Caves
Belianska Cave
Belianska Cave is one of the most visited caves in Slovakia. It is located directly in the Tatras National Park. It is one of the first caves in Europe, which had an access to electricity. During your visit, you will walk through huge halls and thinner corridors, your attention will be directed to the abysses and sinter waterfalls. There is also the Music Hall, which got its name from the sound of drops falling on the water surface of the lake. Thanks to excellent acoustic conditions, concerts of recorded classical music were organized here. In recent years the cave has been used for therapeutic speleoclimatic purposes.
The entrance to the cave lies at an altitude of 890 m and is accessible by a serpentine path from the Tatra basin, while it is necessary to overcome the height difference of 122 m. At present, the cave tour leads along a route of 1370 m (70 minutes).
Bystrianska Cave
Bystrianska Cave is the most important cave of the Horehronie valley, located on the southern outskirts of the village Bystrá near the resort Tale. The cave has been in its current state since 1968 and its current sightseeing route is 580 m long and the tour lasts 45 minutes. In one of its parts, in the so-called. The lower partisan hall has successfully applied treatment of respiratory diseases using speleotherapy.
Demänovská Cave of Freedom
Demänovská Cave of Freedom is located 13 km south from Liptovský Mikuláš in the Low Tatras, on the right side of Demänovská Valley, a few kilometers below the well-known ski resort Jasná. It is the most morphologically varied part of the Demänovská Cave System. It has a unique bead decoration, which ranks it among the most beautiful caves in Europe.
Cave visitors have two guided tours available, longer of 2,150 m (100 min) and a shorter 1,150 m (60 min). The Demänovská Cave of Liberty has a number of extended spaces – halls and domes with beautiful sinter decoration. The largest is the Great Dome with dimensions of 75 m, 45 m and 65 m. In addition to the sections of the Demänovká underground river, the cave visitors can also see the cave lakes on the sightseeing routes. The large lake reaches an admirable length of 52 m, 7 m deep. The high relative humidity (94-99%) in the cave is suitable for speleotherapy. Respiratory diseases and allergies have been successfully treated here.
Demänovská Ice Cave
The Demänovská Ice Cave represents the northern part of the world-famous Demänovská Caves, and is remarkable for the occurrence of permanent ice filling. The attractive and sought-after ice cave is one of the first known caves in the world. After the Dobšinská Ice Cave in the Slovak Paradise, it is the second largest cave of its kind in Slovakia. It is located on the right side of the Demänovská Valley on the northern side of the Low Tatras. It lies in the National Nature Reserve Demänovská Valley in the Low Tatras National Park. The entrance to the cave is in the bastion of Bašta.
From the cave corridors included 850 m into the sightseeing route (duration of the tour 45 minutes). Cave spaces in three developmental levels consist of oval, river modeled corridors with ceiling and side troughs (Black Gallery, Lake Corridor, Bear Corridor) and dome-shaped spaces complemented by rushing and frost weathering (Gravel Dome, Great Dome, Kmeť Dome, Belov, Belov Dome, Dome of the Ruins). They descend from the entrance to a depth of 40 to 50 m.
The Demänovská Ice Cave is known for finding the bones of the cave bear, which people considered to be dragon’s remains in the past and called it “Dragon Cave” accordingly. Ten species of bats live in the cave. Its lower part with ice drops and waterfalls is charming.
Dobšinská Ice Cave
Dobšinská Ice Cave is located in the Slovak Paradise and is one of the largest ice caves in Europe. Thanks to its importance and unique decoration, it has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. There is not so much ice in Europe outside the Alpine region with a thickness of more than 25 m. Located on the edge of the Slovak Paradise. Its entrance, also called the “Ice Hole”, is located on the northern slope of Duča hill at an altitude of 969 m, 130 m above the bottom of the Hnilec valley. The Dobšinská Ice Cave is part of the Stratenská Cave system. It reaches a length of 1483 m and a vertical span of 112 m, one of the largest ice caves in Europe.
In 1882 it became the first cave in Hungary with electricity. It was visited by several prominent personalities, including the Bulgarian tsar and the Serbian king. In 1890, a concert was held in the Great Hall in honor of Charles Louis Habsburg. In the past, the cave organized summer skating.
Cold air is kept at the bottom of the cave, which does not heat above the freezing point even in summer.
Gombasecká Cave
It is located in the Slovak Karst National Park and is known mainly for the appearance of sinter straws – thin tubular stalactite formations.
Thanks to its importance and decoration, it has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Gombasecká Cave is one of the youngest Slovak caves. The length of the sightseeing route with an elevation of 43 m is 530 m and it takes approximately 30 minutes.
The most precious decorations are thin sinter straws, which in places reach up to 3 m in length. There are also other forms of stalactites and stalagmites, as well as various sinter bark. Interesting is the spacious Marble Hall, whose conical stalagmites resemble tropical anthills.
In 1968, as the first cave in Slovakia, they started to use speleotherapy in the Gombasecka Cave, especially for the treatment of respiratory diseases.
Harmanecká Cave
In Kremnické vrchy and Starohorské vrchy near Harmanec is located Harmanecká cave with snowy chapel decoration. Thanks to its snow-white color, it is also called the “White Cave”. The underground areas include corridors, halls and domes based on layered surfaces and tectonic failures. It is decorated with formations of all kinds. Remarkable are the white pagodas, sinter lakes, wall waterfalls with pinkish curtain curtains in the Gothic Dome and the Stone Vase in the Great Dome, which is also in the emblem of the Harmanec Cave. The most beautiful decoration is the White Dome and Treasury.
In 1950 it was open to the public. The sightseeing route is 1,020 m long and takes approximately 60 minutes to complete. To this day, cavers have discovered 2,763 m of cave corridors.
Domica Cave
Domica “Pride of Gemer” is the most famous and longest cave of the Slovak Karst National Park. It was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Sightseeing routes
There are two sightseeing tours in the cave, the longer one is 1,180 m long (60 minutes long), the shorter 780 m long (45 minutes long). The tour also includes boating on the underground stream Styx. The cave also attracts attention by the numerous species of bats (16 species, about 1500 pieces).
It is dominated by horizontal oval corridors with ceiling troughs. Corridors are sometimes enlarged into domes and halls. Known for example is the Dome of the House with cascading lakes called the Roman Baths. It was not made available to the public until 1932.
Movies
It is interesting that the Domica Cave was also used by filmmakers to shoot the famous fairy tale Salt over Gold. Domica is connected to the cave Devil’s Hole – together they reach the length of 5358 m.
Cave Driny
Driny Cave is the only accessible cave in western Slovakia, located near the beautiful Smolenice Castle and one of the main tourist attractions of the Little Carpathians. It is a system of narrow fissure corridors with charming chapel decoration. It reaches a length of 680 m. Visitors can admire its beauty on a 450 m long guided tour. The duration of the cave tour is 35 minutes. Special attention should be paid to the curtain curtains with a remarkable serration. The most beautiful karst formation in the cave was given the apt name Elephants Ears.
Cave of dead bats
It got its name from the findings of a large number of bat cubes, about 6000 years old.
Bad Hole Cave
Since 1999, the Zlá Diera Cave near the village of Lipovce has been open to the northeast of Slovakia. The cave is not electrically illuminated, so visitors can shine through traditional cave carbides or they can use their own light. The basic route takes approximately 40 minutes. It is physically undemanding, suitable for small children.
Jasovská Cave
Jasov Cave is located on the tip of the Slovak Karst on the outskirts of Jasov. It was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List because of its importance and decoration.
The oldest accessible cave
It is the oldest accessible cave in Slovakia. Many parts of the cave are decorated with rich sinter filling. Attention is drawn to pagoda-like stalagmites, stalagmites, “stone” waterfalls, drums, straws and other forms. The remains of the cave bear and cave hyena were found in the cave. Especially in winter, about 19 species of bats stay in the cave. Jasovská Cave is a very important chiropterological site.
Sightseeing route
The current guided tour is 720 meters long and takes approximately 45 minutes to complete. This cave was probably discovered by monks from a local monastery and was opened to the public in 1846. Historical inscriptions are preserved on the walls of the cave.
The space called Dome of the Bats is used for speleoclimatic treatment of allergic and asthmatic diseases.
Krásnohorská Cave
It is located at the northern foot of the Silická plateau in the Slovak Karst National Park, at the edge of the Rožňava Basin near the village of Krásnohorská Dlhá Lúka. You can visit the Krásnohorská Cave accompanied by experienced guides in a complete cave outfit, so you have the opportunity to experience conditions that are similar to the caves when exploring underground spaces. It is another unique creation of nature registered in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The biggest stalagmite
Its rarity is the largest band in the temperate climate zone. The sightseeing route leads to the Rožňava Cave Drop, which has a height of 34 m (with a base diameter of more than 12 m). Until recently, he was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest quintet. Although this is no longer true, it is a monumental creation of nature that is unprecedented in the caves of a temperate climate zone.
The total length of the cave is 1355 m.
Small Stanišovská Cave
The cave is located in the district of Liptovský Mikuláš, in the northern part of the Jánska valley, and its entrance lies at a height of 766 meters above sea level. In 2010 Stanišovská Cave became the fourth cave open to tourists in Slovakia. The tour takes 45-60 minutes. Right at the entrance, each visitor gets a headlamp and is taken by an instructor who can catch up with all the attractions – eg. and the cave is a popular wintering place for bats. So look good, you can discover up to 7 species. Exploring the cave is a huge challenge and fun for children.
Ochtinská Aragonite cave
In the Revúcka Highlands in Central Slovakia there is literally a world rarity and a unique natural phenomenon of underground karst – Ochtinská Aragonite Cave. Thanks to its importance and unique decoration, it has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
World unique
This cave is extremely valuable, it is one of the three accessible aragonite caves in the world. Its value is created by aragonite decoration, which is the only one of its kind in Central Europe.
The interior of the cave and decoration is not made up of stalactite and stalagmite droplet forms, but some tufts, twigs and shrubs of milky white creations of argonite-like tufts of corals, which create an extremely diverse mix of beautiful images. The most beautiful place is the Milky Way Hall. White aragonite tassels in the fissure on the ceiling glow in the light of the lamps like stars on the Milky Way. The uniqueness and world uniqueness of the snow-white rings will attract every visitor.
The cave tour takes 30 minutes.
Cave Silická ľadnica
The Silická Ice Cave, hidden in the forests west of the village of Silica in the Rožňava district, is the lowest ice cave in Europe. Before glaciation it was inhabited by prehistoric people, as evidenced by many archaeological findings. At present it is inhabited only by small cave animals, but often very rare.
The entrance portal part of the cave, from which it is possible to look into the cold interior with smaller ice decoration, is freely accessible to the public, but entry into the deeper parts of the cave is prohibited and dangerous.
The National Natural Monument has also been a part of the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage since 1995.
Važecká Cave
The Važecká Cave was declared a protected natural creation in 1972 and is located in the Važecká Karst on the western edge of the village of Važec between Liptovský Mikuláš and Poprad. The cave is richly decorated with dripstone formations – pure white and still lively stalactites, stalagmites and stalagmites, as well as the coral lakes and wall waterfalls.
In its current form, visitors can admire it at a length of 235 m since 1954. The duration of the tour is 25 to 40 minutes.
The rarity is the bones of cave bears, who died here about 15,000 years ago. Their bones are abundantly found in the alluvia of a corridor called Konstanz.