Werfen Ice Cave and Bavarian Salt Mines

Eisriesenwelt (World of Ice Giants)

Maybe we should have called this blog Caves, Tastes, Triumphs and Tribulations! There is a distinct theme, at least on my trip, of trying to get a look at the inner workings of our destinations. Certainly one of the reasons Salzburg turned out to be my favourite of the places we visited was because of the wonderful excursions I took.

On my first full day I ventured off to Werfen, about 40km south of Salzberg to visit Eisriesenwelt, the largest ice cave in the world and something I'd been looking forward to for months. It was quite the journey to get there - a taxi to the train station, a 40 minute train ride to Werfen, a bus up the mountain to the ticket office, a 20 minute walk up the mountain to the cable car, a cable car ride further up the mountain, another half an hour hike up to the cave entrance, and then 1400 steps inside the cave. And absolutely worth every step of the journey. Werfen is a gorgeous little town which I wanted to live in immediately on arrival, although I suspect I would reconsider in winter.

Werfen Castle

Borrowed pic of the last leg up the mountain to the ice cave because in my pics there was too much fog and you couldn't see it. It doesn't look as steep as it is. Its a pretty good workout.

Werfen from the trail up the mountan to the ice cave. Can't see all that much for the fog.

When you make it to the cave entrance, there's a door for temperature regulation. When they open it to go in you're met by an ice cold wind which requires a bit of a fight to get through. The guide explains that this is the reaction of cold and warm air meeting, and that in the height of summer that wind can get up to 100km p/h! During winter its colder outside the cave than inside so they leave the door open to allow the cold air in.

from the entrance to the cave looking back down the trail

The cave system is 42km but only the first 1km has ice in it, because the rest is higher up and all the warm air rising inhibits ice forming. So 1km is how far in we go. We're given little open flame gas lanterns to light our way and need to take care not to set each other on fire. We're not allowed to take photos in the cave and while the pics from postcards below are very well lit it is actually quite dark throughout the exploration of the cave. Nonetheless, there are some parts in particular where it is stunning and super imposing. There are massive formations - stalagmites, stalactites and other masses which are amazing and even have names. There are a couple of areas where you are walking through a tunnel completely covered in ice and a lot of it is like walking across a glacier (on steps though, not on the actual ice). At some of the formations we stop for some information and the guide provides some extra light to bring out the beauty of the ice structures.

pics from postcards because I wasn't allowed to take photos

Apart from enjoying a feast for the eyes, the guide fills us in with interesting facts and talks a bit about the history of exploring the cave; how the ice changes from year to year due to influxes of water and how they freeze; and shows us layers of ice like the rings on a tree which potentially can provide information about the age of the ice except that because the cave is closed for 6 months of the year they don't know how many times each year new water flows in so can't match a timeframe. 

Tours started in 1920 but there was no cable car and no stairs inside the cave so it was a 2 day tour - 1 day for hiking up the mountain and 1 day for climbing up the limestone and ice in the cave. There's also a dead guy in there - the first fellow who climbed the ice barrier at the top died at 27 in WWI and wanted his ashes entombed in the cave, so he has a shrine for his urn in one of the chambers.

Because the day was a bit miserable I didn't tour the Werfen castle as well, but went back to Salzburg to meet Linda for a late lunch at the Imlauer Sky Bar to take in some of the beautiful view in Salzburg as well. Lunch was delicious but I'll leave that photo for Linda's food post.

view of the Fortress and other significant buildings from the Imlauer Sky Bar

Berchtesgaden Salt Mine

The next day I headed off with Panorama Tours over the Bavarian Alps to tour the Berchtesgaden Salt Mine. Apparently there used to be quite a few operational salt mines in the region but now there are only 2 (one of which is this one). The others have all closed and reverted to tourist ventures only because this is more cost effective with salt mining being quite costly.

The area that we tour is no longer operational, that happens on a different level. While it did not invoke the same kind of awe as yesterday's Eisriesenwelt tour, this one was a bit of fun. After a very scenic drive through the Bavarian Alps we arrived to don a miner's suit, required for protection during some of the tour (in particular the slides). We all snuggled up on a little train which took us into the mine and to our first slide, the miner's way of getting down to the next level. Again, no photos allowed so I've pinched a photo from the website to give you a sense.

slide mode of moving between levels in the salt mine

The tour involved a couple of these, a bit of walking, a short boat ride (inside the mine, over a salt lake) and another train ride. The tour guide wasn't gifted with a massive amount of charisma, but he provided an education translated via audio guides, and learning about salt mining was interesting. Before tourism salt mining was a lynchpin of Salzburg's economy. They use wet mining techniques which flush water into the mine to disolve the salt, create brine and that's how they extract the salt. The mountain has about a 50% salt content and the mine yields about 900,000 cubic metres of brine a year.

It was a bit like going to a theme park, especially because at various points there were light shows to entertain us which felt a bit tacky in places, but I got what they were trying to do. The only really disappointing thing was the approach to the boat ride across the salt lake. When we got there it was eerily beautiful, with the water clear and shimmering over the rock beneath, and that would have been an awesome atmosphere for the ride through the cavern, able to look down into the water. But they dimmed the lights and put on a pretty dodgy light show over the wall of the chamber on the way through, which I found totally uninspiring and a bit irritating.

A pretty impressive thing was the Reichenbach Pump, built in 1817 by  Georg von Reichenbach to overcome 29km distance, and significant differences in altitude, to pump the brine from the salt mine to the salt works at Bad Reichenhall, including 356 metres uphill at Ilsank. It remained in constant operation until February 1927 – considered a master feat still to this day.

I enjoyed the tour and would happily recommend it if you want a mix of salt mining education, a scenic drive and a bit of fun. The day was topped off with a lovely dinner and wonderful classical concert at the Fortress (see Linda's post).