Bijambare Caves

My first "proper" Bosnia and Herzegovina caves! The Bijambare caves. Wonderful karst caves, and in the largest one there are massive halls and massive tunnels. Well worth visiting if you're near Sarajevo!

And in those massive halls there's not only a caveman, but also a girl appearing in a stalagmite!

There are eight caves in the area, but only two are open for tourists. I did not have time to visit other ones due to some conference call that I needed to be on, so I don't know if the other ones were actually locked, or if they were just challenging. The signs on site said that the other caves can only be visited with experienced speleologists.

The biggest cave, Srednja Bijambarska is 553 meters long and at N 44.094563 E 18.503169. The smaller, Gornja Bijambarska, is 112 meters long and at N 44.094455 E 18.503559. Here are their approximate maps, as photographed on the site from the information signs:

It is not known when they were first discovered, but there's signatures in the caves from late 19th century.

In the area there's a nice restaurant, hiking paths, etc. The site is 2-3 kilometers from the parking lot, and you can't drive here. However, there's an electric train that takes tourists, not sure how often, perhaps every half an hour or so. You will have to pay separately for this. Please reserve local cash for everything you do here, they do not accept credit cards.

Much worth visiting. I particularly liked the Srednja cave, and the fact that one could walk on your own through the cave. Your pace, no big crowds, no waiting, that was wonderful! The cave itself is a real beauty too.

The Bijambare caves web site is here. There's also a wikipedia article.

(Wondering about why these caves were my first "proper" ones in Bosnia? Because I also visited some smaller ones earlier.

Srednja pictures:

Gornja pictures:

Park entrance:

Read more urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. Photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko, maps are snapshots on site. All rights reserved.