About Postojna
Postojna Cave is one of the most extraordinary natural attractions in Europe — a vast 24km karst cave system carved by the Pivka river through soft limestone over 2 million years, with stalactites, stalagmites, columns, and curtains of dripstone in every direction. The visit is genuinely unforgettable: you board a tiny open-air narrow-gauge electric railway at the cave entrance, which trundles 2km deep into the mountain through soaring chambers before depositing you for a 1.5km guided walking loop through the most spectacular galleries — the Beautiful Caves, the Spaghetti Hall (with thousands of impossibly thin needle-like stalactites), the Concert Hall (so vast it once hosted a concert by the Vienna Symphony for 10,000 people), and the famous Brilliant column. The cave is also home to the proteus salamander (človek-ribica, 'human fish') — a pink, eyeless, 30-cm aquatic salamander that lives only in the karst caves of Slovenia and Croatia, can live for 100 years, and can survive 10 years without eating. They're on display in a small aquarium in the cave. Combine your visit with nearby Predjama Castle (10km, the dramatic clifftop fortress built into a cave mouth) and the Skocjan Caves (60km, smaller but even more dramatic, also UNESCO-listed).