Lake Cerknica is the largest disappearing lake in Europe.. In the winter it swells to almost 40km² and becomes the biggest lake in Green Slovenia.. and then.. as if by magic.. over just a couple of days in the spring or summer, the water disappears, leaving behind a Green paradise with some moon like landscapes and numerous craters, caves & empty sink holes to explore!

Maybe you came to Slovenia to see another magical lake, but we will go as far to say that you ain't even seen Green Slovenia if you ain't seen Lake Cerknica..

Feels like the surface of the moon, with huge craters where the water seeps up from to help fill the lake..

About this very special Lake..

The water can hang around for up to 9 months of the year and during this time the lake is absolutely full of birds and wildlife. Over 50% of ALL European bird species can be found somehwere around the lake!

When the water freezes, this lake becomes a massive ice skating rink. But when the water disappears the lake is transformed into a lush green paradise, covered with an abundance of plant life, wild flowers and butterflies whizzing around.

summer tracks out onto the dry lake..

In summer, when most visitors are in Slovenia, you can find the massive sink holes and crusty, dusty moon craters to see the only evidence that water was here and was violently and ruthlessly sucked back underground into Green Slovenia's Karst labyrinth of underground caves and rivers..

The lake is home to several unique species of flora and fauna and there is even a "Cerknica Pike" fish species which gets washed underground with the water when the lake drains and can survive in the cavernous Karst underbelly of the lake for up to a year!

Incredibly, those enormous sink holes are directly ahead here, submerged in the winter, maybe 10 metres down..

Did you know.. When the lake decides to empty, it often drains SO FAST in places that local fishermen are on red alert to rush here and rescue the fish near the sink holes before they disappear for ever! They transport them to a secret lake that never disappears called Receto. Remember this name it will come up later to surprise you.. You can also get a permit to fish there. 

People often mistake that first little hill across as Otok island, but the lake is so huge Otok is far away around the corner..

Did you know.. Lake Cerknica is also home to one of Slovenia's only islands, a little village on a hill called Otok, which means "island" in Slovenian.

In fact you could describe this place as a disappearing island too.. cos when the lake fills there is an island and when the lake is empty it's a hill!

Would you have guessed in a million years there is a beach in the centre of Cerknica Disappearing lake..

It is just 25 mins from the Lodge to Cerknica.. As you drive or cycle out to the lake from the little town of Cerknica there is a long car park, a TIC (Tourist Info Centre) and a cafe. From here it is possible to walk out to either the shore of the lake or along dusty paths to some of the sink holes!

There may even be some water left in summer and there is also a large secret beach here where you can maybe go swimming, but certainly sun bathe!

Local parking spots..

If there is a lot of rain during summer, then parts of the lake can also temporarily fill to create mini lakes, within the larger lake..

In the summer of 2020, which sadly, most visitors missed due to the virus, there was really quite a lot of unique rainfall that resulted in huge parts of the lake filling, so swimming and boating were possible in lots of other locations around the lake.. this is quite rare!

a very rare sight to see canoeing on the lake in the summer!

We were lucky enough to go to the lake at that time and we got some great extra photos to show you in our little library below, so you can see the water in the summer..

There is also a fantastic mini museum to tell you about in the village of Dolenje Vas which is between Cerknica and the car park.. It has an absolutely amazing and unique working model of the lake, so you can see the model as big as a room filling with water and draining to get an idea how the water comes and goes.

It took us 3 attempts to find this museum open, so we jokingly nickname it the Disappearing Museum of Slovenia!

Can you just make out the cafe on top of Mt Slivnica..

Did you know.. Slovenia's first travel guide was a great man called Valvasor and he was admitted to the British Royal Society in 1687 for bringing the world's attention to the magic of Lake Cerknica and Slovenia's other amazing Karst landscapes!

He also wrote the first published vampire story and had a really cool castle that you can visit at Bogensperk!

Here in January, the lake is not completely full, otherwise you could not stnd here..

How to Explore the Lake.. the 2 Corner Loops..

The lake is just so huge, we recommend you go by car or bike around just a very special corner or bigger version of this corner where many of the lake's secrets & vistas will be revealed to see how it fills and empties with such volume & power.. 

Green Slovenia is only a tiny country, but with VERY BIG, VERY COOL GREEN STUFF everywhere, but you will not find most of these Green treasures by chance..

the shorter loop road leads off opposite there in the trees..

Equally, it often takes lots of different visits at different times of the year to truly find the "best way" to discover & experience these secret places and you just do not have the time to do that, but we have AND can, so this is why we post all these Secret Places to Visit articles to help you get the most out of your limited time here in the most beautiful small Green country in Europe..

So, jump in the canoe, let's go visit this enormous lake!

Wooden viewing tower on the road to Otok, this lake is very popular with bird watchers..

Please don't just go to the bit of the lake close to the car park and TIC (Tourist Info Centre), walk to see a sinkhole or the shoreline of the lake, depending on the time of year and then maybe drive to the first bridge and then think you have seen this amazing lake.. cos you haven't..

So this first thing to go see is walkable from the car park.. Cross the road and take the dirt track right after the TIC, which brings you directly to the biggest dry sinkholes on the lake!

This is the start of the lake behind the TIC, go down this track to find the largest sink holes in the summer..

Be careful not to fall in here and go back to rejoin the track and go a little further out into this bit of the lake and you will find Slovenia's most secret beach and a smaller lake within the lake!

"How can there still be water in a lake that disappears in the summer", we hear you ask, well, good question, but do you remember reading about Receto lake above, where the fishermen take the fish for safety when the lake drains??

Our guests show the scale of even this little beach in the centre of the lake in the middle of summer..

Hold onto your paddles, cos THIS is Receto lake and it is a tiny false lake created by a dam made by the fishermen to save the fish.. scooping them up from the enormous sinkholes and putting them in this mini lake when the larger lake drains!! How about that!

Not just swimtastic & beachtastic, but fishtastic too!

So your first mission is now clear.. Explore to find the sinkholes, the secret beach and then it is either back to the car or back to the main stone road on your bike to continue your Green adventure around the CORNER LOOP..

Long generous car park, space is not a problem at the biggest disappearing lake in Europe..

The absolute minimum required to get a feeling for the sheer size of this lake, we would say, is to do what we call the corner loop and also note that even then, if you drive, you will still miss a lot.. Much better to be on a bike to really get a feel for it all.

When we say "corner loop", we are banging on about the far corner of the lake, closest to Cerknica and we cannot recommend enough you do this loop to see some of the very best bits..

on the other side of the first bridge.. you can see the water on both sides..

The main Loop & the Larger Loop!

From the car park and the bridge, you will soon get to a crossroads on the lake with a sign for OTOK and you go right here to complete the smaller loop, (which is pretty big by the way), but if you have time to go Left and continue via Otok, you can do a much larger loop, which rejoins the smaller loop and completes your lake adventure.. Looptastic!

There is a stone track road running all around these corner loops.. so it is perfect for biking.. take note, even the smaller loop is probably way too far to hike for most mortals and if you drive, go carefully as there are quite a few bumps and pot holes in the road! 

This is where you need to decide if you are taking the longer loop to Otok left or go straight on and right for the shorter loop..

When you turn right at the OTOK sign for the smaller loop, you head into the forest, BUT most importantly the road still hugs the lake side, sometimes you are next to the water, other times higher above in this particular forested corner and this is especially where there are some particularly fab little places to stop off and find!

When you turn left at the OTOK sign you will head out into the lake area along a stone track road until you reach the island village of Otok and then bear right after the village to skirt along a more remote forest shore line of the lake and back to join the main loop towards the village of Dolenje Vas & Cerknica town..

if you see a sign, go down and explore..

There are little wooden or metal posts and parking signs with colours, even a few wooden viewing towers ALL OVER THE LAKE and especially along the longer and shorter loops..

Every sign or marker might be hiding a special place for you to go find and often you must go down from the road to lakeside to find out..

We will tell now you about three particular stops on the smaller loop we would totally recommend stopping at.. so if you spot one of these and maybe an info board, park up or hop off your bike and go down to the lake to explore.

Great summer opportunity to have a peak inside this special cave and try to imagine the immense volume of water that comes out..

The first stop is one of those new nature paths that take you steeply down into the forest a bit and to the shoreline of the lake. There are some wooden benches, but you need to head left a bit here and just around the corner is one of the cave entrances that pumps water into the lake.

Just as a secret cave it is beautiful, with slanted rocks and green nature outside, but if you consider it's function.. to help fill the largest disappearing lake in Europe.. then this is a mighty magnificant find..

Stand right next to the cave where the water is pumping into the lake..

If you are lucky you will see the crystal clear water oozing out, but equally, if the cave is dry, then you get to look inside a bit!

It is also a really good spot to have that picnic you might have packed in your rucksack or maybe even a little swim depending on time of year, temperature and if there is any water of course!!

Stunning view across to Slivnica mountain..

This cave is one of the many taps for the lake and if you were lucky enough to find the secret beach with a walk past the main sinkholes and out into the lake.. 

Then you can see from this cave how the water flows out directly to that very same beach.. And you have just found one of the narrowest parts of this enormous lake.. WOW, what about that!

Now dry as a bone, but this is the main canal where the water gushes out of this cave to help fill the lake..

The second stop is trickier to spot as you might go straight past it.. It seems quite a long drive or cycle here along the loop, but eventually you will come to a series of big rocks on the right hand lake side of the road, which becomes quite narrow here..

You wouldn't know it, but high up here, hidden behind these rocks is a the main artery of the lake far below, with the biggest sinkhole either feeding the lake or with the changing of the seasons, sucking the water out.

These are the rocks to climb for a sneaky peek at the very far end of the corner loop..

You can climb up on the rocks a bit for views, be careful and you need to look down over the cliff edge to maybe see the water flowing out to the lake along a zig zaggy river.

It would be easy to go straight past this viewpoint if you didn't know it was there, so look out for the mini cliff rock face on your right!

The third spot is the ruins of the Karlovec castle, which was built on huge rocks above the lake.. legend has it the lord who lived there left the castle to ruin when his good lady was swallowed whole by a lake sinkhole opening up and devouring her horse and carriage!

The forest is soooo green here you won't believe there could be so many greens, but also tread carefully here.. only the rock foundations are left from the castle and these can be very slippery.. you don't want to disappear down a sinkhole too!

this view from the side of the lake show how vast it really is.. can you see Otok in the distance?

The bumpy road now turns the corner of the lake and there are several stone track roads leading left into the forest to Rakov Skocjan, an uberamazing stone nature park with 2 massive stone arches and a secret rock valley that would be a great combo with the lake loop for another spectacular Green adventure..

But also keep your eyes on the lake here and look out for another small parking stop with a map and a picnic table for perhaps the best corner views of the lake that are possible to help you appreciate the sheer scale of this place.

Here the lake is about 60% full and you can see the hill that looks like Otok, but is not..

Here you are on the far edge of the lake and if you look carefully out into the distance you think you can see the green island hill of Otok.. maybe you were there earlier if you did the longer loop..

BUT this is NOT OTOK, just a small hill by the first crossroads and Otok is much further away, out of sight behind the corner.. 

Maybe it will be now, having been around a corner of the lake, looking at this view when you truly realise the immense scale of this lake!!

Follow the bumpy stone track now all the way back towards Cerknica and you will pop back into the very pretty riverside village of Dolenje Vas, on the edge of the town and where you can complete this epic loop..

There are lots of these metal markers around the lake and it is worth stopping to see if there is something lakeside to go down and explore..

Tales from the Lake..

We love telling this story as hopefully it will make you realise how truly massive this lake is.. we had a couple of French marathon runners stay a few years ago and they wanted to go for a training run around the whole lake.. well we guessed they were good runners, but not superhuman, so we scratched our heads and got the maps of the whole lake for them, forest tracks included..

But just in case, we also showed them how to do this "SMALL" CORNER LOOP, with the stone track road all whole way.. 

Well, they came back with big smiles on their faces and thanked us for the smaller map.. of course they had only managed this corner! But they had a fantastic run and were blown away by the beauty.. and size.. of the lake..

Not wanting to scare you, but you really MUST stay on the marked stone or dirt tracks when exploring the lake, cos another couple told us they got completely lost trying to go over the lake cross country and had to be rescued by a farmer, who gave them a lift on the back his tractor..

But the funny thing is, when they climbed onto the tractor there was another couple already sitting there, also completely lost!!

there are other better known lakes available in Slovenia, but what about biking around this one?!

Why Can't I just walk round the whole Lake with an ice cream, like at Lake Bled?!

There are THREE simple reasons why you won't be able to do a complete loop around the wet shoreline of this lake, as you might do at Lake Bled!

View from the cave at stop 1 when the lake is filling in the winter..

1.. If you are here in summer the lake has disappeared!!! Every year when the water does come, it fills to different levels and different spaces, so there is actually NO defined shoreline around the whole lake!

But you can always see where any of Green Slovenia's disappearing lakes last stretched to by looking for the line of dry reeds and grass where the water last reached..

2.. It's uber massive.. if the French marathon runners didn't do it, then you won't either! 

On a clear, warm January day.. the beautiful golden colour are the reeds bobbing above the water..

3.. Most importantly.. There is NO exact path or road around the whole lake.. many bits go into the forest, stone tracks shoot off in all directions with no signs, particularly in the wildest bits.. so even if you tried to drive you would either get lost, frustrated or eaten by a gang of squirrels!

Be very careful even if you follow the main loops as there are MANY other tracks and roads that go off into the forest or elsewhere, sometimes not even on googlemaps..(Komoot is much better for exploring tracks in Green Slovenia, by the way)..

This is why we so strongly recommend one of the 2 loops for you to explore and enjoy Lake Cerknica and do not worry.. if you follow the signs and remember you are going round in a big circle, it is easy to stick to these loops..

Great place for a picnic at the foot of some steep steps down to this secret cave at under stop 1..

Lots of Good News for Exploring the Lake..

There are lots of NEW wooden SIGNS around the lake, with km distances and different routes marked with lake "characters".

The legends or path names are a bit random,  they relate to characters and animals from the lake, but there ARE a few shorter hikes you COULD do, make sure you follow the signs carefully..

Don't miss this parking spot for stop i, then steeply down to lakeside to find a secret cave..

They have also built a wooden viewing tower and some short loop nature paths into the woods, with info boards, so you could and should explore these and they give you a way to get off the main road a bit and maybe discover some more butterflies, dragonflies and flowers in the forests..

We really want to congratulate the people of Cerknica for finally making this big corner of the lake accessible.. Now You can visit Cerknica lake!

each route is marked and has an animal shape to follow.. but check out the 27km route.. it is a very big lake..

Take an E BIKE..

This would be our best tip to explore one of the Green wonders of Slovenia.. this lake is absolutely perfect for E biking at any time of year. Most of the route is flat, but as you turn the huge corner from Otok to go through the forest and back to Cerknica it gets bumpy and there are a few hills. 

An E Bike would give you the boost to help with all this, but it is the long distance where the E Bike really helps out and adds some reassurance and certainty to your day.. You may also be able to explore more than you thought possible. 

You can see with the lengths of these paths how big the lake is AND why we recommend biking..

An E Bike will especially help you COMBINE the lake with RAKOV SKOCJAN to make an absolutely sensational Circle of 8 Bike Ride.. this would be almost impossible on a regular bike, but you could do an amazing rocktastic day's E Biking to and around the lake and back to Rakov Skocjan.. spending MOST OF THE DAY ON STONE TRACKS! 

Rakov Skocjan is a 3km long stone nature park, covered in green.. it was a prehistoric cave where the roof collapsed millions of years ago to leave 2 massive natural stone arches at either end with the River of 7 Names flowing between them and lots of rocky Karst twists and turns along the way!

It is possible to mix Rakov Skocjan in just one day with Cerknica Lake, but you should know that then you would miss stuff AND whilst Cerknica Lake is best done by bike, the 4-5 hour Rakov Skocjan hike is only possible by foot, so with a bike you will miss even more stuff..

follow the sign down here from the main track and you can discover one of the taps for the lake..

Most people who arrive in Slovenia to see a cave, a castle, a capital, a coast and a lake, would have absolutely no clue they could have such an amazing day in green nature here at a completely different lake!!

All so close to the Lodge.. well, you can!

Mountain Bike..

Also possible on a mountain bike, due to the distances to cover, it would be a good idea to drive to the lake and bring your regular mountain bikes with you. There is no need to park at the start of the lake in the car park as there are lots of parking areas all around the lake, so you can choose where to start your circuit!

We had a German couple who did just this and managed it, but they were quite worried if they could get around in time.

we met two Lodge guests cycling around the lake..

DID YOU KNOW.. Cars are banned from the lake roads on SUNDAYS to give the people of Otok a bit of peace and quiet.. this is brilliant.. and we wish it was more days in the week AND happened more in the rest of Slovenia.. but anyway, note on a Sunday you can only park at the main car park at the start of the lake, just so you know.. 

Even more reason to explore the lake by bike..

Hike parts of the Lake..

Our advice here is to start early and stick to the main tracks.. even better to go with a local guide as these guys don't just know their way around the lake, they can also tell you so much about the wildlife, flora and fauna here. 

A last reminder to please not try to take a short cut to get across the dry lake.. it is not a good idea at all. There might be wet bits, sink holes and long grass and it is much further than it might look on a map!

Lots and lots of info boards and posts to inform you about all the flora & fauna at this huge lake..

Canoe or Ice Skate around!

When there is water you can rent a canoe quite close to the main car park and have a paddle around, depending how much water there is. 

And when it is cold enough you can skate on the largest skating rink in Slovenia, particularly on the shoreline near the little cafe opposite the TIC by the main car park.. BUT make sure locals are already there skating around safely first and stick to where they are!

Witches mountain (Slivnica)

Probably the BEST view of the entire dry or wet lake is from up top.. A spectacular way to see the lake in all seasons is to hike up the nearby Witches (Slivnica) mountain, 1,114m.

the peak opposite is Slivnica or Witches mountain and is another excellent option to climb for a great view of the lake..

There are some great viewing spots around the lake, but it is only from up here on the mountain you get to see the entire contour and sheer scale of the lake. You will see how little villages hug the rim of where the water fills the lake and if you are lucky you might bump into Ursula the witch, who lives in the cave at the top of the mountain!

There is also a cafe on the top of the mountain to reward your hiking efforts!

Ursula is also one of the main characters at the Cerknica carnival, 40 days before Easter and she is joined by lots of other unique lake characters, including a giant swamp monster, a fire breathing dragon, giant frog and giant pike fish, with lots of witchettes and little frogs too!

More enormous currently dry sinkholes across the lake..

When you consider the world is still only slowly waking up to the secrets of Green Slovenia, even as a summer destination, we can tell you the most beautiful country in Europe is completely deserted in winter and COMPLETELY undiscovered..

ALL the caves and natural attractions are still open and the cellars are full of the new autumn wine.. but imagine this.. you would have the biggest disappearing lake all to yourself.. apart from all those different European birds of course!