Caves of AustriaThe Dachstein ice cave and ten more you can walk into

The ice cave most visitors to Austria actually end up in is the Dachstein Giant Ice Cave above Obertraun, ten minutes by bus from Hallstatt: a cable car, a 15 to 20 minute walk, then a 50-minute guided tour at about −2 °C through ice chambers and across a rope bridge slung over a 30-metre drop. The same ticket covers the Mammoth Cave next door, which has no ice at all but more than 70 km of explored passages. The country's largest ice cave is a different place entirely – the Eisriesenwelt near Werfen, which has its own page here. If you want stalactites instead of ice there is the Lurgrotte outside Graz, the Obir caves in Carinthia and eight more show caves spread across five provinces, each with its own operator, its own season and its own ticket.

The eleven caves compared

Tickets and prices

Buying online at Dachstein saves €1.70 (about $1.95) per adult on the cave ticket, but it does not book you a tour time. Every visitor, online ticket or not, reports to the cave ticket counter at the Schönbergalm mid-station – it is on the left of the sliding doors – and is given a tour number and a time there. Fixed times exist only for special tours with a guide surcharge; groups of 20 or more should register in advance.

Official prices

• Dachstein Cave Ticket (cable car section 1 plus guided tour of the Giant Ice Cave AND the Mammoth Cave), adult, online / ticket desk€50.20 (about $57.53) / €51.90 (about $59.48)
• Dachstein Cave Ticket, youth (born 2007–2009), online / desk€45.20 (about $51.80) / €46.30 (about $53.06)
• Dachstein Cave Ticket, child (born 2010–2019), online / desk€27.60 (about $31.63) / €28.30 (about $32.43)
• Dachstein Cave Ticket, senior (born 1962 or earlier), online / desk€47.70 (about $54.66) / €48.80 (about $55.92)
• Dachstein Cave Ticket, family: one parent + one child / two parents + children (online)€70.90 (about $81.25) / €136.80 (about $156.77)
• Children born 2020 or later, with a parent and proof of familyfree
• Dachstein All in One Ticket (all three cable car sections as often as you like, 5fingers, both caves), adult, online / desk€66.20 (about $75.87) / €67.90 (about $77.81)
• All in One Afternoon (from 12:00, from 13:00 between 4 July and 13 September; cable car plus ONE cave of your choice), adult, online / desk€62.20 (about $71.28) / €63.80 (about $73.11)
• Dachstein Panorama Ticket (cable car only, no cave), adult, online / desk€46.70 (about $53.52) / €47.90 (about $54.89)
• Koppenbrüller Cave (down in the valley, no cable car), adult, online / desk€18.90 (about $21.66) / €19.30 (about $22.12)
• Dog on the cable car, up and down (lead and muzzle required)€11.50 (about $13.18)
• Car park at the Obertraun valley station, day rate 06:00–22:00 (first hour free)€5 (about $5.73)
• Eisriesenwelt, Werfen: combined ticket, cave plus cable car, adult, online / desk€41 (about $46.99) / €45 (about $51.57)
• Lurgrotte Semriach, adult / child / student€12 (about $13.75) / €8 (about $9.17) / €10 (about $11.46)
• Lurgrotte Peggau, one-hour tour / two-hour tour, adult€12 (about $13.75) / €17 (about $19.48)
• Obir Dripstone Caves incl. the cave bus, adult / child 4–15 / family€31 (about $35.53) / €16 (about $18.34) / €72.50 (about $83.08)
• Hermannshöhle, Kirchberg am Wechsel: standard tour / extended tour through the Kyrle labyrinth, adult€12 (about $13.75) / €15 (about $17.19)
• Lamprechtshöhle, St. Martin bei Lofer, adult / child 4–15€11 (about $12.61) / €7 (about $8.02)
• Grasslhöhle near Weiz, adult / child up to 15€10 (about $11.46) / €7 (about $8.02)
• Hundalm Ice and Dripstone Cave, adult / concession / child€9 (about $10.31) / €7 (about $8.02) / €4 (about $4.58)
• Spannagelhöhle, Hintertux: show-cave tour, adult / child up to 14 (glacier cable car extra)€26.50 (about $30.37) / €15 (about $17.19)

As of summer 2026 · source and direct booking: dachstein-salzkammergut.com/en/summer/below-ground/dachstein-giant-ice-cave

When everything is sold out

There is no such thing as a sold-out day, because tours are formed continuously as people arrive. On a busy day what changes is the time you are given, not whether you get in. The hard deadline is the last ascent: to see both caves you have to be on a cable car by 14:00, or 15:00 between 4 July and 13 September.

Tickets and day trips to the Austrian caves

Nothing here undercuts the operator, and at the Dachstein nothing can reserve you a place: tours are formed as people arrive at the cave ticket counter on the Schönbergalm, so a timed voucher is not a thing that exists. The direct price is €50.20 (about $57.53) online for both caves including the cable car, €18.90 (about $21.66) for the Koppenbrüller Cave down in the valley, €41 (about $46.99) for the Eisriesenwelt at Werfen. What a reseller genuinely sells is the journey, and in this corner of Austria that is worth something - Obertraun is two and a half hours from Salzburg by rail with a change, and a day trip from Salzburg, Vienna or Hallstatt spares you the hire car and the parking. Three things to read before you book. Check which cave the offer actually enters, because "Austrian ice cave" covers both the Dachstein and the Eisriesenwelt and they are 76 km apart. Check whether the cable car and the cave admission are included or whether you are buying a coach seat and paying again at the mountain. And check the start time against the last ascent, because a tour that reaches the valley station after 14:00 cannot fit two caves in.

Booked through GetYourGuide (affiliate link, advertising). Most offers can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours ahead. Prices as of 20 September 2026.

Opening hours and best time

Dachstein Giant Ice Cave 2026: daily from 1 May to 1 November, closed all winter. First cable car at 8:40, then every 15 minutes. Guided tours run continuously from 8:40 to 15:30, and from 4 July to 13 September from 8:40 to 16:30; on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays up to 24 October everything stays open an hour longer. The number that decides your day is the last ascent from the valley station: 14:00 if you want BOTH caves, 15:00 between 4 July and 13 September; 15:30 (16:30 in high summer) if you only want one. The Mammoth Cave runs 10 May to 2 November on the same tour times. The Koppenbrüller Cave down in the valley is open 1 May to 27 September, with tours running continuously from 9:00 to 16:00. Snow or storms can close individual attractions at short notice. Opening times of the other caves are listed with each site; the Lurgrotte and the Spannagelhöhle are the only ones on this page open in winter.

When it is quietest

Come in May or June if you want the most ice. It grows during the snowmelt from April onwards, when meltwater runs into a cave that is still cold, and part of it melts back over the summer. Come on the first cable car at 8:40 if you want the shortest wait for a tour number. The longest tour hours are between 4 July and 13 September, and from May to October the caves stay open an hour later on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays than on weekdays. One counter-intuitive point: the operator markets the caves as the bad-weather option, so a rainy day in the Salzkammergut is a busy day underground.

Who it suits

Getting there

By public transport

This is one of the few Alpine caves you can reach on public transport without effort. Trains on the Salzkammergut line stop at Obertraun-Dachsteinhöhlen station; bus 543 runs from there to the cable car valley station. From Hallstatt, the OÖVV bus 543 goes out and 544 comes back, hourly, about 10 minutes each way from the Hallstatt Lahn bus terminal to the stop directly in front of the valley station. Bus fares are not included in any cable car ticket. The Koppenbrüller Cave has a halt of its own, Obertraun Koppenbrüllerhöhle.

By car

Paid car park at the valley station with number-plate recognition: first hour free, €5 (about $5.73) for the day between 06:00 and 22:00, €15 (about $17.19) overnight, €80 (about $91.68) for coaches. Pay at the machine, by app, or online up to 48 hours afterwards. For the Koppenbrüller Cave, park at the Gasthaus Koppenrast at the end of Obertraun village and walk about 15 minutes along the Traun.

From the nearest city

Salzburg is the natural gateway: the operator gives about 1 hour 25 minutes by road via the Fuschlsee, the Wolfgangsee and Bad Ischl (B158/B145), and Salzburg airport is the nearest with international flights. From Vienna, take the A1 west to Regau, then about 1 hour 10 minutes through Gmunden and Bad Ischl; from the south, the A10 to Eben, then roughly an hour via Russbach and Hallstatt. Without a car: there is no direct train from Salzburg, but with one change at Attnang-Puchheim the fastest services reach Obertraun-Dachsteinhöhlen in about 2¼ hours, with the average nearer three. Most visitors stay in Hallstatt and do the caves as a half-day trip on the bus.

Tips for your visit

1. If you want both Dachstein caves, the day starts early. The last ascent that still allows two tours is 14:00, or 15:00 between 4 July and 13 September. Arrive after that and you are down to one cave, whatever your ticket says.
2. Buying online saves €1.70 (about $1.95) per adult but does not reserve anything. Off the cable car, go straight to the cave ticket counter at the Schönbergalm for your tour number, then have the coffee.
3. Use the wait rather than resent it: the Schönbergalm has an exhibition on the Dachstein and climate change, a children's adventure cave and a geology trail.
4. The afternoon alternative: the All in One Afternoon ticket, valid from 12:00 (13:00 in high summer), includes every cable car section and the 5fingers viewing platform but only one of the two caves. It is the sensible buy if you arrived at lunchtime.
5. Without a car from Hallstatt: bus 543 runs hourly and takes 10 minutes to the valley station. It saves the hopeless parking situation in Hallstatt and the €5 day rate in Obertraun.
6. Do not confuse the two Dachsteins. The Dachstein Ice Palace with its suspension bridge and Stairway to Nothingness is on the glacier above Ramsau in Styria, on the far side of the massif – a different cable car, a different ticket, a different valley, roughly two hours away by road. The Giant Ice Cave has its own rope bridge, inside, over the ice abyss.
7. Warm clothes are not optional in August. −2 °C with a light breeze for 50 minutes, after an hour in a hot valley, is genuinely cold; bring a jacket and a hat, and wear shoes with grip.
8. For the Lurgrotte, set the postcode in your navigation, not the street: 8102 Semriach for the Great Dome and the step-light start, or 8120 Peggau for the 2 km route. Both entrances are at Lurgrottenstraße 1.
9. The Obir caves must be booked, and the ticket collected at the office on the main square at least 15 minutes before the bus leaves, or the reservation is void.
10. Mammoth Cave at the edge of the season: the operator names both 9 and 10 May as the first day of 2026 and both 1 and 2 November as the last. Ring ahead if your date falls on one of them – the cave ticket covers both caves anyway, and there is no cheaper ice-cave-only fare.

What the internet gets wrong

History in brief

• Legend gives the discovery of the Giant Ice Cave to a local man, Peter Gamsjäger, who is said to have found it in 1897 while looking for cattle; people in Obertraun had almost certainly known about the entrance for longer.
• On 17 July 1910 Hanna and Hermann Bock from Brno and Georg Lahner from Linz crossed the Great Ice Abyss. That date counts as the official discovery.
• Exploration of the Mammoth Cave began from the west in the same year, 1910, and in 1914 it was connected to the eastern entrances. After the First World War the army built a path into it. The Koppenbrüller Cave down in the valley has had paths and regular tours since 1910 as well.
• Guided tours of the Giant Ice Cave started in 1912; electric light arrived in 1928.
• The Krippenstein cable car opened the cave to ordinary visitors in 1951, and a new entrance was cut in 1952.
• In 1973 the Giant Ice Cave was declared a natural monument. It lies in the core zone of the Hallstatt–Dachstein/Salzkammergut UNESCO World Heritage site.
• Ground-penetrating radar in 2007 found at most 15 m of ice in the Tristan Dome and 2 to 6 m in the Parsival Dome. Since 2002 the cave ice has been retreating by an average of 6 cm a year; pollen analysis dates it to roughly 500 years old.
• The Lurgrotte became famous in 1894, when seven researchers were trapped by floodwater for nine days and rescued. Visitors could walk through from Semriach to Peggau from 1963 until a flood destroyed the paths in 1975.

Frequent questions

Sources