How much is a Postojna Cave tour?

Postojna is a cave you ride into. An underground train takes visitors in from the entrance, and that train is the reason this cave is famous rather than merely large; it is also the reason the day has a fixed shape. Almost every trip on this site pairs it with Predjama Castle, the fortress built into a cliff a short drive away, because the two sit close enough to share an afternoon. So the price of a Postojna Cave tour is not the price of a ticket. It is the price of a vehicle, a driver-guide and somewhere between five and eleven and a half hours of a day that starts and finishes in Ljubljana.

Start with the line that explains most of the spread on this page. Whether the entry tickets are inside the fare is the single biggest difference between two numbers that look like they are selling the same morning. Four listings name entry in their inclusions: our top pick $131 carries entrance to Postojna Cave, entrance to Predjama Castle, an audio guide at the castle and a skip-the-line service; $122 names the entrance fee for both; $160 names the cave entry ticket with the train ride and guided cave tour, plus the castle ticket with its audio guide; and $194 carries entry to the cave, Predjama and Bled Castle as well. Everything else on the page prices the journey and leaves the gate to you.

That is what $57 is. Six hours, an air-conditioned vehicle, a driver and a pickup from a central meeting point — a genuinely good number for the travelling, and the lowest on this site. $78 does the same for five hours with a professional English-speaking guide and a minivan capped at eight passengers. $83 adds a multilingual audio guide and WiFi to a six-hour small-group run. Three listings go one step further and name a discount rather than an inclusion: $74 lists ten per cent off the cave and castle tickets through the agency, $137 lists thirteen per cent, and $113 lists a discount without a figure. Useful to know, and it is not the same as the tickets being in the fare.

So when you compare $57 with $131, you are not comparing two prices for one day. You are comparing a fare that covers the road with a fare that covers the road, both entries, the skip-the-line service and the audio guide at the castle. The gap of $74 is what that difference is worth on the booking page, and it is why $131 is the trip we point people at: it is the version of the day where nothing further needs buying once you are on the coach.

The transfer from Ljubljana is the second thing inside the fare, and it is inside every one of these thirteen. Postojna is not somewhere you walk to from the old town, and each listing prices the vehicle, the driver and the hours. Where they differ is the pickup: $131 and $194 name pickup and drop-off from designated locations inside the city, $132 and $78 name central Ljubljana, $166 names hotel pickup, and $57 and $103 name a centrally located meeting point. Read that line before you book a hotel on the edge of town.

The size of the group is the third, and it moves the number more than people expect. $78 caps the minivan at eight passengers. $57 lists a small group of eight maximum too. $132 and $83 are listed as small group. A smaller vehicle means fewer people to gather at each stop and a guide who is talking to you rather than to a coach, and on a day built around one cave and one castle that shows up in the pace of the whole afternoon.

Lake Bled or Piran is the fourth, and it is the one that doubles the day. Seven listings here add a second place: $103, $132, $137, $166 and $194 add Lake Bled; $113 and $160 add Piran on the Adriatic. These run ten to eleven and a half hours and they carry more than the cave: $194 includes Bled Castle and the traditional Bled cream cake alongside both Postojna entries, $137 includes a guided tour of Bled, transfers to the viewpoints around the lake and the cream cake and coffee at the castle, $132 includes the pletna boat out to the island, and $160 includes both Postojna tickets plus a walking tour and free time in Piran. When a listing runs past ten hours, read the length as a map: the second destination is part of what you are paying for, and your evening is shorter.

One line before the table, because it is the question we are asked most. The cave has its own gate, and none of these thirteen listings publishes what that gate charges. We will not invent a figure for it. What we can tell you precisely is which fares already contain it and which do not, and that is exactly what the columns below do.

If you want the whole day settled before you leave Ljubljana: $131. Six hours, entrance to Postojna Cave and to Predjama Castle inside the fare, a skip-the-line service, an audio guide at the castle and pickup from a designated point in the city. It holds 2,655 reviews at 4.8 — almost half of everything written about this niche — and it is our top pick for the plain reason that nothing else needs buying once you are aboard. The gap over the lowest fare is $74, and what it buys is both gates and the queue.

If you want the same thing in a small group: $122. Five and a half hours, listed as small group, with the entrance fee for Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle named in the inclusions and an English-speaking guide with you for both. 166 reviews at 4.8, and the shortest of the ticket-inclusive days.

If the guiding is what you care about: $74. Five and a half hours with professional licensed driver-guides, a skip-the-line service and ten per cent off the cave and castle tickets through the agency. 413 reviews at 4.9, the highest-rated of the short days with a serious sample behind it.

If you want the smallest vehicle: $78 at five hours with a minivan capped at eight passengers and central Ljubljana pickup, or $57 at six hours, also a small group of eight, with a driver and a central meeting point. Both hold 4.9. On these two the entry tickets are bought at Postojna rather than on the booking page, so budget for the gate as well as the fare.

If you have one day in Slovenia and want two of its best-known places: $194. Eleven and a half hours, entry to Postojna Cave, Predjama Castle and Bled Castle all inside the fare, a sightseeing tour of the Lake Bled area, the traditional Bled cream cake and pickup inside Ljubljana. It is the highest fare on this page and the fullest day on it: 852 reviews at 4.8. $137 is the same idea at eleven hours with a guided tour of Bled, transfers to the viewpoints around the lake, a boat to the island and thirteen per cent off the Postojna tickets, and it holds 5.0 across 135 reviews.

If you would rather finish the day by the sea: $160 at ten hours, with the Postojna cave ticket (train ride and guided cave tour), the Predjama ticket with its audio guide, and a walking tour plus free time in Piran — the ticket-inclusive way to do the coast. $113 is the same shape at ten hours with a scenic stop at the Piran city walls and a listed ticket discount, and holds 4.9 across 392 reviews.