Caves

Caves

Many of Montenegro's caves are among the most beautiful speleological sites in Europe and the world. Have you been to a fairy tale lately? 

Or at least read it to your children? Let me invite you on a fascinating journey through the famous caves of Montenegro. You will see that this is truly a fantastic beauty!

Montenegro never ceases to amaze tourists with its natural wonders. This small country can show many interesting, unusual and unforgettable things. 

But in addition to the beauty that can be seen by every tourist, and even a casual passer-by, Montenegro has hidden creations of nature in the depths of the earth, created over millions of years.

Unfortunately, due to their inaccessibility, they are only accessible to specialist speleologists and climbers, as well as trained fans of extreme sports. 

In the meantime, some of the Montenegrin caves are among the most beautiful speleological sites in Europe and the world.

According to speleologists, there are over 10 thousand caves in Montenegro, but almost none of them are shown to tourists, despite the fact that neighboring countries, such as Croatia, generate decent income from cave excursions.

The Montenegrin mountains belong to the Dinaric Alps. This is a series of mountain ranges and massifs that stretch for 650 km along the Adriatic coast on the Balkan Peninsula.

The Dinaric Alps are among the youngest types of alpine folded mountains, whose geological age does not exceed 65 million years. The process of building mountains in this region has not yet been completed. And all this time nature has been creating real masterpieces in the rocky depths: beautiful caves with huge halls, underground rivers and lakes.

Anyone who finds themselves in this underground world, surrounded by silence and semi-darkness, will see richly decorated halls that can be compared to real royal palaces.

It is difficult to say which of the numerous caves in Montenegro is the most beautiful. All of them are beautiful in their own way. We will introduce you to just a few of them.

Đalović Cave

The most famous cave in Montenegro and probably one of the largest in Europe is Đalovićeva Pećina. It is located about 40 km from the town of Bijelo Polje, in the Đalovića Gorge, in the canyon of the Bistrica River, above Vražje virovi – a lake that usually dries up by summer. This is where the main entrance to the cave is located.

The way to the cave is not easy: to get there, tourists have to travel about two hours by car from Kolašin to the nearest village to the cave, Đalovići. And from the village it is at least an hour's walk.

Experts from different countries have studied the Dzhalovich Cave. Their research has shown that this unique natural object has significant speleological value and can be very attractive to tourists. The municipality of Bijelo Polje could significantly increase its budget by developing speleological tourism.

It is difficult to say which of the numerous caves in Montenegro is the most beautiful. They are all beautiful in their own way.

The year of discovery of Đalović's cave is considered to be 1987, when Belgrade speleologists began to explore it. It is assumed that the total length of the cave with all branches exceeds 200 km. By 1997, about 10 km of passages had been built. Later, speleologists from the Czech Republic walked about 9 km more.

Since the entrance to the cave is located on the territory of Montenegro, and Đalović's cave itself is on the territory of Serbia, it remained in an "unused" state for a long time. 

The Serbs had no interest in investing in the development of the cave or in turning it into an attractive tourist attraction, because the only entrance, although difficult to access, is on the territory of Montenegro.

Today, short excursions to Đalović's cave are sometimes organized. A visit to the cave is considered an extreme level of difficulty program. 

Only experienced tourists who are physically well prepared and have the skills to descend into the caves are allowed here. An important point is psychological stability, because the cave is, first of all, a closed space in which there are no natural and well-known sights.

The groups consist of a small number of participants, as already mentioned, with serious speleological training. The duration of the excursion directly into the cave itself is about 4 hours, each tourist is assigned two guides-instructors to accompany him. The return trip takes about two hours.

About 2.5 km of halls and corridors are available for viewing. Visitors are offered a truly surreal spectacle, with all kinds of geological decorations imaginable - a frozen stone shower of stalactites, cyclopean stalagmite columns as high as a four-story building. 

Channels filled with water, underground lakes where you can sail in light rubber boats and a "crystal rose", a magnificent decoration that is very rarely found in caves. Gigantic halls, in which the vaults reach a height of thirty meters, disappear into the semi-darkness...