No machine-readable author provided. Žiga assumed (based on copyright claims). · Public domain
The descent
160 metres down, to scale.
The real relief above Wild Lake, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
Great Pyramid (139 m) would fit upside down 1.2 times.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey.
160m
Depth
published (Wikidata)
340m
Entrance altitude
published (Wikidata)
12°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
407m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
12 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 12 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 28 °C at the entrance, 16 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from July to August.
- 4°-2°Jan
- 6°-1°Feb
- 10°2°Mar
- 16°6°Apr
- 20°11°May
- 25°15°Jun
- 28°17°Jul
- 28°17°Aug
- 22°12°Sep
- 16°8°Oct
- 10°4°Nov
- 6°0°Dec
Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.
Lake and a karst spring near Idrija in western Slovenia
Wild Lake is a cave in Slovenia. It goes down 160 m below the entrance. The entrance is at 340 m. It has an underground lake.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Idrijanearest town · 2.3 km in a straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 0.0 km from the entrance
- Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport (LJU)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 43 km in a straight lineCar hire at LJU airport (Zgornji Brnik)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the entrance.
- 1other cave entrances within 3 kmAndrejčkov Brezen
- 3springs within 2 kmPodroteja
- 5viewpoints within 3 kmPrižnica, Tičnica and 3 more
- 9marked hiking routes within 3 kmSlovenska planinska pot, Idrijsko-Cerkljanska planinska pot, Slovenska geološka pot and 6 more
- 1climbing crags within 3 km
- 28car parks within 2 km
- 26information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 5bus stops within 2 km
- 2campsites within 8 kmCamperstop Inzaghi
- 13hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmTuristična kmetija Pr'Mark, Na starem placu, Villa Avo and 10 more
- 7restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Idrija2.3 km in a straight line
- Spodnja Idrija5.5 km in a straight line
- Žiri9.2 km in a straight line
- Ajdovščina14 km in a straight line
- Lokavec15 km in a straight line
- Vipava16 km in a straight line
- Cerkno16 km in a straight line
- Gorenja Vas17 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Wild Lake.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 4 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 20 | 25 | 28 | 28 | 22 | 16 | 10 | 6 |
| Afternoon | 4 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 20 | 25 | 28 | 28 | 22 | 16 | 10 | 6 |
| Night | -2 | -1 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 15 | 17 | 17 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| Rain (mm) | 65 | 76 | 77 | 75 | 96 | 86 | 81 | 95 | 116 | 111 | 121 | 96 |
| Rainy days | 8 | 8 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 |
| Sun hours/day | 3.8 | 4.6 | 5.6 | 5.7 | 6.2 | 7.4 | 8.2 | 7.3 | 5.9 | 4.6 | 3.1 | 3.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 14 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 12 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 4 | 4 | -2 | 65 | 3.8 |
| Feb | 6 | 6 | -1 | 76 | 4.6 |
| Mar | 10 | 10 | 2 | 77 | 5.6 |
| Apr | 16 | 16 | 6 | 75 | 5.7 |
| May | 20 | 20 | 11 | 96 | 6.2 |
| Jun | 25 | 25 | 15 | 86 | 7.4 |
| Jul | 28 | 28 | 17 | 81 | 8.2 |
| Aug | 28 | 28 | 17 | 95 | 7.3 |
| Sep | 22 | 22 | 12 | 116 | 5.9 |
| Oct | 16 | 16 | 8 | 111 | 4.6 |
| Nov | 10 | 10 | 4 | 121 | 3.1 |
| Dec | 6 | 6 | 0 | 96 | 3.4 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (340 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Inside and around.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 35% | 57% | 142% | 37% | 96% | 199% | 110% | 176% | 108% | 217% | 30% | 284% |
| 2021 | 244% | 131% | 44% | 141% | 260% | 40% | 152% | 113% | 59% | 73% | 136% | 105% |
| 2022 | 74% | 64% | 51% | 113% | 70% | 67% | 93% | 93% | 268% | 52% | 105% | 198% |
| 2023 | 213% | 28% | 112% | 144% | 160% | 142% | 257% | 253% | 71% | 254% | 162% | 166% |
| 2024 | 199% | 179% | 232% | 143% | 237% | 147% | 118% | 74% | 219% | 221% | 49% | 55% |
| 2025 | 221% | 83% | 219% | 119% | 142% | 45% | 201% | 120% | 146% | 148% | 114% | 27% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q3110294) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.






