the magura cave

I visited the cave for a second time, the previous being back in 2008. I saw some improvements - more things to buy at the cash desk, signs outside the cave (about the bats in the cave), a cafe. There are tour guides with which you enter, and as the majority of the group were Bulgarians, the tour was conducted in Bulgarian. Maybe there are options of other languages, but I don;t know. At least, because we were with a friend who isn't Bulgarian and doesn't speak the language, I had to do the interpreting simultaneously. The guide offered help, when noticing I was interpreting - I managed, but if I needed help, I'm sure he would have tried to think of something to combine the Bulgarian and English guiding. The walk takes approx. 1 hour, with 15-20 minutes more if you want to visit the prehistoric drawings. I suggest you pay the additional 5 leva per person. Each group of drawings have their own story - some showing hunting scenes, others symbolize fertility, as well as a calendar.One advice: make sure your shoes are comfortable enough. It's slippery inside. At the most slippery parts there are much needed rails, but there are a few exceptions so watch your step. Inside you'll see the second biggest stalacton in Bulgaria, as well as the biggest fallen stalacton - "The Fallen Pine" - my personal favourite. Watch carefully and you'll see other things and creatures. While you'll definitely see many groups of bats hanging from above, you might even get the chance to see one less than 1 meter above you.When you walk outside, you'll see the Rabisha lake. There's a wine shop outside, selling the famous local wine "Magura" - produced with the invaluable help of the conditions of the cave. There's a amusement train which will lead you back to the car parking. I think it was 2 or 5 leva, I'm not quite sure.. Otherwise it's approx. 2 km walk on the road.

Quite an impressive cave. I was expecting less from such an unknown cave, compared to some more popular ones such as Ledenika cave. but it certainly is quite a fantastic cave. Huge caverns with huge stalactites and stalagmites. You can even see some prehistoric paintings for a bit more money. Once the cave tour is done you can buy Magura wine and catch a little train ride back to the car park. Only gripe with this place is that the cave tour guide only spoke Bulgarian. I am not sure but it may be just because we visited in low season.

Unlike most places in Bulgaria, this was quite well sign-posted so getting there was easy. However, we turned up just before a large coach group. This meant there was about 60 on our cave tour, which was vastly too many. The tour was conducted in Bulgarian, so be aware of that as you will see some great formations but get none of the stories or history. It was a long journey of about 1km underground and some parts are quite treacherously slippery. If, like me, you are a fan of cave visits, then worth the walk - and the kids would probably enjoy it also.

If you are in Belogradchik don't miss the magura cave, 25 km from belogradchik. It is very interesting not only for the speleological point of view (huge spaces and very interesting stalagmites) but also for the astonishing prehistoric rock paintings. Black figures made by the guano of the bats (you must ask specifically to see the paintings). The cave is long km 2,5 and entering from a side, you will go out from the other side where there is a lake and you can buy some bottles of local produced wine.

However there is no tour guide! Not good if you are unsure on foot as very slippery and climbing rocks on route. Not many handrails! Children need to be supervised at all times. Bats are amazing but fly very close and are often nesting in the walls. No real direction around the caves and the exit is far from the car park. There was a motor train but it was not in operation when we went so had to walk a good 20 minutes. Wine is sold outside from the Magura winery which was very good.

I knew before we went that we would not be able to see the cave paintings, because right now (June 2014) they are out of bounds. We arrived at 10.10 to find that the advertized time for tours was on the hour. However, we bought tickets and were waved on to enter the cave by ourselves. I really mean by ourselves - no-one was there at all for 45 minutes. We crept around the slippery floor and steps, and saw caverns, stalagmites, etc. etc. Passed through several T-junctions, and was relieved to find our way back. Good job there was no power failure or we might still be there. Scary - just a bit, but more memorable for the feeling of solitude in this vast cave complex with interesting formations. As we were leaving a guide speaking English came with a dozen people, so clearly guided tours do happen.

If you like caves then this is a pretty decent one to check out. The amount of it that's open to the public is very extensive and it's fairly impressive. Worth the drive from Belogradchik.

We visited the cave during our stay in Belogradchik. It is some 25 km far from there, the route is well signed. The tour of the cave takes 1 hour (5BGN -adult,3BGN child) at the end you can take a tourist train back to the parking (2BGN adult, 1 BGN child) or you can walk back around a nice lake which is 2 km.

Me ha gustado muchísimo, pero no me he sentido muy a gusto sabiendo que estoy bajo tierra. Me daba horror al pensar que si se apagaran de pronto las luces nos quedaríamos sumidos en tinieblas.

Il "molto buono" le va assegnato per quello che ne dicono le guide, cioè la presenza di graffiti preistorici che sono un patrimonio dell'umanità, che però non si possono vedere (per la volontà, saggia, di preservarle dal vandalismo di quei visitatori che non si sono fatti scrupolo di incidere i propri graffiti in altri punti della grotta). Per il resto, la visita di 45 minuti fa scoprire caverne molto ampie ma meno suggestive di molte altre esistenti in Europa, con un'illuminazione scarsa - che non valorizza a dovere alcune delle formazioni minerali presenti all'interno - e un terreno molto scivoloso. La visita guidata forse è piacevole, a giudicare dalle risate dei presenti, ma chi non conosce la lingua bulgara fatica ad apprezzarla. Può darsi che organizzino anche gite in inglese, ma non è stato il nostro caso. Quanto alla cantina del vino Magura che, a quanto pare, è presente in un altro punto della grotta, è visitabile solo su appuntamento. Chi compie la visita (e poi, se il trenino non è in funzione, deve farsi un chilometro e mezzo per tornare all'entrata e al parcheggio) può solo acquistare bottiglie di annate recenti nel chioschetto posto all'uscita. Le stesse che si acquistano nel chiosco accanto alla fortezza di Belogradcik. Strano ma varo: i bulgari hanno un'enorme quantità di buoni vini ma quasi in nessun luogo esistono negozi specializzati che li vendano (a Sofia, nel centro, non ce n'è neppure uno!) e i supermercati ne hanno una scelta alquanto limitata...

Bellissima grotta visitabile solo con guida, tiket presso Belogradchik, al'uscita della grotta si può acquistare l'ottimo vino Magura ( la migliore bottiglia 15 leva ) il vino invecchia all'interno della grotta a 12 gradi costanti.