Predjama Things to Do

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Even if you don't have time to visit the interior, I'd still recommend at least driving by if you are visiting Postojna Caves as the setting, built into the side of a cave, is the coolest thing about this castle. It's easy to understand why they thought this was a good place for a fortress/castle, can't get to it from the top, can't get to it from the bottom and the caves provide secret passageways for the residents to elude invaders and get vital supplies. The formal entrance is through a drawbridge.

The 1st castle on this site was thought to have been built in the 12th century. At the time of Erasmus (Erazem) in the 15th century it was operating as a fortress, probably not very pleasant to live in but a safe place to hide from his pursuers. The castle was modified in 1570 by Ivan Kobenzl, the castle was restored to look like it was in his day. In the 1800s it was owned by a count and a prince and is now open for tourism.

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If time is short or money really tight I don't think a visit to the interior of Predjama Castle is a must see but I thought it was interesting enough to make a stop should you have the time and the funds.

The interior has been restored to how it looked in the 16th century after the castle was modified by then owner Ivan Kobenzl, after the time of it's most famous resident Erasmus. The tour is self guided and while a little hard to follow with the directional signs, the printed guide shows the route. The visit took us around 40 minutes.

The wax people are a little creepy especially the friar who looks like he's ready to give birth any minute and the man suspended by a rope in the torture chamber.

We bought a combined ticket for Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle which saved us 2E per person, a combined ticket was 23E, a ticket just for the Castle 7E. Open every day:

January, February, March, November, December 10:00-16:00
April, October 10:00-18:00
May, June, July, August, September 9:00-19:00

Looking out the window of the Castle, I noticed an area set up for jousting, from the website it looks like there is a an annual tournament here in August, Erasmus Knights Tournament. Rough Guide says it's the last or second to last Sunday, the last one listed on the website is August 20, 2006.

There's also a Cave under the Castle tour that you can do May-September at 11:00, 13:00, 15:00 and 17:00 for 7E or in combination with the Castle for 12E (2E cheaper than separately). No tours in the other months, apparently there are bats hibernating. You can get more information on the attached website.

The strange story of Erazem fascinated us at once... the great rebel that could not be caught killed in that way!! The castle is really incredible, it seems it can stay there against the rocks for a pure miracle, but it stays there and has been staying there for centuries.

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The Predjama castle is a fascinating castle built in a cliff. It’s interesting to walk through this castle with its different rooms and see how it’s nestled into the rock. There’s also a very nice cave under the castle (see my other tip).
The building is from the 16th century with some remainders from an earlier castle and once was home of the robber baron Erazem (Erasmus). The castle was beset for more than one year until finally Erasmus was betrayed by a servant and killed – on the toilet! Each year end of August, the castle is place of the Erazem Knights’ tournament – unfortunately we couldn’t made it, but it must be interesting!

Open from 9:00 to 19:00 from June to August, shorter during other months.
Admission: 1100 SIT (adults). There are several packages (for example with the Postojna cave), rates can be found on the website.

This is a very nice cave which is part of the Postojna cave system. Actually this are two separate caves, but are visited together. It’s fortunately less touristy than the Postojna cave – we’ve been only four persons at the guided tour. So our tour could be in German, but the guide also spoke English. The cave is situated at a camping place. A nice camping place, by the way, with bungalows and a pool, situated in the forest with lots of place (and trees) between all the motor homes.

In the Pivka cave, you first go along the river Pivka, on a path that sometimes gets flooded. That’s why they only open in summer and do special tours at the other times if the situation permits. You’ll see some small halls with lots of nice dripstones. In the Black cave, all dripstones are black from soot, as formerly people went there with flambeaus and made fire inside the cave. Both caves are connected by a tunnel.

The guided tour takes about one and a half hours. 20 Minutes of this time are the way back to the camping as the exit is somewhere else.
Guided tours are at 9:00, 13:00 and 15:00 (May to September).
Admission: 1690 SIT (20% rabate with ‘Show your card’). Tickets at the camping reception.

Under the Predjama Castle there’s also a nice cave. Every second person gets a torch light as there’s not electricity in the cave. It’s a complete different feeling do walk around in a cave with those torches, I loved it! Also in other caves you rarely can see bats as they avoid those illuminated parts, but here you could see lots of sleeping and flying bats. If you did lighten up a sleeping bat, it first started to turn, then the bat opened the eyes and suddenly flew around you! Very funny!

The guided tour takes 40 minutes, we had a tour in English.
Tours are at 11:00, 13:00, 15:00 and 17:00, only from May to September.
Admission: 1100 SIT (Package of the castle and cave is 2000 SIT).

Built into the cliff, in a beautiful valley this is a charming, picturesque, castle. Once you cross the bridge over the motte you feel like you went back 1000 years back in time. From within the castle you have great views of the valley and the river below.

See more images of the castle and the valley in the travelogue.

The castle is built above a cave which you can explore. A visit to the cave lasts 45 minutes.

Castle Time Table:

Jan-Mar, Nov-Dec: 10.00 - 16.00
Apr, Oct: 10.00 - 18.00
May-Sep: 9.00 - 19.00

Cave Time Table:

Jan-Apr: Closed
May-Sep: 11.00, 13.00, 15.00, 17.00
Oct-Dec: Closed