Eisriesenwelt
Elevation: (800)m / Lenght: (7)km / Time: (3)h
Visit rate: 5/5 / Rating: 4/5
Are you in Austria and the forecast shows cloudy weather with heavy rain? Then there are two options, either a gorge or a cave. So, how about the world's largest ice cave?
And when something is the biggest or the best in the world, it is usually a very touristy place and this ice cave is definitely that all year round. So the first piece of advice is to be here early, parking spaces are scarce. The parking attendant on arrival will either let you drive up to the upper parking lot or you'll have to get off lower down and take the regular bus line up, which is free. The other advice is to buy your tickets online in advance, they can be sold out in the morning, oh and they're not exactly the cheapest in peak season either. Aside from waiting for a bus or tickets, you'll also have to queue for the cable car that will take you up a few hundred metres, but you can do it on foot.
Online ticket here:
You finally get to the cave, then wait in another queue for an English or German guide, who takes something between 30 and 50 people at a time and hurrah inside. Another piece of advice: dress warmly even in nice summer weather, it's freezing inside, that's why the ice is there, right.
You can't take pictures or video inside, I was told this the first time I was there, the second time another guide said you can only take pictures in the sections where the interpretation is going on, not on the fly, so as not to delay. Take from that what you see fit, but almost everyone there was taking pictures of something.
The QR code will link you to my route in app Mapy.cz (better than Google maps).
