Huda Luknja

Discover this underground gem of an isolated karst landscape, undoubtedly one of the major natural attractions of the Koroška and Šalek regions.

A gem of an isolated karst landscape

One of the oldest tourist-developed caves in Slovenia was opened to visitors as early as 1895. With its size and its location right next to the regional road Velenje–Slovenj Gradec, it sparks curiosity and time and again surprises visitors and explorers, as it hides a range of special features in its interior and surroundings. To date, more than 2,900 metres of the cave have been explored, but experts believe the cave system is significantly larger. The route along which we crawl and walk is 1,600 metres long.

The karst underground is becoming an increasingly popular way to spend leisure time. Experience this unforgettable underground adventure. Professionally trained and experienced cavers will take you into the depths, where you will spend a rather different four hours. First, you will pass through Lisičnica, one of the access points to Huda Luknja. After a few narrow passages and two sumps, we crawl fairly dry to Medvedji rov (Bear Passage), which in this section is filled with deposits of gravel, rubble and clay, and there is no shortage of cave bear bones either.

A visitor with a headlamp while climbing through the rocky cave world.

The entrance to Huda Luknja, where a path opens between rock walls into a mysterious karst underground world.

We walk through the vast hall of Medvedji rov (Bear Passage), where we can see beautiful dripstone formations—from cave curtains, stalagmites, stalactites, columns, rimstone pools to very thin tubes. If you are lucky, you may also encounter a bat living in the cave. At the end of Medvedji rov, the path ends at a 30-metre drop, so we turn around and return the same way, where you can once again admire all the cave’s beauty. What do you need? You will receive all the necessary equipment before entering the cave. Each visitor must be in good physical condition and dressed warmly. Those who have already discovered it say it is difficult to describe the feelings that overwhelmed the first explorers of this karst beauty. May it remain so for our descendants as well.