Dachstein Giant Ice Cave - Hallstatt Article 3 of 3

We now come to the final piece of our special three part series of Hallstatt, the Dachstein Giant Ice Cave.  It is located approximately 10 miles through a windy road up the mountains to the Southeast of Hallstatt Village.  Distance wise if you could fly through the air is only about 7 miles but that is not possible here.  

The Dachestien Giant Ice Cave is the largest Ice Cave open to the public in the Alps.  

We have always to see an ice cave in its complete glory and in a safe and educaitonal way.  We found it in Hallstatt! 

In here you will see a literal gigantic ice cave. Just look at the picture above. There are humans in the photo, they are tiny ant like objects in the stairwell on the right side of the image! Look at the size of the ice cascade in the center right of the picture to give you a sense of the scale!

You get her by car or bus.  There is a hotel here you can stay at as well if you chose. Or you can make it a day trip from Hallstatt. We prefer doing the daytrip as Hallstatt village has a lot more amenities and views. Do not worry, there are restrooms here along with food and drink available for purchase at the store.

It is a guided tour that will take you through the Ice Cave.  There is a cable car that takes you and up and down.  There are two caves. If you have time, purchase the Cave "Combi-Ticket" that has the Giant Ice Cave and the Mammut Cave.  If not, just get the Ice Cave ticket.  Both packages include the cable car ride which is the only way to get to the entrance to do the tours.  If you have the time, we do recommend doing the combination cave tours because it only costs about 7 euros more.  Mammut Cave is one of the largest karst caves in the world. A karst cave is a cave that has dissolved bedrock that creates a slipstream environment.  The Giant Ice Cave takes about 50 minutes, 25 minutes each way in and out. Mammut Cave Tour takes about 50 minutes, same as the Giant Ice Cave.  

Once you are done, go to the 5 Fingers Viewing Platform which has 5 small platforms that juts out from a central platform viewing area of the southern end of Hallstatt Lake!  

If you choose to only do the Giant Ice Cave it takes about 70 minutes including the tram ride.  We would budget 2 hours as you will want to soak in the gorgeous views from Five Fingers Viewing Platform and enjoy the wonders of the Ice Cave.  If you add the Mammut Cave, it takes 120 minutes including the lift.  So we would budget about 3 hours.  Travel time if you come from Hallstatt we would budget about 5 hours which is about half a day.  Start out early before 11 am and you will be back in time for a sunset and dinner.  

We hope you make it to the Giant Ice Cave and Mammut Cave, along with the Five Fingers Viewing Platform of Dachstein in the Hallstatt Region.  Until next time, we hope you find your Secluded Glen!