Boat ride to Crystal Mountain
This is one Crystal Mountain we are pretty sure Indiana Jones never got to.. The only way you can do it is to jump in a rubber boat and paddle up 22 different underground lakes along the Krizna Cave, which is so well looked after & protected, that ONLY 100 people per year get to go!!
To say this is a unique and epic cave adventure is an understatement.. The whole trip takes about 7 hours and you explore right to the end of the navigable 8km long cave system which is also the 4th largest known mini ecosystem in the world.
All this is little old Green Slovenia!
It is quite possible you might have thought there was only one cave in the whole of little old Green Slovenia if you just listened to all the marketing and blurb for that bigger cave with a train going through, but Slovenia is the capital of the Karst in Europe, half covered in leaky limestone rock with Disappearing Lakes, sinkholes, over 15,000 discovered caves and actually about 30 other amazing show caves to choose from!
Krizna Jama means "Cross Cave" and there is a church of the same name somewhere on top of the cave, but during this article we will also tell you how ONLY those lucky people doing the longest, rarest 7 hour Krizna cave adventure will get to see another cross..
How to book a Tour..
Krizna cave is one of the most popular show caves in Green Slovenia with daily one hour tours and a slightly longer one and a half hour tour too, which takes you into the bear cave.. Both have a short boat ride at the end..
Cave director, Gasper informs us there will be a new ticketing system from 2025, whereby you will need to book ALL 4 different tours ahead now, but usually the two shorter tours can be booked the day before..
Here is the Krizna website with details of the tours and how to book in any case!
So this cave is one of the few caves you can visit in the world where a lot of the geological action is still taking place, albeit slowly, but the river is still present here and still shaping this cave.
Krizna is a water cave and that is why you will probably end up on a rubber boat sometime during your adventure in here..
The 2 shorter tours are absolutely fantastic and as the numbers are restricted, the group size will always feel comfortable.
The bulk of these two tours will be on foot in rubber boots, walking down the cave next to the river, finding out about all the cave species here and seeing the bones of the huge prehistoric cave bears who once lived here and then having a little boat ride.
Do the Longer Tours if You Can..
This is all very nice indeed and we couldn't recommend the shorter trips enough.. But there are two other adventures you can do to see a lot more of this cave system and they must usually be booked well in advance..
We did the epic 4 hour rubber boat tour a few years ago now and it was the first time we had done anything quite like this in a cave.. You can read all about that trip in our Krizna Cave 4 Hour Adventure article..
To protect the cave, only 1,000 people per year may do this trip, but if you want to see further into the depths of this Green wonder of nature then only 100 people per year will make it to Crystal mountain..
The Krizna Cave 7 Hour Adventure to Crystal Mountain..
Let's start by telling you without a shadow of a doubt, this was the very best thing we did last year, the absolute highlight and we visited a lot of amazing Green secret places in and around Green Slovenia too..
After doing the 4 hr tour we knew that this trip was like going into a different world, but due to the heavily restricted guest list, we heard there was a 2 year waiting list, so we rang up our friend Gasper, who runs the local society that looks after the cave and asked to be put on the wating list..
This 7 hour tour can ONLY be done in the autumn & winter, from the start of October to the end of March, as the water levels need to be good enough to make it the whole way to Crystal mountain.
Well, we were totally blown away to find out there was a space for us at the start of November after a cancellation, so we grabbed the opportunity with both hands and looked forward all summer to this trip!
November came at last and we phoned ahead a few days, as you should too, to check the water levels were good and they were, so our trip was on!
We packed extra socks and had an early breakfast to arrive before 9am at the Krizna cave hut, which is a 42 min drive directly from the Lodge into Green paradise and then one km or so down a stone track road.
You get rubber boots, a caving suit and helmet with neat head light and make sure you have a really good jumper and wear 3-4 pairs of socks too, as you will be sitting in a boat quite a bit and do not want to let the cold get into your bones!
And then you are off, maximum 4 people per day, but we had Gasper all to ourslves as the other couple who were supposed to come today had a late illness..
So we had our own private guide to go into the cave, walking along the same route as the shorter tours until you reach the first lake and jump in the biggest boat to do the same lake crossing the one hour tour folks do..
Gasper has been coming to this amazing cave since he was a boy and now heads the local society that looks after the cave and runs all the tours..
We suppose nobody has been to Crystal Mountain more than him and if there is ANYONE you want to be down a cave with, especially this Krizna cave, then this is the guy!
The extensive information he provides along the way and the obvious care & love he displays for this cave are infectious and you will leave here knowing one of the Green wonders of the world is in good hands..
It seems as if the cave has a river running through it, but the water actually forms 22 different lakes of all shapes,sizes & depths, (sometimes as deep as 6m), which run along the different stretches of river reaching cascades and little dams that you need to get out of the boat and walk carefully across, sometimes following exactly the footsteps of the guide.
You see as the cave is still forming, there is a just a small layer of rock, particularly on some edges and rockpools that you can wipe away in just one careless footstep, but plenty of stronger rock that is safe for the health of the cave to walk on.
As you progress further up the cave Gasper shows you places where earlier explorers destroyed parts of the cave, just by walking on the edges of the formations instead of the hard stuff and it is clear and very sad to see.
This is why visitor numbers are so heavily restricted, to give the cave a chance to repair itself and also for future generations to have a chance to experience what we are lucky enough to see today..
The procedure for doing this epic Green adventure is straightforward, paddling in a rubber boat wherever possible and stepping carefully to the next lake where the guide instructs you as he carries the rubber dingy to the next lake..
Gasper must also have laser eyesight as he instantly spots the tiny cave creatures crawling around and points out tiny bats hanging off rocks, fast asleep!
You will get to see every type of dripstone most people, including us, could imagine along the way.. AND there is no rush or hurry to get a good look at them, no crowd jostling for position or talking over the guide..
Nope, you are just paddling gently along an emerald green underground paradise river from feature to feature..
The uberamazing Pirate Ship drifts past like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean..
You will see a couple of enormous and incredibly rare cave mushrooms, where the stalegtite has grown down to the water in the curved shape of a giant mushroom but is completely hollow inside.
One is the biggest dripstone Cave mushroom in the whole world and the guide can gently splash the paddle so you can hear the wierd noise of the water lapping inside the empty space under the mushroom!
Phenomenal!
You will also cruise past the biggest underground island in Green Slovenia,where some people have actually got married! Who said Slovenia doesn't have any islands!!
Maybe one of you will be paddling, but with just 3 of us we were so lucky that Gasper paddled the lot, so we were literally passengers on our luxury underground cruise ship!
The only slight inconvenience is having to get in and out of the boat, but considering the work the guide is doing on your behalf, this is nothing!
the Kalvaria Waterfalls..
The most spectacular bit of the shorter 4 hour tour is the Kalvaria waterfalls where the boat gets parked up next to some amazing Dripstone columns and water bounces down the long shallow steps of a dramatic waterfall..
This is where you stop for the best coffee in town and the cahnce to warm your body up before the final push along the next 9 lakes to Crystal Mountain.
The waterfall also marks a split in the main tunnel, we will follow the clean river up the waterfall and along the narrower Pisani Rov tunnel, whereas the wider longer Blatni Rov tunnel is full of mud and even experienced cavers would find it tricky..
It really was a wierd experience to go around the side of the waterfall to what seemed like a Dripstone side room with a bag stashed with stuff to make coffee!
We were shown where we could explore on the waterfall steps and it was so lovely to feel free of the boat down here deep underground in a place so beautiful..
The Narrow Pass (Nizka Pazasa)..
Some people will know and some people will not know in advance about the next bit of this adventure, but this is the bit those scared of really enclosed spaces might have nightmares about before attempting this adventure!
One of the Lodge team was very nervous in advance of this particular bit, but we are so happy to report that it is nothing to worry about!!
Leaving the waterfall you jump into a new smaller boat that is required to squeeze under the low ceiling tunnel that will pop you intot the rest of the system.
You CANNOT sit in the boat for this bit, you have to kneel down with your head down in a kind of praying position, (which is very apt for here), as Gasper gently navigates the boat and if you are brave enough to open your eyes, you can look up and see the roof of the cave centimetres above your helmet!
The passage is actually really short and Gasper speaks to you as you glide through, cos he knows people will be apprehensive, but in two shakes of a dragon's tail, you are through and wondering what all the fuss was about!!
Indeed, if you are lucky enough to get a place on this rare treat of a ride, then it is a good idea to do some stretching a few weeks before so your legs get used to being wedged down in the boat!
We floated on and now the tunnel roof was much higher, but the waterway is definetely more narrow.
Gasper showed us a huge safe area here on the other side of the "Narrow Pass" with a high rocky beach where it is always well away from any rising water and just once in what he described as a freak "once in one hundred year" swell, the water rose just enough to make him decide not to risk his guests panicking on the return journey under this pass, so they camped here and waited for the water to decline.
There is a safety protocol here of course and like we said before, if there is anybody you want to be down this cave with in such a situation then it is Gasper, but the outside world went bananas and the TV crews & reporters came hunting for some kind of disaster, which of course did not come as the water level went back down and they got out safely!
So there is an extremely small element of risk this could happen again in the next hundred years of course, but the cave team are really the experts in reading water levels and weather forecasts, so we were not worried in the slightest and neither should you be!
We might never again explore this Piani Rov tunnel in this cave, so we savoured the huge dripstone formations as we glided past, seeing long stringy dripstone spaghetti hanging from the cavern roof and columns standing like ghosts between the river and the roof..
And then the boat gets beached and you are faced with big rock lumps to climb over as you follow the guide up, holding onto rope lines where necessary as you ascend Crystal mountain!
We haven't mentioned it yet, but it should be pretty obvious to you by now with all the climbing in and out of the boat, the cold conditions, the crouching down and now this steep ascent in wellies up a rock staircase, that you must be reasonably fit to do this adventure..
We did not anticipate this final climb, wrapped up so warm in our extra pullover and gloves we started to sweat!
But wow, Boys & Girls, Ladies & Gentlemen, can you imagine climbing these few rocks up and then arriving in a 75 metre high cavern, so deep inside the cave with a mountain in the middle.. this was Crystal mountain..
It is so very different carefully climbing up a mountain inside a cave compared to gliding along a river in a boat that it takes a bit of getting used to..
But then you see the most incredible dripstone cross right in front of your eyes almost a big as a man!
The cross is completely white and has to be a wonder of the world. Do not forget this cross is inside "Cross Cave", but the cave is named after the church on the hill above the cave..
Not for us it isn't.. Our Cross Cave is named after this exceptional stalegmite cross!
We continued our climb up to see the summit of Crystal mountain, another white cluster of stalegmites forming a triangular peak like the top of a pyramid..
The name is perfect as the Crystal tower twinkles like a diamond when your headlamp lights it up..wow!
There is a space nearby where you can sit safely and have your sandwich and admire this huge space inside an otherwise narrow cave, while Gasper does some spring cleaning!
The first visitors to this wonder of the world left a lot of mud all around this enormous cavern, so Gasper brings a brush and every time he comes, cleans a small section of it away with the intention of returning the cavern to how nature wanted it, with just a narrow path we must all tread..
It was time to leave Crystal mountain now and we really felt like adventurers as we took our final snaps and scaled the slope down holding tightly to the ropes.. You must also wash the mud off your boots in the water to keep everything clean..
The journey back is always quicker, with the narrow passage now an easy formality, but do not underestimate the fact you will be going directly past all those cave mushrooms, waterfalls and the pirate ship once more for a cheeky second viewing!
The 7 hours flash by and soon you can literally see the light at the end of the tunnel once more, so make sure you get a good final glance at the cave map on the board to see exactly where you have been.
Huge huge thanks to Gasper and the team for looking after this unique cave and dedicating their working lives to helping us mere mortals get the adventure of a lifetime..
Of course we are gonna say if you can get a place, then do the 7 hour adventure, even book ahead and come in two years time to get your slot.
This journey was just so spectacular that we hope we have described it well for you and that you also understand, sometime in your life, you must also do the other 3 tours too..
But imagine being a member of the exclusive 100 club who made it to Crystal Mountain in one particular year, now that is very special indeed..
French Connection en Slovenie
