Petelinje lake is the second largest of the 17 Pivka Disappearing Lakes and just so easy to find & fascinating that it needs a secret place page all to itself!

Half of Green Slovenia is made up of rocky Green Karst and covered in these mysterious disappearing lakes which usually appear in the late autumn and then disappear again sometime in spring to leave strange sinkholes in lush meadows stacked with wild flowers and butterflies.

Did you know.. Disappearing lakes are a key feature of the Karst phenomenon, whereby leaky limestone rock has been eroded away over millions of years to create massive underground networks of rivers, caves, sinkholes and above ground, these disappearing lakes, which magically appear when the water table rises and water is violently pushed up through these multiple channels..

exciting approach to the lake basin..

Some disappearing lakes fill from massive caves at their sides, others from rivers flooding or from rocky sinkholes in the lake's basin from which the water seeps up powerfully in massive volume.

The 17 Disappearing lakes of Pivka are ALL interconnected by underground channels along the flow of the amazing river Pivka, which finally reaches Postojna and enters that big cave around here you might have heard of!

The Pivka river's incredible story does stop there as it continues through the Postojna cave and finally crashes into another river inside the Planina cave.

Indeed the Planina cave is the only show cave in Europe where you can see two different rivers crashing into each to form a new river.

And this new river is called the Unica, just one of the seven parts of an even more amazing River of 7 Names, which flows mainly undergound from Croatia to Ljubljana, but for each of the seven times it pops up and creates a new river it gets a new name! How about that!

the Pivka river spring is just a 15 min walk from here along an amazing stone path..

Ok, lets have a sit down after all that amazing unique Slovenian Karst history and find out why the Petelinje lake is so special?

If only all those thousands of German speaking drivers who race through Slovenia every day to get to the Croatian beaches knew that less than 50 metres from the very same main road they use to get from Postojna down to the border (which doesn't really exist anymore by the way) is exactly where this amazing natural story of the 17 disappearing lakes starts!

Yep, you can see this main road from the very field outside the (tricky to say) village of Zagorje where the Pivka river springs into life.

This is another feature missing in googlemaps, by the way as it only picks up this Pivka river later in it's journey..

But we are happy to say you can find the start of the Pivka river just outside Zagorje on our own Secret Places Treasure Map and follow it as it goes past all the 17 lakes and then pops into the Postojna cave!

amazing scenery on the way to the lake..

So from humble beginnings the Pivka river snakes underground, along overground channels, under bridges and past each of the 17 lakes..

But we are gonna concentrate now on exploring Petelinje lake and the icing on the cake will be if you can make time to go hike or bike to it, seeing as now you will know a little bit more about how special it really is!

Don't worry if you also havent heard of Cerknica Disappearing Lake, the daddy of all the disappearing lakes, which is the biggest in Europe and can reach over 40 KM square, easily the biggest lake in Slovenia when it does appear!

Well, Petelinje lake might be the second largest of the Pivka 17 Disappearing lakes, but it is tiny in comparison to lake Cerknica at only 55m square when full, but this is exactly why we think you should also be visiting it..

You see, 55m square is still a pretty big lake when you are standing next to it, so Petelinje is a really terrific example for you to go see ALL OF IT, touch it and explore it to get a unique experience of a Slovenian disappearing lake.

even in the summer you can get a clear picture at Petelinje of the size and shape of the lake..

Cerknica Disappearing Lake, just 25 mins from the Lodge, is so huge it is almost impossible to get round it all in a day, so we advise guests to either E Bike, bike or drive around just a corner of it for another amazing green adventure.

But if you follow our tips here and go explore Petelinje lake you will get to see the full package and this is another reason we particularly love Petelinje of the 17 Pivka lakes, cos you can see the shape and area of this lake perfectly when it is both full AND empty!

Yep, Petelinje lake is not a perfect circle, but it seems like that, surrounded by a thick pine forest and rising dinky Dinaric mountains.

So even if you are here in the summer, you will get a strong idea of the lake's shape and you will be able to walk into the centre of this lake in just a few minutes to find the little Karst rock outcrops where the water bubbles up from to create this lake!

lots and lots of rocks stacked like eggs where the water comes up from.. amazing..

Easy to Find..

Another reason we rate Petelinje lake so highly is how easy it is to find and get to.. We even have our own E Bike route directly here and back from the Lodge! 

The lake is only about a 15 min drive from the Lodge outside a village also called Petelinje, near the town named after the river.. Pivka!

Did you know.. Pivka might seem easy for you to say, but you are almost certainly pronouncing it wrong! Cos the v is not like an English v, so you actually say "Pewka", which can seem hilarious in English!

Just a bit further on from Petelinje village is the village of Slovenska Vas, (Slovenian village) and the home of a fab little museum which explains ALL about the 17 Disappearing lakes, local wildlife and lots more, so in this particular trip, you get to visit the second biggest of the 17 lakes AND find out about all of them in a fantastic micro museum!

start of the 1.4km track to lake Petelinje from the museum.. this time by E Bike..

Breaking news, we saw a sign that the museum is closed for renovation until autumn 2023.. which is a bit wierd cos the museum is pretty much brand new.. Regardless it is still a great base to explore Petelinje lake..

What about this for a plan.. you can hike from the back of the museum directly to Petelinje lake following really good signs.. it takes about 25 mins from the museum. So you could drive and park here in the museum car park or stop off on your E Bike tour on the way!

So now you might see why we think Petelinje lake is so special, but we saved the most wonderful thing about it until the end and we can only try our best to explain the feeling you get when you see it for the first time.. To get the full effect of course you have to go see the lake for yourself!

this way to the lake, (Jezero) and another few hours required to hike up to the church of the holy trinity and back..

Seeing the Lake for the First time..

So maybe you are hiking or biking here from the museum of the 17 Disappearing Lakes and you will immeditely notice that even though we are only 15 mins from the Lodge, the scenery here has completely changed from the rolling green Karst mountains, open fields and thick forest near Lipizzaner Lodge to a drier, rockier Karst terrain with small rock walled fields and fewer, smaller Pine trees for forest.

(These kind of terrain changes just 15 mins apart happen ALL over Green Slovenia, by the way.. it is a country that has everything that is amazing about Europe in one small package)..

Ok, so we are enjoying the stone path and admiring the rocky Pines all around with some views of a volcano shaped peak in the distance.. This is Sneznik (snow) mountain, at 1796m, the highest non Alpine mountain in Slovenia.

The little red circles marked on trees and posts lead us in between cow fields with different shaped white Karst rocks littering the grass like mini asteroid strikes. 

a full lake will come past this photo point..

A smaller mountain comes into focus now as we hit the last turn and straight towards the lake. You can identify Sv Troica 1,106m mountain by the church of the Holy Trinity sitting proudly on top. This is the hill that dominates and connects the 17 Disappearing lakes to the skies and a great direction to continue your hike from the lake if you want to walk much more in this beautiful scenery..

The final approach to Petelinje lake is downhill and the anticipation rises as you sense the lake approaching.. What you might not realise is you are already walking into the lake!

If you are here in summer you will pass a little marker sign that shows where the lake expanded to at its peak in 2014.. not so many years ago.

If you are here in winter you may well meet the lake sooner than you thought as you go down this final stone track.

But we will now describe your summer experience as most visitors will be here in the summer.. (not our fault.. it is up to you to do something about that)!!

arrival in the green auditorium..

The stone track breaks through the thick circle of pine trees that border the lake and a smaller copse is the only barrier in your way, with the path splitting around these trees either side.

If you are lucky enough to be here when there is water you will already realise that you are now standing in the lake basin, but more steps will be required to understand where you are in summer!

The best way we can describe the amazing feeling you get when you finally step out of the tree line and walk into the lake is like entering a massive natural open air theatre.

The first thing that will hit you like a sledgehammer are the acoustics.. there is an incredibly calming silence here as if you have stepped inside another room on planet earth!

The silence is so powerful, accentuated by the trees that line the lake, like a circle, but not a circle.

You can immediately see where the lake is and now you are tucked safely inside the lake's inner space, with those Dinaric mountains and Sv Troica church towering above you on the other side of the lake.

a wall of green lines the lake and a massive meadow full of wild flowers and butterflies fills it..

This wall of silence may be punctuated by a bird call or a distant howl from the forest, which will be sensational in their own right, but now you are here alone with the lake.. right now, there may be thousands of other people sitting on a train going inside a nearby famous cave or walking around a lake with a church on an island in the middle, but you will be the only people here for sure and massive, massive congratulations..

Cos you have discovered the true Green magic of Slovenia!

are you brave enough to stand in one of the sinkholes..

So what you can see when the lake is empty..

You will see the tracks that criss cross the lake used by local farmers and hunters.

Walk out into the middle of the lake to find multiple collections of those pretty white Karst rocks like eggs in a basket and this is where the water floods in from.

There are plenty of these all over the lake on the lowest points and even if the lake is dry you might still feel aprehensive in case the water starts coming up!

This is NOT a normal meadow, maybe stand in a sinkhole to see how deep it is like a small crater!

Please remember, when standing at the centre of the lake your 2m or less of height will have another 5m of water above your head when the lake is full!

a road disappears under the lake for the winter..

All those bushes and little trees around you will usually spend half the year under water.

There are little paths to find all around the lake and in the trees and one especially is signposted from your first approach to the lake, so maybe walk back and explore this side of the lake from here.. there are some special forest views over the lake area.

Also explore along the rim of the lake to see small lines of hay like brown grass or reeds deposited by the lake to show you where the last creation of the lake reached to.

But just explore and enjoy this huge meadow wonderland.

So what you can see when the lake is full..

you can see here just how far down the lake went from the red sign in 2014..

Depending on how full the lake is will depend on how far down this main entrance path you can go, but if there is water, you will always be able to get to a point where the stone road disappears under the water and the water is so clear you can see this meadow track extending out into the lake getting further underwater!

There will always be a way of circling the lake along the shore, maybe inside the field or along the tree line, depending how big the lake has gotten this season..

Maybe you will hike up into the Dinaric hills on the other side of the lake towards Sv Troica for a view of the lake from a little higher up.

left down to the lake and right is a fantastic forest path around the side of the lake, with some viewpoints..

A last final, special point about Petelinje is this is the lowest of the seventeen disappearing lakes so it fills first and retains water for the longest time, sometimes up to half a year! So maybe this will be the only one of the 17 lakes to have water at time of your particular visit?

Well, what about that, we have read the odd review of disappearing lakes with visitors who don't know what you now know, turning up in the summer and not really getting it, saying stuff like "it was beautiful, but the lake was empty"!

Now you know what to look for you can explore and enjoy this amazing and unique geological phenomenon at any time of the year.. even if you do rock up in the middle of summer!