Baredine Cave

Show cave with stalactites and the rare cave salamander, 7 km north of town

Seven kilometres north-east of Porec, just off the road to Visnjan, the limestone karst opens into a 132-metre-deep show cave that has been guided since 1995. The descent takes you through five chambers, each with extraordinary calcite formations — including a slender column known as the "Snowman" and a chamber where stalactites and stalagmites have almost grown together over millennia.

Tours run hourly through the summer and last about 40 minutes. Bring a jacket — the cave stays at 14°C year-round. Combine with the Parenzana trail, which passes nearby, for a half-day out of town.

things to do sight
A story
Among the regular cave fauna, Baredine houses the olm — a blind, pale, eel-like salamander that lives only in the karst caves of the Dinaric Alps. Locals once thought olms were baby dragons, washed up out of the underworld in floods. A few are kept in a tank near the cave entrance for visitors to see.