Mythical landscape, karst caves and white horses

Kozina - Lipica / 26,7 km

The first stage of the exploratory cycling route offers enough time to discover the many secrets of the Karst and the Brkini. From Kozina, the way leads to Rodik with its mythical landscape, where the Mythical Park presents wondrous legacy and folklore. Not too far onward, visiting the Škocjan Caves and their UNESCO heritage featuring one of the world's largest underground canyons is simply a must. From the village Matavun in the Škocjan Caves Park, cycling continues along the karstic landscape to the village Lipica whose name graces the white Lipizzan horse. For over 400 years, a stud farm has been operating here, now the biggest Lipizzan stud farm in the world. The village offers accommodations to wrap up the first cycling stage.

Rodik Mythical Park

Above the village Rodik, by the road between Kozina and Divača, ascends the rising ground of Ajdovščina, populated since prehistory and throughout antiquity as attested by the fortified remnants of settlements, whose earliest traces go back to the late Iron Age. Other findings showcase settlements in early antiquity while the still-present remains belonged to a late antiquity fort.

The slopes above Rodik bristle with myth. Drawing inspiration from their folklore, the locals created the Rodik Mythical Park, a wondrous themed landscape with many carved sculptures telling the stories of folk tradition. At the entrance to the Mythical Park there's a modern experience centre taking visitors immersively into its world. Park grounds may be explored by foot or bicycle.

Škocjan Caves Regional Park

Among all the world's karst caves, all considered precious natural heritage, the Škocjan Caves are truly distinct. In this phenomenal cave system you can marvel at one of the biggest underground canyons in the world, while the entire area of the Škocjan Caves Regional Park is a wonder on the global scale, with a great number of karstic and other natural phenomena present in one place.

The Škocjan Caves and the entire Regional Park enjoy the highest protected status, enabling the preservation of this priceless natural treasure. Since 1986 the Škocjan Caves have been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Lipica Stud Farm

The stud farm and its breeding of lipizzaner horses represents a unique sight on the worldwide stage. Lipica is not only the origin of the majestic Lipizzan breed, it is also Europe's oldest stud farm continuously rearing the same breed of horses. With its 300 noble horses and more is thus the world’s largest lipizzaner stud farm.

The area of the stud farm shows a unique ambience whose spatial design has throughout centuries been shaped for the purpose of rearing Lipizzans. The cultivated karst landscape with its meadows and pastures, paddocks, oak groves and promenades is a beautiful sight to behold.