Visiting the Postojna Caves

Ljubljana was hit with a bout of bad weather when I visited and I was hugely disappointed as one of the things I had anticipated the most was a day trip to Lake Bled on my second afternoon.  However, with the weather being as torrential as it was, there was no point in going.  Instead, I made my way to the Postojna Caves for an afternoon, as rain would not be as big of a factor inside the caves.

The information centre advised that it would be wise to join a tour to Postojna as getting to and from the caves would be more convenient.  The only problem was, all tours of Postojna Caves included a trip to the Predjama Castle as well, which I didn’t intend on visiting.  I made up my mind to try it on my own and after checking bus times, I made my way to the Bus Station (located right next to the train station) and bought a ticket to Postojna.  I had heard that the normal bus takes you to Postojna station, located about 2km from the caves, but there is now a new bus service that drops you off much closer to the entrance of the caves.  I didn’t have time to research this as I had only decided to visit the caves at the last minute, but I didn’t mind the short walk to and from the caves. 

Upon arrival, I went to the ticket office to purchase my entrance ticket and found out I had to wait about an hour and a half before I could enter.  You can only enter at certain times because the tour is fully guided and everyone in the group must take the same train in and out of the caves.  This wasn’t an issue as there were many shops and restaurants you could enjoy as you wait.  

I had visited a few different cave in Asia before and expected Postojna to be similar.  However, it seemed more authentic as the ones in Asia make use of different coloured lights and reflections to showcase the caves, which at times, made them seem a bit too fake.  The train was definitely one of the highlights of the tour.  The cave tour covers about 5km in total, with a 3.5km train ride and a 1.5km walk.  The caves can get pretty cold and if you don’t have proper clothing with you, they do have jackets for rent at the entrance.

The train was able to carry quite a few number of passengers and once we disembarked, we were split into different groups, based on what language you wanted to have the tour in.  The English group was definitely the largest, which made it difficult at times to hear what the guide was saying if you weren’t near the front. 

The tour was quite interesting but will set you back a minimum of €25.80, which is by far one of the most expensive tourist sites in Slovenia.  On average, things in Slovenia are quite a bit cheaper than some of its neighbouring countries, so the high price of this attraction was a bit surprising.  I guess it really is the most visited tourist attraction in the country.

When I bought my bus ticket at the bus station in Ljubljana, the attendant only sold me a one way ticket and told me that I could buy the return on the way back.  In the end, this turned out to be a stroke of luck.  I made the mistake of not checking the bus schedules when I arrived at the Postojna Bus Station so when I arrived back at the Bus Station after visiting the caves, I discovered I had just missed a bus and would now need to wait close to an hour for the next one.  By the time the bus finally showed up, quite a few people had gathered to wait for a bus back to Ljubljana but many of them had pre-purchased their return tickets and it turned out that they would need to keep waiting until the correct bus arrived. Since I didn’t have a return ticket, I just purchased one from the bus driver.

A visit to Postojna Caves was a nice way to spend a rainy afternoon. However, I’m not sure that I would bother visiting if the weather had cooperated.  It took almost 2 hours return to get to Postojna and the high price of the admission ticket made me feel that it wasn’t all that worth it.