Ledenika Cave

The Ledenika Cave is situated in the Vratsa Balkan – Stara Planina Mountain, south-west of the town of Vratsa (16 km asphalt road and approximately 2,5 hours on foot along a marked tourist track). This cave is one of the most interesting ones in Bulgaria, and its interior is magnificent. There are several halls with beautiful formations, the most impressive of which is the Concert hall (60 m long, 46 m wide and 22.7 m high) which has a fantastic acoustics. It has hosted a lot of concerts. The entry fee is just a symbolic one. Next to the cave there is a tourist settlement. Ledenika Chalet is nearby, too. In the direction to the settlement there is also an open-chair lift, its initial station being between the town of Vratsa and the village of Zgorigrad, which is located next to the south end of Vratsa Gorge. There is regular bus transport to the lift.

The cave of Ledenika is extremely cold. In winter the entrance area contains lots of icicles, flowstones of ice, sometimes they can last until late summer. This is the reason, why the cave is called Ledenika: ‘Led’ in Bulgarian means Ice, ‘Ledenika’ means Glacier.
The biggest room called Concert Hall, is one of the largest caverns among all Bulgarian caves, 23m high. It has been location of concerts and performances for several times. Ledenika is richly decorated with speleothems: stalactites, stalagmites, curtains and water falls. Thus it is the most frequently visited show cave in Bulgaria. It is worth seeing it, while hiking, skiing, biking or simply exploring the area.
It is approximately 300 meters in length and with the altitude of 830 meters the cave retains constant temperatures from -7 C to -15 C and the moisture of the air is about 92% the whole year. Ledenika cave was officially opened for tourists in 1961 and a year later was announced a national landmark of Bulgaria.