Gombasecká Cave

From the canyon of Slaná to the underground of the Silická plateau

Gombasecká Cave belongs among the most important caves of the Slovak Karst national park. It is known mostly by occurrence of thin straw stalactites. Within the „Caves of Slovak and Aggtelek Karst“ it was inscribed on the world heritage list.

Notes:

^*1 - Children from 6 to 15 years; disabled over 15 years with valid certificate
^*2 - Full-time students - if studying at a university, a confirmation of student status for the current academic year; Persons over 60
^*3 - Photo-Video - Taking pictures and short video recording without using a tripod can be accomplished only during cave visit after payment of entrance fee and extra fee for taking pictures. The fluency and safety of cave operation mustn’t be disrupted.
^*4 - Extra admission can be enabled by the cave manager on visitor’s request only between the times of regular admissions and after paying the admission fee and extra fee. The fluency of cave operation mustn’t be disrupted.

NO RESERVATIONS OF ADMISSIONS ARE PROVIDED. During low visiting numbers the admission are scheduled according to preset times, however during high visiting numbers the admissions are organized continuously in intervals corresponding to current possibilities at individual caves, i.e. also between the preset times.

The length of accessible part of the cave is 285 m, but since almost all the path is walked through twice, the length of the show path is 530 m, the duration of the visit is 30 min. Vertical distance is only 7-8 m, and the number of steps is 87. Air temperature in the cave reaches 9 to 9,4°C.

The visitors can watch the thin, hollow flowstone soda straw stalactites, which are formed and preserved here like in no other cave in Slovakia. Except for them, there are other forms of stalactites, stalagmites, thin flowstone layers and crusts.

Exact wording of rules and restrictions is stated in the visiting rules

It is situated on the western foothill of the Silická Plateau in the Slovak Karst National Park. Cave entrance is located 11 m above the Black Resurgence  at elevation of 250 m above the sea.

The cave is located 10 km southerly from Rožňava, on the left hand side of the Slaná River canyon, between Rožňava and Plešivec. The parking place is very close to the cave.

The closest stop of public transport:

• Slavec (bus, train)

Car access to cave:

• from Rožňava direction Tornaľa – 10 km
• from Tornaľa direction Rožňava – 20 km

GPS súradnice

It is formed in the Middle Triassic pale Wetterstein limestones, dark-grey Gutenstein limestones, pale limestones and dolomitic limestones along the tectonic faults, by corrosive and erosive activities of the Black Brook  and its intermittent tributary from the well in the Marble Hall. The Gombasecká Cave and Silická Ice Cave are a part of the Silica-Gombasek underground hydrological system. Both the caves are separated by so far unknown section of the Black Brook. It springs to the surface through the Black Resurgence, 11 m above the bottomland of the Slaná River.

The Gombasecká Cave represents a fluviokarst outlet cave, which is 1,525 m long. The two floors consist of oval, river modeled as well as fissure passages, which are in places widened by collapses into domes and halls. The upper floor is situated 5 to 10 above the active riverbed of the Black Brook, which flows in the lower parts of the cave. The Dry Passage, located on the upper floor, was formed by waters of unknown origin, which intermittently rise through the 10 m deep well in the Marble Hall also at present.

The cave is unique by thin straw stalactites, which can reach as much as 3 meters’ length. Also other forms of stalactites, stalagmites, sinter curtains, coatings and crusts can be found here. Air temperature in the cave ranges between 9.0 and 9.4 ºC, and relative humidity between 95 and 97%.

Remarkable is the finding of a blind multipede of Typhloiulus sp. genus with 26 mm body length, which represents the biggest troglobite – genuine cave animal ever found in the Slovakian caves. From among the bats, which occur in the cave only occasionally, we can observe the Smaller Horseshoe Bat sometimes in spring or autumn season. Fire salamanders (Salamandra salamandra) use to dwell in the entrance passage from autumn to spring in the recent years.

Volunteer cavers from Rožňava, organized in the Slovak Speleological Society, discovered the cave in 1951 (V. Rozložník, L. Herényi, Š. Roda, A. Abonyi, A. Rusňák, Š. Ivanec and others). They entered the underground spaces through the Black Resurgence with the help of some excavation works. The cave has been opened to the public since 1955, thanks to L. Herényi and his collaborators. It had been used for speleotherapy for ten year since 1968, as the first cave in Slovakia. The length of accessible part is 285 m.

Herényi’s Hall

Rozložník’s Hall – Chinese Pagoda

Flowstone decoration - Soda Straws

Marble Hall – Medusa

Gothic Passage

Herényi’s Hall

• Visiting rules
• Information leaflet
• Cave tour guide