Križna jama
No electric light, no concrete paths. Visitors carry lamps and cross a chain of still, green lakes by boat, a few people at a time.
A cave kept almost as found
Križna jama lies under a wooded ridge between Lake Cerknica and the Lož Valley. A stream flows through it, and over thousands of years calcite deposited from the water has built low natural dams across the passage. Behind each dam is a lake.
Those barriers grow by a fraction of a millimetre a year and wear away under boots. That is why the cave has never been electrified or paved, and why access to the inner lakes is rationed to a few visitors a day.
Križna jama at a glance
- English name
- Cross Cave
- Location
- near Bloška Polica, Lož Valley
- System length
- about 8 km
- Underground lakes
- more than 20 on the main water passage
- Temperature
- about 8 °C
- Short tour
- about 1 hour, to the first lake
- Long tour
- several hours by boat, strictly limited numbers
- Also known for
- cave bear remains
From dam to dam
The short tour walks the dry entrance passages and ends with a brief boat trip on the first lake. It needs no special fitness and runs daily in summer.
The long tour continues by inflatable boat, which is lifted over each calcite barrier in turn, as far as Kalvarija, a chamber where stalagmites rise straight out of the water. It takes most of half a day and places are booked weeks or months ahead.
The bears of Bear Passage
A side gallery called Medvedji rov, Bear Passage, is one of the richest cave bear sites in Europe. Excavations in the 19th century recovered thousands of bones of Ursus spelaeus, an animal that hibernated here and died out towards the end of the last Ice Age.
The cave is also remarkable for its living fauna, with dozens of species adapted to permanent darkness.
Križna jama in figures
Inside and around Križna jama
Select a photograph to enlarge it. All images are freely licensed; authors are listed in the photo credits.
Before you go
Getting there
The cave is reached by a forest road from Bloška Polica, about an hour's drive from Ljubljana and 20 minutes from Cerknica. There is no public transport to the entrance.
On the tour
Rubber boots and a battery lamp are provided. For the long tour you are also given overalls. Children are welcome on the short tour; the long one has a minimum age.
Good to know
Reserve well ahead for any tour beyond the first lake. Combine the visit with Lake Cerknica and Rakov Škocjan, both nearby.
Opening times, tour schedules and prices change with the season. Always confirm them with the operator before you travel: krizna-jama.si.
