Haasberg Castle & the Unec Crater

If you want to have a bit of a walk, with an explore around, get a bit of culture too and some unique Slovenian nature that will blow you away, well this might be the mini trip for you!

Haasberg castle is also just a 15 mins drive from the Lodge, so it would be a great idea to combine and link up ALL of the stuff we will mention here in one amazing E Bike adventure!

You could also park up and walk to everything on a longer mission or even drive it all if walking is difficult for you!

Haasberg castle..
Haasberg castle..

 

The castle is a baroque ruin, neglected by Austrian owners and finally smashed up and looted at the end of WW2, but even now in this battered condition, you can imagine how grand this castle and location once was.

The main castle residence sits high above a long car park that can be used as your base for this particular little adventure.. There is a hill and a lot more forest high above the castle to explore too if you like, but it takes just a little walk up from the car park to get behind this huge wreck and have a look from the safety of the wooden rails.. you cannot go into the building in case something lands on your head!

This secret location is hidden away, just over the other side of the Unica river in Planina, one of our favourite villages in all Green Slovenia..

the car park is perfect for your adventure base camp..
the car park is perfect for your adventure base camp..

 

You can find the castle car park from Planina by going straight on directly after the river bridge, (or if you are coming from Ljubljana direction it is a sharp left before this river bridge). 

Did you know.. Just to get here from Planina you actually drive across the huge Planina Disappearing Lake! The entire road from the village to the river bridge is raised up high above the water line, with special tunnels built underneath to let the massive amount of water that fill this 7km long lake flood into the surrounding fields!

Other Stuff to See or Do on this Particular Haasberg Castle Adventure..

There is a wooden barn opposite the castle, but it is a lot more than this! It was part of the castle stables and now houses a collection of historical and wacky stuff, including a wooden canoe and stuff for fishing used on that special Planina disappearing lake.. which usually "appears" in the late autumn and "disappears" in the late spring!

the Castle Barn..
the Castle Barn..

 

The "Castle Barn" as it is known, is looked after by a local society of dedicated volunteers, focussing principally on exhibiting to and educating locals, so your best chance to have a nose inside is if you see people wandering around inside there, then maybe pop down and have a peek!

Otherwise, the building is fascinating from the outside, with a resident donkey and a few goats on one side in a stable and a secret walled garden on the other..

From the top of the car park there are some signs and a stone path off into the forest direction Rakov Skocjan.. one of the most beautiful natural stone rock features in Green Slovenia.. You could explore this way, but getting to Rakov Skocjan would be better part of a longer fantastic E bike ride..

inside the castle barn..
inside the castle barn..

 

So on this particular trip, we will head off in the other direction, past the castle barn on another beautiful track.

The Skratovka Spring..

Walk past the barn and just over a small bridge, turn right and walk down to a little wooden cabin. From here you can see under the bridge to the mouth of the Skratovka cave.. and depending on the time of year, water may be streaming out of here or it will be dry!

another stream running down from a new source..
another stream running down from a new source..

 

Did you know.. This cave is one of many springs for the Unica river, which is the main source filling the massive Planina disappearing lake.. so if you are lucky enough to be here when water is coming out you are seeing something vey special indeed..

It is worth scrambling around a bit down here in the forest behind the wooden hut, where you might find some mischeivious gnomes and lots of other little springs bubbling and popping up out of the forest floor or from wee caves.. amazing!

All these little streams flow down to feed the Unica river, which is one of the rivers that make up the mystical River of 7 Names..

lots of little gnomes to spot near Skratovka cave..
lots of little gnomes to spot near Skratovka cave..

 

Did you know.. the River of 7 Names is a river that pops up somewhere near Croatia and makes it all the way past Ljubljana going overground AND underground.. it pops up SEVEN times to create 7 new overground rivers.. each one has a different name, but it is ALL the same River of 7 Names!!

The River Unica that you can see here at Planina is fed by all the different sources you can find around here, including some sinkholes in the lake, but most of the water thunders out of the nearby Planina cave.. one of the best secret caves to visit in all Green Slovenia!

If you are here when there is no water, then you will see EXACTLY the same as googlemaps shows and that is absolutely NOTHING!

But if you are here when there IS water you will see a powerful flow gushing down to the river and towards the lake, but this is STILL not marked on googlemaps.. only you will know about this secret stream!

see the Skatovka stream flowing away towards the main river and the Disappearing lake..
see the Skatovka stream flowing away towards the main river and the Disappearing lake..

 

 

the Unec Crater.. Unska Kolisevka.. 

If you follow the stone track from Skratovka cave out into the forest it will bring you up to yet another amazing Karst rock feature..

The Unec Crater is an ancient massive collapsed cave with sheer cliff faces that drop to a thick forest floor!

follow this path to Skratovka cave and the same track up to Unec Crater..
follow this path to Skratovka cave and the same track up to Unec Crater..

 

On the map it is only a few km on wiggly forest tracks from Haasberg castle and the route looks simple, but don't forget you will be going up hill into the forest and there are lots & lots of other tracks around, so go carefully with some kinda navigation.. out fave is KOMOOT, (you can download onto your phone for free), it shows most of the available hiking and biking tracks and you can zoom in and out..

The good news is that cos you are heading for a crater, it is relatively round, so there is a circle shaped forest road that also goes all the way around this massive hole.

The forest is thick and spectacular up here at ANY time of year. White rocky dragon's teeth made from leaky limestone Karst rocks litter the forest floor and there are also lots of smaller sinkholes to look out for at the side of the road.

Unec crater is a seriously big hole..
Unec crater is a seriously big hole..

 

Unec Crater is named after the Unica river (of 7 names) we now know so much about! There are places where you can see down better than others and little stone steps, BUT PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL EXPLORING AROUND HERE.

Did you know.. Between the first two World Wars, the Italian border with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia split little old Planina in two and the Italian army built a series of bunkers and defences along this line..

You can find a huge cliff bunker INSIDE the Unec crater, with other smaller concrete bunkers dotted around and ruined stone huts in the surrounding forest. 

It is so interesting to see how man has tried to exploit, shape and damage nature, but how nature always wins. The crater is still here to admire, but the Italians are long gone..

this way into the cliff bunker..
this way into the cliff bunker..

 

Did we say be careful around here?? Seriously, be very careful, but if you bring a decent torch it is possible to explore the big bunkers a bit and look out from open doors with sheer drops down the cliff face!

After completing a circle of the crater you could come back to Haasberg the way you came, but there are lots of ways back if you have good navigation..  

One very special route that is hikeable would be to do a larger loop and head back from the crater down towards Planina cave and Rapunzels tower (Ravbar stolp).. We are now in the territory of a whole days' adventure here, but why not.. the key thing is to get back down to the Unica river, which you know will ultimately lead to the main bridge and the castle!

the walled castle garden and view to Planina hill..
the walled castle garden and view to Planina hill..

 

There are so many amazing routes around here that we will need to create at least 2 seperate Planina E Bike adventures you can do directly from the Lodge and another longer range drop off at the ubermassive Cerknica Disappearing lake that will also hit Rakov Skocjan AND come back to the Lodge through Planina! Wow!

It would be SO EASY just to drive past that little track off the main road leading up to Haasberg castle as you cross the bridge.. Indeed MOST visitors to Green Slovenia will not even find the main road and the Green treasures hidden around Planina!

But we sincerely hope that now you know, maybe you might take the time to find this little slice of history and geological magic available to you for free at Haasberg castle!

We really tried to keep the number of photos down, but this secret place is sooo photogenic, therefore quite a few..

Email: info@lipizzanerlodge.com

Address: Landol 17, Postojna 6230, Slovenia

Phone: +386 5620 3443
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