Brestovská jaskyňa

Useful Information

Location:	Zuberecká Valley, close to Zuberec Village, opposite the open air Museum of Orava Village. Parking at the wooden amphitheatre. (49.259869, 19.659505)
Open:	JAN to APR Tue-Sun 9:30, 11, 12:30, 14. MAY to SEP Tue-Sun 9, 10:15, 11:30, 13, 14, 15, 16. OCT Tue-Sun 9:30, 11, 12:30, 14. [2021]
Fee:	Adults EUR 8, Children (6-15) 4, Children (0-5) not allowed, Disabled EUR 4, Students EUR 7, Seniors EUR 7. [2021]
Classification:	Karst cave
Light:
Dimension:	T=4-6 °C, A=867 m asl, L=1,890 m, VR=30 m.
Guided tours:	L=434 m, D=50 min, ST=240.
Photography:	Allowed, but only in places determined by the guides and without a tripod.
Accessibility:	No
Bibliography:
Address:	Brestovská jaskyňa, Mgr. Andrea Pivková, 027 32 Zuberec, Tel: +421-911-062363, E-mail:
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

1866	first written mention by the Polish botanist and Tatra naturalist T. Chalubinski.
1880s	exploration by J. G. Pawlikowski, who considers to open the cave for the public.
1923-1925	surveyed by Captain Kopečný with a group of soldiers from the Dolný Kubín garrison.
1949	after the establishment of the Slovak Speleological Society, J. Brodňanský, F. Čejka and others continued the exploration.
1968	first cave diving effort without result.
1979	siphon crossed and new passages discovered by the cave divers J. Kucharovič and V. Sláčik.
1981	new discoveries surveyed by Z. Hochmuth, J. Kucharovič, P. Marek, and V. Sláčik.
SEP-2016	opened to the public.

Description

Brestovská jaskyňa (Brestovská cave) is the youngest show cave of Slovakia, opened in 2016 for the public. It is located in the Western Tatras Mountains, the small part of the Tatras which belongs to the Slovak Republic, close to the Polish border. It is the very first show cave in this area and the 13th show cave in Slovakia.

This cave is small part of the hydrological system of the area. While the underground drainage is definitely connected, the cavers were so far not able to explore the whole cave system, as much of it is under water.

The small karst area is surrounded by insoluble rocks, and there are many features of typical contact karst. The water flowing on the surface is going underground, immediately after it reaches the limestone at the sinkholes of the Studený potok and in the valleys of Volariská and Múčnica. The unsaturated water dissolves the limestone fast and creates huge passages, the rivers also transport insoluble rock into the cave where it is sedimented.

The guided tour is following the main passage for 217 m, then it returns the same way. The trail has 240 steps. The cave is quite cold, around 5 °C, so warm clothes are recommended.

Brestovská jaskyňa was known for a long time. It was mentioned the first time by the Polish botanist and Tatra naturalist T. Chalubinski, who descibed it as the “cave at Cold Water springs”. Exploration started at the end of the 19th century and was continued with long breaks until today. After the dry part ws explored it took some time until cave divers were able to cross the siphons and continue exploration. Most of this exploration was done during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Today a water filled passage with seven siphons is explored and surveyed.