Every year for the almost three decades Postojna cave in Slovenia celebrates festive season with the special event – living nativity scenes. For five days in December, the magic underground world become a stage of Nativity story. This year I had a chance to marvel this unique Christmas event in person and it was unforgettable experience.
I’ve already been to Postojna cave many years ago and few months earlier I’ve visited Škocjan caves, which are similar. I was already familiar with the underground world of the caves of Slovenian Karst, but even though I decided to visit the underground world once again. This time, I didn’t learn about the geographical features of the cave, but I experienced the Biblical story of the Birth of Jesus set in a magical world of Postojna cave.
Getting to Postojna Cave is easy. After arrival to town Postojna, my husband and I just followed the well marked signs to Postojna cave. We parked our car at the large parking space and walked towards the ticket booth where we collected our pre-reserved tickets. As it turned out it was a wise decision to make a reservation. The event is very popular and there is only limited amount of spaces available for each of the daily tours. If we wouldn’t reserve tickets we most likely won’t be able to attend the event.
From the ticket booth we walked to the entrance of the cave where the tiny Christmas market was held. We still had some time before the start of our tour, so we’ve strolled around and took a look what the stalls had to offer, petted the sheep and listened the choir performing Christmas carols.
Visit of Postojna cave begun, as usual, with the underground train ride. We drove past the festively illuminated stalactites, stalagmites and other features of underground cave. When we arrived at the station inside the cave, the train stopped and let us follow the visitors trail by foot.
We walked the five kilometres long visitors route, enjoying the beautiful setting of the cave, festive play of light, and performances depicting seventeen Biblical scenes, all accompanied by the harmonious music. There were angels, there were Joseph and Mary, there was baby Jesus, there were three Kings and many other characters from Nativity story. Event though I’m not religious, I enjoyed the performances very much.
The musical performances were my favourite part of the visit. The acoustic of the cave is superb. Listening singers sing Ave Maria, Silent night and Amazing grace in such a magical setting was amazing. It was truly unique and interesting Christmas spectacle.
Practical informations:
HOW TO GET TO Postojna Cave?
- By bus:
Intercity buses are available from Ljubljana, Koper, Rijeka, Trieste and Nova Gorica. - By car:
At the the A1 motorway take the exit 41 for Postojna, then just follow the signs.
Expenses:
- Entrance fee: 23,90 EUR/person
- Parking fee: 4 EUR per car/day
Oh my goodness this sounds absolutely magical!
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Yes, it was indeed magical experience. 🙂
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What a lovely cave!
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The Christmas tree and the lights inside the cave look spectacular! The cave must be huge!
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Yes, I think it is one of the longest cave systems in Slovenia. The whole underground system of caves, tunnels and other features is 24 km long.
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So unique! I am sure it was a great experience for you guys. The last photo of the Christmas tree is absolutely stunning ❤
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nice!
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Hi Urska,
Sounds like a very special way to celebrate Christmas and I can imagine how those classic Christmas songs would resonate in that setting.
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This place looks really amazing ! I would like to be there 😀
About Three Kings: I invite for my post about that celebration in Spain:
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That seems really interesting. I’ve never heard of a cave doing anything like this before – so creative! Thanks for sharing! #farawayfiles
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Indeed! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
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This is such an unusual Christmas celebration, it sounds absolutely magical. #farawayfiles
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Oh yes, the cave itself resembles a fantasy world, illuminations and music just add a little something to make this place even more magical.
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Ha ha ha! I should have read your post before replying to your comment on my post! 😀
Two posts about caves, two extraordinarily different experiences. I’ve visited Slovenia twice now, with Postojna high on my to-do list both times, but I somehow never made it there. Your visit seems like such a unique experience – thanks for sharing this! #FarawayFiles
p.s. at least I wasn’t wrong about the Karst – phew! 😉
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Hehe, it happens. 😉
Indeed. A reminder how beautiful and diverse is our world. 🙂 Perhaps you’ll get to visit Postojna cave next time. They say third time is a charm. 😉
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What an amazing experience! It sounds like such a magical thing to do over the Christmas period. Thanks so much for sharing this with us on #FarawayFiles
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Indeed it was. 🙂
A pleasure. Thanks for hosting #FarawayFiles
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I love caves and I think it’s a great idea to display nativity scenes in it !
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What a super unique experience! Thanks for sharing!
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Wow, what a unique experience. It looks huge so maybe I could tolerate it as usually I am quite claustrophobic.
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Indeed it was. 🙂 It is large cave with many huge underground chambers, but there are some sections that are quite narrow. I’m afraid there you might feel claustrophobic.
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Wow Urska that looks like such a beautiful experience. Even though I am not religious I would really enjoy seeing the story of Christmas in this unique setting. Thanks for sharing it with us on #FarawayFiles
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I’m not religious either, but I still enjoyed the experience. Just to see this amazing underground world in different way than usual was well worth the visit. 🙂
It was a pleasure participating in #FarawayFiles. It’s such a great collection of interesting blogs. Thanks for hosting! 🙂
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This is what I ADORE about #FarawayFiles – you learn of things you never even knew existed! I am not particularly religious, but this sounds like such an interesting way to see a nativity celebrated. Thank you for sharing! Cheers from Copenhagen, Erin
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This is my favourite aspect of #FarawayFiles linkup too! Thanks again for hosting it! Greetings from Luzern! 🙂
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Ooh, I love it! Those poor actors must be freezing though!
Just out of curiousity, what’s it like hiking at that altitude? Is the air thinner at all? #FarawayFiles
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I don’t think the actors are feeling cold. They all wore warm clothes under the costumes. The temperature inside the cave is between 8-10 degrees Celsius which was warmer than the temperature outside the cave at the time of our visit.
The altitude of Postojna cave is about 500 meters above sea level, so no altitude problems there. 😉
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
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What a unique sight! I’d love to see this for myself.
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What an odd place to have a live nativity scene, but it sure it awesome! #WanderfulWednesday
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Hehe, it’s unusual place for nativity scenes, but it is surprisingly awesome. The magical underground setting and acoustics definitely add to the festive experience. 🙂
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I always wanted to go to a concert or event on the Postonja Caves but never managed to. It looks as dreamy as I would’ve expect!
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It is amazing, you should go! 🙂
BTW, where are you spending Christmas holidays?
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Wow, what an incredible place! It’s really magical!!
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Indeed it is! The setting, the music, the lights, the actors turn the cave into magical place. 🙂
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