We were in the Low Tatras. It was impossible to miss the most beautiful cave in Slovakia. We decided to go there – to Demänovská Cave of Liberty.
To reach the cave we had to go south from Liptovsky Mikulas, pass the motorway junction and continue on the road No. 584 guided in the direction of Demänovská Valley. Just along the road there is a nice parking area with a large sign Demänovská jaskyňa slobody. From the parking lot you have to go about few hundred meters uphill to reach the entrance. The entrance is located in a large building, which is also the ground floor of a hotel.
A few words about how Slovaks earn from tourists. Firstly parking – just 5 euros for leaving your car in the forest car park. Next – entrance fee (8 Euro adult, 4 Euro Child). Another charge which was quite strange – taking pictures for 10 euros, which seemed quite unjustified to us. It is interesting that photographers get a special reflective sticker that allows them to take pictures freely.
In the cave there are two routes. We chose the shorter, because we didn’t know for sure how the children would endure a tour in the interior of the Earth. We saw what’s the most beautiful inside. The cave is very beautiful and made an impression on us. The shorter route has a length of 1150 m and a height difference of 86 meters – visiting takes an hour.
Tour can be done only with an organized group, which starts every 1.5 hours. When planning a trip to the cave, it is worth remembering that it is closed every Monday. The cool thing was that the tour was in Polish. Most of the tourists in our group came from Poland. Tour was well prepared. All parts of the cave had lights, so we could enter the cave without flashlights. Periodically there were stopping points where we waited for the rest of group. While waiting, we were able to hear a story about the place where we currently were.
Inside the cave year-round temperature is 7 °C and considerable moisture. In winter it is even warmer inside than outside.
Our children bravely took the route. It was not so easy because we had to climb about 900 stairs. Justine had a slower pace than the rest of the group and for part of the route she was carried in her dad’s arms. Throughout the whole route she was telling us how she knew about caves and bats that live here. It was very fun.
After visiting the cave we became hungry. On the way we stopped at the restaurant Mikuláš Atlas. Here, the popularity of the restaurant surprised us, because there were no free tables. Fortunately, staff opened for us the second part of the restaurant – the VIP area. In a truly luxurious conditions we ate dinner there. Cheap and good, so we can definitely recommend this restaurant.