Tourist information

Sloup in the Moravian Karst is a village with some 900 residents, the northern entrance into the protected landscape area of the Moravian Karst and an important place of pilgrimage. The first written records of the existence of the village are from 1373. The village of Sloup is a crossroads of footpaths in the marvellous scenery of the Moravian Karst. Besides local Sloup-Šošůvka´s Cave with the famous Eliška's Cave and stalagmite called Candlestick, you can visit other caves including the Macocha Chasm, which all are within easy reach. The dominant of the village is the beautiful Baroque Church of St. Mary, which is visited by pilgrims from far away. You should also see the cemetery of the count's family of the Salms, who were the owners of the Rajec manor.

Moravian Karst is one of the most important karst area of Central Europe. In the area of Moravian Karst, there are more than 1100 caverns and gorges. But only 4 caves of the all number are open to public. There are Punkvevní jeskyně (Punkva Caves) with their underground river – during the cruise you can see there the bottom of the famous Macocha Abyss. Another cave is Kateřinská jeskyně (Catherine’s Cave) with its unique limestone columns. The Balcarka Cave is full of colorful stalactitic decoration. Sloupsko-šošůvské jeskyně (Sloup-Šošůvka Caves) are made by huge corridors and underground gorges.

Famous Macocha Abyss is more than 138 m deep and it is the biggest gorge of its kind in the Czech Republic and even in the Central Europe. The upper part of this nature unique is about 174 m long and 76 m wide. Macocha Abyss (named in 17th century) was created by fall of ceiling of huge cave hole. That’s why its bottom is covered by debris. The River Punkva is rising here and fills up two small lakes called Horní (Upper) and Dolní (Lower). There are two platforms for tourists at the edges. The first one is Upper Bridge constructed in 1882. The second one is little bit lower called Lower Bridge. This lower bridge comes from 1899 and it is about 92 m above the bottom of Macocha that you can see from there.