Amazonok-barlangja is one of Hungary's specially protected caves, tucked into the Pilis Mountains within the Duna-Ipoly National Park. This is a destination for real cave enthusiasts — you can't just wander in, but the underground world it hides is genuinely remarkable.

The cave formed in Triassic limestone through dissolution below the karst water table and is now inactive, with a branching, multi-level layout and varying gradients. Inside you'll find chimneys, shafts, spherical niches, calcite veins, fossils, dripstone formations of every kind — stalactites, stalagmites, columns, draperies, flowstone, and the cave's signature cave pearls (pisolites), both crystalline and the classic spherical type. The round 50x50 cm entrance is sealed with a metal door, and a 3-metre iron ladder leads down into the first spacious chamber. The undisputed highlight is the Panoramic Hall, a strikingly large room where visitors can stand upright, decorated with small dripstone spouts, flowstone and jagged draperies along the ceiling.

How to get there

• Pomáz, starting from the large quarry — dirt road, easily accessible, even by car, close to the entrance

Practical information

• Access only with permission from the Duna-Ipoly National Park Directorate
• Basic caving equipment required
• Maximum two groups per day, up to 8 people each
• A full visit takes about an hour
• Involves crawling through narrow, muddy passages — not for the claustrophobic

Discovered only in 1997 by the Anubisz Caving Group, the cave has yielded genuine prehistoric treasures — including a woolly rhinoceros leg bone, later sent to the Hungarian National Museum for research.