Rakov Škocjan (hotel) - Rakov Škocjan (Rakova pot)

Access to the starting point:
a) From the Ljubljana - Koper motorway, take the Unec exit and continue to Unco. At Unec, the signs for Postojna and Rakov Škocjan direct you to the right, to the road that continues a little further directly along the motorway. After a few kilometres from Unec, you will reach a crossroads where the signs for Rakov Škocjan direct you to the left onto a dirt road, which will then take you to Hotel Rakov Škocjan.
b) From the Koper - Ljubljana motorway, take the Postojna exit and then continue along the old road towards Logatec. When Postojna ends, turn right at the hamlet of Ravbarkomanda in the direction of Unec, Rakek and Rakove Škocjan. After crossing the railway line over the overpass, continue left on the main road and then cross over the underpass under the motorway to the other side of the motorway. Drive along the motorway for a while and then the signs for Rakov Škocjan will direct you to the left onto a dirt road, which will then lead you to the Hotel Rakov Škocjan.
c) First drive to Cerknica, and from there continue to Unec. At Podskrajnik, turn left towards Rakov Škocjan, Zelš and the industrial zone. At an unmarked crossroads in the industrial zone, continue straight ahead and quickly arrive in Zelše. When the settlement ends, the asphalt soon ends, and the road leads to a crossroads where the road to the Hunting Lodge LD Cerknica branches off to the right, and we continue straight on and continue driving to the Hotel Rakov Škocjan.

Path description:
From the hotel, by which the Rakovava trail is beautifully displayed on the information board, continue along the road that continues towards the Big Natural Bridge, then after a few 10 steps leave it and continue right on the cart track, which will quickly take you to the place where you will join the well-maintained trail through Rakov Škocjan (the Rakov Škocjan Trail). Follow this path to the left (right, the Cave Path), which then leads you past several points of interest. After the springs, or at high water, the Rakov trail crosses over to the other side of the carriageway, where the trail leads us past another attraction, next to which there is an information board. We quickly return to the other side of the road, where the Tkalčeva and Rakova trails lead us through the forest. When we get fully close to the road, the path leads us through a meadow, and then through the forest again, where in a few minutes of further walking we reach the Large Natural Bridge, which is located a few 10 steps to the right of the marked path.
At the signpost in front of the Great Natural Bridge, the path turns left and climbs up to a dirt road, which you follow to the right. Walk along the road for a few minutes and then the path leads to the left, where you will quickly reach the Tkalca Cave, where the river Rak is submerged. The cave can be reached via a protected path, otherwise continue on the path which returns to the road. Follow the road up to the Big Natural Bridge, which offers a beautiful view of the Rak valley. At the bridge, leave the road once more and continue slightly to the left on the path, which quickly leads to the ruins of the Church of St. Kancijan. There is a slight descent and the path returns to the road, which you follow to the left, but only as far as the nearby information boards, where the crossroads are marked.
Here, the Tkalč trail turns back, and we continue right onto a side road, which is closed to public traffic when it snows. We continue along the road, which mostly passes through the forest, but we can also follow a well-maintained path that runs slightly to the right of the road. The road is followed for some time, but after a while the road turns more to the north and then intersects a footpath at a long right-hand bend, which we will follow later. Continue along the road, then turn left at a nearby junction, where you will quickly reach a large parking lot (one of the possible starting points for the route described above). Leave the road at the top of the parking lot and follow the path towards the Little Natural Window. After a few steps, you will reach an information board and the path to the Little Natural Window will turn off to the right. After seeing this natural landmark, return to the last crossroads and then continue on the path, which gradually starts to descend through the forest and, a little lower down, crosses the road we walked on some 10 minutes ago. On the other side of the road, the path turns right, where it first passes a former sawmill, then moves away from the river for a short distance, and soon approaches it again. Then we are once again very close to the road we walked on some time ago, and we continue left at two crossroads, and then over a small bridge at another crossroads. On the other side of the footbridge we walk along the river Rak for a short distance, then at a crossroads we continue left and walk up a slight incline to the starting point at the closed hotel.

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