Dachstein Giant Ice Cave — Local services in Obertraun

The tour guide (I don't remember exactly who she was, Teresa, maybe), was the guide for group 3 on 03/09/2024. We all thought (the whole group commented among themselves) that she was very fast and uninterested in being there. We didn't even have 5 minutes to take pictures. It was really a rush inside the cave with no space to appreciate it. The moment I managed to take a picture was when she was speaking in German, but other than that, there wasn't enough time for anything. Another thing that bothered us was that nowhere at the time of purchasing the ticket or at the beginning of the tour did it say that we needed warm clothes, and they don't rent warm clothes either. We thought it would be like Salzwelten, where they provide clothes for everyone (coat and pants) and it's a maximum of 8 degrees there. So I didn't think it was an interesting tour, since we couldn't appreciate it or take appropriate photos and because the tour guide was reluctant to explain the tour. We didn't need to stop all the time to take photos, but at least taking a break at the most important points of the tour would have been interesting. And they could make it very clear everywhere, especially before climbing the slope to the cave entrance, that you need warm clothes to access the tour. We climbed up to the cave entrance, there we discovered that they didn't lend out clothes and that it would be below zero inside (we heard this from other visitors), so we went down the slope, then went down the cable car to the car to get a coat and then climbed all the way back up again, this ruined our tour for at least an hour and a half, not to mention the tiredness, not to mention the delays in starting the tour. Everything was very disorganized. Too expensive for an...

In short: An incredible creation of nature mangled by tasteless disrespectful humans. A unique place of incredible beauty, but there is no chance to really enjoy and appreciate it. It is evident that people who manage it don't see it as a wonder of nature, but only as a money-printing machine, stuffing it with every cheesy, tasteless trick in the book and the animated bear is the smallest issue. You barely get to see the cave in a normal light - both of the bigger halls are not lit in a normal light, but in pink-green-purple disco lights with music from bad loudspeakers. And then there is the "highlight" in addition to the path already in place they have built a bridge that cuts through the hall, taking away from it's enormity and beauty. But don't worry, you won't be able to enjoy that either, unless your definition of enjoying the nature is comprised of bad acoustics and ice in all the colours of rainbow.

This wonder of nature doesn't need the cheesy tasteless additions of cheap entertainment. It would be great if they would offer tours without this stuff with the normal lights, where you can see the layers in the ice and the actual scale of things without the ugly distortions.

We were also quite unlucky with the tour - the group was well...

An amazing landscape and worth a visit. Take the cable car up to the middlestation. From there, it is a steep ascent of 15mins before you reach the cave entrance. We joined the guided tour, and the staff could speak in both German and English. Be warned that the duration of the tour is 50mins and even in the summer, temperatures inside the cave range from -3°C to 3°C. It was freezing and winterwear is highly recommended.

The tour requires lots of walking, and ascending and descending steep, slippery stairs. And there's a (optional) suspension bridge to cross at the end. Plus with how dark the interior is, might be pretty dangerous for the old or those with mobility challenges.

Minus 1 star because the tour group size was too big, which means those at the back had a hard time keeping up and hearing the guide. Plus the lights are switched on and off for only a short duration at each station, so photo time is very limited if you are at the back.

Overall would recommend getting the ticket for the 2 caves. We decided not to get the All-in-one ticket as the view at 5 fingers is likely obstructed by the dense clouds/fog. The weather was bad even in the summer and you can see a preview of the view at the highest station via a live webcam on...