Potpeć Cave

Potpećka Pećina is entered through an arch shaped like a horseshoe standing seventy-two metres high, the tallest cave entrance in the Balkans, and the scale of it is the main thing visitors remember; a stream falls over the lip in wet weather, so the mouth can be curtained with water. Inside, the tour route climbs through several levels, with dripstone formations, a large hall and passages that connect upward to a second entrance, and steps and walkways handle the height difference: the lit trail through the upper hall is 555 metres long, reached by a staircase of some 750 steps, and the cave runs to just over a kilometre. The cave was used as a shelter and has archaeological deposits. The setting is a wooded valley in the hills above Užice, and the site is quieter than the better-known caves further east, so tours are smaller.

What's there

• The horseshoe entrance - a seventy-two-metre arch at the cave mouth.
• The multi-level route - passages climbing through the system.
• Dripstone halls - formations in the interior chambers.
• The waterfall curtain - water falling over the entrance in wet weather.

When to go

April to October; the entrance waterfall runs after rain and in spring. The cave is cool inside year round. Winter opening is limited and access can be icy.

Before you go

The route involves many steps and a substantial climb inside, which is harder than a level show cave. It is wet and slippery. Tours are guided, in Serbian by default. Facilities at the site are basic.

Nearby

Užice lies northeast; Zlatibor is south.

Key facts