Dimnice Cave
On cold days mist rises from its two entrance shafts like smoke from chimneys. The name comes from dim, smoke.
A cave that breathes
Dimnice lies in the Matarsko podolje, a dry valley on the southern edge of the Karst where seventeen streams sink one after another at the contact between flysch and limestone. In winter the air inside the cave is warmer than the air outside. It rises through the entrance shafts and condenses, and from a distance the hill appears to smoke.
Local legend has a more colourful explanation involving a devil drying wet wool over a fire.
Dimnice Cave at a glance
- Slovene name
- Jama Dimnice
- Location
- Markovščina, south of Kozina
- Length
- about 6 km
- Depth
- about 130 m
- Entrances
- two shafts, about 40 m deep
- Water
- an underground stream in the lower level
- Temperature
- about 8 °C
- Run by
- a caving club from Koper
Down the shaft, along the gallery
A spiral stairway descends one of the shafts into a fossil gallery lined with stalagmites, columns and wide flowstone cascades. The route covers several hundred metres before returning the same way.
Lower down, a stream that sank at Velike Loče runs through passages reserved for cavers and cave divers.
The edge of the Karst
The surrounding landscape shows how karst begins. Streams flow normally over sandstone and marl, reach the limestone and vanish into blind valleys.
Rock shelters elsewhere on the Karst, such as Mala Triglavca near Divača, were used by people from the Mesolithic onwards.
Dimnice Cave in figures
Before you go
Getting there
Markovščina is on the main road from Kozina towards Rijeka, about 15 minutes from the Kozina motorway exit. The cave is a short walk from the village.
On the tour
Guided tours last about an hour and begin with a long stairway down the entrance shaft.
Good to know
Regular tours run on a limited number of days, traditionally Sundays in the warmer months. Groups can arrange visits at other times with the caving club.
Opening times, tour schedules and prices change with the season. Always confirm them with the operator before you travel: dimnice.si.
