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UNESCO World Heritage has included the caves of the Slovak Karst as a site of outstanding value. There are over 700 caves known in the area, which stretches over the Hungarian border. Six of these caves are given particularly high designation by the Slovak government: Dobšinská Ice Cave, Domica Cave, Gombasecká Cave, Jasovská Cave, Krásnohorská Cave and Ochtinská Aragonite Cave. We selected three of those six caves for touring on that Sunday - we went to Domica, Jasovská Cave and Krásnohorska Cave. (A complete list of all UNESCO sites in Slovakia is here. In addition to visiting three of the caves on that list, we also visited the wooden churches of Bodružal, Ladomirová and Hervartov, and we toured Spiš Castle, Levoca and the historic stone walls of Bardejov. We were able to see nine of Slovakia's UNESCO sites.) I picked the Krásnohorska Cave tour because it sounded like a bit of an adventure - you have to wear a hard hat with a helmet light, and you climb up and down ladders and cross over an underground river on a cable bridge. However, the formations we saw in Krásnohorska Cave weren't that extensive, basically there is one room with the giant Rožnava column. Plus, the entire tour was in Slovak, there is no English speaking guides. We did get a printout at the front desk that was written in English of what we would see underground, but obviously we couldn't read that while on the tour. Domica Cave is probably the most famous and most visited of the Slovak caves. It has extensive formations in multiple rooms, there is a lot to see. Also, there is normally a short boat ride on an underground river (the Styx River), but when we visited the water was so low the boats couldn't be floated. Apparently it was a dry summer in Slovakia, though we seemed to witness a lot of rain during our visit. Domica Cave has a small museum in the front, where you can look at artifacts from the cave while you wait for your tour to start - and many of the signs describing the artifacts are in English. Krásnohorska Cave is also well with visiting. It too has a large number of varied and interesting formations. It gives tours in English. Plus, it is the closest cave to Kosice, so it would be easy to drive out here for a half day activity. Maps:
This map shows the three caves that we visited. Our first stop was Krásnohorská Cave, where we had booked an early morning tour. We went to Domica Cave second, and still had enough time to stop at Jasovská Cave on our drive back to Košice.
This map of the Domica Cave system was on display in the visitors center. I like this map because it shows how extensive the Domica cave system is - notice on the far right how the cave extends beyond the border into Hungary. Our tour was confined to the area in the green box. Domica Cave is the best known and longest cave of the Slovak Karst National Park.
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Single Click on any thumbnail to begin the slide show at that photograph Cave Photos 
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