Еменска пещера

Emenska Pestera

Useful Information

Location:	20 km west of Veliko Tarnovo. 8 km from the main road Sofia-Varna. Leaving Emen to the north the road goes uphill to the plateau. Halfway up turn right to the parking lot at the end of the road. Trailhead of Eco Trail Emen Canyon. Cave entrance right above the parking lot. (43.1386135, 25.3607149)
Open:	no restrictions. [2026]
Fee:	free. [2026]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:	L=3,113 m, T=16 °C.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Emenska Pestera, Tel: +359-.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1980	Emen Canyon declared a protected reserve by Decree № 880.
1985-1991	cave system explored and surveyed by local cavers.

Description

Еменска пещера (Emenska Pestera, Emen Cave) is named after nearby village Emen, as well as Emen Gorge. The river Негованка (Negovanka) flows through the village and then cuts through the plateau to the north forming the Еменски каньон (Emen Gorge). The cave is at the end of the road, right above the parking lot. It is the trailhead for the hike through the canyon, Bulgaria’s first ecological route named the Negovanka Route or Eco Trail Emen Canyon. Its unclear where this "eco" originates from, probably from the rather rustic wooden bridges which were buitl for this trail. It’s about 30 minutes to the Водопад Момин скок (Momin Skok Waterfall, Girls’ Leap Waterfall) which is also called Emen Waterfall. The name is from the legend that Ottomans were pursuing three local women, who preferred to jump off the falls into death rather than be captured. The gorge has up to 90 m high vertical walls.

This cave is a rather spacious passage without any speleothems. It has a total length of 3 km, but only the entrance section of the main passage are freely accessible. It was frequented by man since prehistoric times, excavations revealed numerous remains including clay vessels and household items from the Bronze Age, the early and later Iron Age, as well as Antiquity. But the level floor and the ruins are a result of more recent times, when the cave was used as a mushroom farm and for the ripening of cheese during the socialist era. It also had installations belonging to the military base built above it, probably the origin of the now defunct elevator shaft. Later it was converted into a restaurant. All those recent uses were short-lived but left traces.