Harmanecká Cave

The cave underground of the southern part of the Greater Fatra National Park conceals mysterious natural splendors, which together formed the most important Slovak cave. It is called Harmanecká Cave. The Harmanecká Cave is located near the village of Dolný Harmanec, northwest of Banska Bystrica in Harmanecká Valley.

The entrance of the cave, which people used to call Izbica (The Room), has been known since time immemorial. Other unknown parts of the cave were discovered in 1932 and quite randomly. At that time, only 18-year-old Michal Bacúrik, an enormous lover of natural beauties, came across a mysterious opening in the karst of Kotolnice massif.

Beautiful underground halls and corridors are made of snow-white limestone stalactic decoration, extensive domes, massive wall waterfalls, but also lakes. Huge pagoda-like formations in the cave reach a height of up to 12 m. In addition to primitive plants, 10 species of bats live in the cave too.

The cave is 2650 m long, of which 720 m is open to the public. Visitors, however, go through some places twice, extending the sightseeing route to over 1020 meters. In addition, there are also 1043 steps to overcome the 30 meter height difference between the lowest and highest route.

The visitor can find the cave entrance following the serpentine educational trail. The ascent from the car park takes approximately 40 minutes.