September.
GETTING TICKETS – You can buy tickets either online or at the ticket office located at the Postojna Cave, near the entrance. Group tours are available in your preferred language of English, Slovenian, Italian, or German.
Find more information and book your tickets on Postojna Cave’s official website.
Our experience at Postojna Cave – A detailed guide
We visited Postojna Cave on a weekend in the middle of August, which is the worst possible time to do anything in Europe. August, in fact, is the month of the year when most Europeans get their holidays, and its central weeks are the busiest ones. Since we expected the place to be crowded, we opted for the Trek through the Three Caves tour hoping to have a more private experience.
The entrance of the cave is located at the end of a huge complex of restaurants, bars, shops, and even a hotel. The ticket office is located right there among the shops, and it is possible to buy tickets there if you haven’t purchased them in advance online. From the ticket office, head left towards the entrance of the cave. Here, the cliff has been carved out by nature, and the side of the opening grants access to Postojna Cave giving an idea of what awaits you.
Regardless of the tour option you choose, the visit begins with a 2km train ride through the natural marvels of the Postojna Cave. The train doesn’t go extremely fast but isn’t particularly slow either. Visitors are asked not to lean out of their seats while the train is moving, and you should definitely obey that rule as the railway passes through some big halls and some very narrow tunnels.
The ride is fun and also something you haven’t experienced before. What makes it thrilling isn’t the speed nor the acceleration but the surroundings, as you get to feast your eyes on different cave halls and rock formations for 10 minutes straight.
Some 10 minutes later, the train comes to a stop in the heart of Postojna Cave. You will get off on a big platform and start your walk through the marvels of Postojna Cave. Your guide will show you the path to follow and tell you interesting facts about the rock formations of the cave and the history of this place.
As the walk continues, the path descends deeper into the cave passing places like the Russian Bridge (built by prisoners of war in 1916) and countless more stalactites and stalagmites.
Discover the Black Cave
After some 30 minutes, we left the trail of the Postojna Cave Tour to take a 100m-long tunnel leading to the Black Cave. The cave is quite big, measuring 3.3km, but you only get to see part of it with this tour. Its name is given by its colour, as a thin black layer covers every rock of this cave. What makes the Black Cave special is also its wonderful flowstone formations.
The Black Cave used to be a separate cave until it was later connected to Postojna by means of a man-made tunnel. The tunnel leading to the Black Cave was built by the Italian army during WWI and WWII. The Black Cave is also colder than Postojna Cave, with a constant temperature of just 5°C inside. It might seem like a small difference, but you can definitely feel it, so dress accordingly!
Pivka Cave at Postojna
From the Black Cave, the trail continues towards the Pivka Cave. On a good day, the Trek through the Three Caves also involves a section outside the caves. In that scenario, you would exit the cave and proceed outside toward the entrance of the Pivka Cave. When we visited, however, a huge thunderstorm hit the area of Postojna and our guide decided it would have been a better idea to explore the caves from the inside and backtrack on our way back.
We entered the Pivka Cave through a passage from the Black Cave and headed towards its entrance. As soon as we entered the cave we were astonished. The Pivka Cave offers a unique view of the underground channel of the river Pivka.
VISITING TIP: Even though it’s an underground river, the river Pivka behaves just like any other river in the country, and its level is much lower in the summertime.
The trek inside the Pivka Cave ends at its entrance, which – just like the cave – is impressive. There are stairs leading all the way up to reach the surface, however, even though the thunderstorm was gone, after a quick break we headed back to the Black Cave to return to Postojna.
After retracing our steps all the way to the Black Cave, we walked through the tunnel and we found our feet again in the Postojna Cave. From there, the trek continued on the remaining part of the Postojna Cave Tour we haven’t seen yet. And needless to say, we were welcomed by more and more rock formations which culminated with the most beautiful one: The Brilliant!
The Brilliant is a five-metre-tall bright-white stalagmite, and it’s considered the symbol of Postojna.
Meet the “baby dragon” of Postojna
The last stop of the hike is a meet-up with the “baby dragon” of Postojna. Also known as the proteus, this human fish is the only vertebrate living exclusively underground. You can see one specimen in an aquarium near the end of the trail. It is very important to mention that the baby dragon is extremely sensitive to light, so make sure your flash is turned off when taking pictures.
The visit ends with another 10-minute train ride back to the outside world. The views are once again incredible. Being a double railway, you’ll be now following a separate route facing the opposite way, so the scenery will feel different and not boring at all!
Must-Know Tips & Facts
- Arrive 30 minutes before the time slot of your visit. Parking is huge and it takes some time to go from your car to the cave entrance.
- The temperature inside the cave is around 10 degrees Celsius, which means it’s quite fresh.
- Do not touch anything.
- Expect a lower level of the Pivka river during summer.
- You can take photos inside the caves, but flash and tripods are not allowed.
- There are several toilets outside the caves, all of which are free of charge.
Best time to visit Postojna Cave
If you can choose, the best time to visit the Postojna Cave is late spring or early autumn.
The Postojna Cave can be visited year-round, also during festive days. The month of August and the winter holidays at the end of December are the busiest times of the year, as most Europeans are on vacation. During the rest of the year, you should try to avoid weekends, since its proximity to Italy makes the Postojna Cave an ideal destination for a day trip from Slovenia’s neighbouring country.
Due to its underground location, the Postojna Cave is immune to weather conditions and it can be visited at any time of the day, also on rainy days. The temperature is constant throughout the cave and it’s equal to 8-10°C all day long.
Photography Tips at Postojna Cave
Even though the Postojna Cave is entirely lit by artificial light, the environment amongst its chambers is very dark. If you plan on taking photos inside the caves, here are some tips for you!
First, you need a wide and fast lens. Anything around 24mm or lower will work, and an aperture of f/2.8 or lower will make your life much easier. We took our photos with a Canon 14-35mm f/4 and we did struggle a bit with that maximum aperture, having to raise the ISO so high at times, especially in the Black Cave and Pivka Cave which are darker.
Tripods are not allowed in the caves, but take advantage of the handrails as they are often flat and you can lay your camera on that, bringing down the ISO and using longer shutter speeds.
If you want to take photos without any people, try to be the first or the last of your group. This trick, however, will only work if there aren’t other groups before you, and your guide won’t be happy to wait for you.
Is Postojna Cave worth visiting? Our honest review
The short answer is yes because the Postojna Cave is impressive. Especially if you visit Slovenia during the low season, go visit the cave of Postojna and enjoy its beauty. The Postojna Cave is an authentic show of nature, and it’s not something you want to miss.
A more complete answer is: go visit Postojna but be aware you will be sharing the cave with literally thousands of people. Set your expectations accordingly, expect to be shoulder to shoulder with other visitors, and prepare for a relatively fast-paced visit.
Also, the trek through the three caves felt like we couldn’t really stop to enjoy the views or take photos, and being in a smaller group didn’t help at all. In fact, the first part of the visit was shared with all the other groups, so you’ll still be surrounded by dozens of people at each point. On the other hand, the section including Black Cave and Pivka Cave was beautiful and wasn’t full of visitors, but even that felt so fast-paced.
Our guide was nice but he would always complain if someone would fall behind and be late, while the group would always go incredibly fast. It’s kinda sad being forced to go so fast while there are so many things to see and appreciate.
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The caves are incredible and definitely worth a visit. Unfortunately, be wary of buying the castle and cave tour. When I asked about getting from the caves tour to the castle (I was not driving), the agent at the check in desk said I would brought with my group directly to the castle. This was important as I was on a tight time restriction. Once the cave tour is finished, you are left to our devices to get the shuttle bus to the castle. This only goes once every hour. I went to reception to refund the castle part of my ticket as I did not have time to attend and the staff were shockingly poor. The woman mocked my situation and tole me “I should have asked more questions when I bought the ticket”. On a side note, there were two more groups left in the exact same position as myself that day and dealt with similarly.
Hi Joshua! I’m sorry to hear about your experience, and thank you for sharing your feedback. Hopefully, it will help other travelers.
I’m glad you enjoyed the caves despite this setback.