Stalactite caves — magical worlds beneath the surface

The Devil's Cave looks a bit like a treasury with its lavish stalactite jewelery. As with the discovery of a treasure Hans Brand must have felt when he broke through the nine-meter-thick end wall of the outer cave in 1922 and entered the cave behind it as the first human. Today you can discover about 800 meters of the illuminated tunnels during a guided tour.

Entry:
Adults 5 euros
Children 3 euros

Opening hours:
March to November 9am to 5pm
in the winter on Sundays 9 to 15 o'clock
Details on tours and Christmas hours on the website

pottenstein.de

"Fantasiehalle", "Seeparadies" and "Zauberreich" are the underground halls here, with their unimaginable stalactite wealth, as if from an oversized screenplay. Austria's most trophic-rich show cave can be explored on a path of approx. 1km on serpentines, massive iron stairs and 400 steps with a difference in height of 135m.

An imposing cave portal leads to the inward-descending entrance hall with mighty mossy and overgrown by algae sinter columns. In the 120m long and up to 85m wide "Fantasy Hall" is a veritable jungle of about 4,000 drip stone structures. From here you can reach the "Magic Kingdom" and the "Seeparadies". At the lowest point alabaster white stalagmites and sintering islands emerge from the turquoise-green shimmering water surface, framed by splendid bank walls.

opening hours
from April to November by prior appointment (+43 664 48 53 420)

entry
20 € p.P., for groups of 9 people or more
Lead time approx. 2 hours

katerloch.at

It's as unreal and magical as in a fairy tale down here. In the “fairytale dome”, the most beautiful of the cavities, one should be able to recognize the fairy with imagination who gave the cave its name. The Saalfeld fairy grottoes are in the Guinness Book of Records as the "most colorful exhibition grottoes in the world". Here you can spend a whole day in the visitor mine, the adventure exhibition Grottoneum and the adventure forest Feenweltchen without it getting boring.

You can find all information at feengrotten.de.

You feel a bit like being on another planet here, or like in Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth". Anyone who visits the grottos will find crystals, colorful water and a tunnel labyrinth with many showcases and minerals. More information: grottesdevallorbe.ch/de/die-grotten

What looks like a magical grotto is actually an extensive cave system, of which around 14 kilometers have been explored today. On a kilometer of illuminated path, you can comfortably visit the cave and be amazed. The tour leads through huge stalactite formations, wide halls and gorges.

According to legend, a fire-breathing dragon lived here in the Middle Ages. Saint Beatus met him with the cross and called on the Holy Trinity, whereupon the dragon rushed with a roar into Lake Thun and drowned. As a result, St. Beatus is said to have lived here in the cave until his death. At the entrance to the cave, the grave of St. Beatus and a replica of his cell can be viewed today. Part of the Camino de Santiago runs below the caves.

All information is available at beatushoehlen.swiss/de.

Unique, huge and always magical - this is the largest ice cave on earth! The giant ice world stretches over the first kilometer of a more than 40 kilometer-long cave labyrinth, which was created about 100 million years ago. A chimney effect in the cave causes an exchange of cold and warm air, with the result that the ice grows in spring and melts again in summer. Overall, the ice grows a little every year.

The giant ice world is in an exposed position in the high mountains - visitors should feel fit enough for the ascent to the lower cable car station, from the mountain station to the cave entrance and for the 1400 steps of the approximately 70-minute guided tour.

opening hours
1st of May. to 26.Oct. daily from 8am to 3pm, in July and August until 4pm

entry
Adults 24 €
Children 14 €

eisriesenwelt.at

A fantastic complex of passageways, galleries and halls, a stunning variety of karst phenomena and easy access make the Postojna Caves so popular. The first documented visit to the cave system was already in 1213. In the 16th century, there was the first highlight of the visitor. How beautiful is the notion that these stalactites have been spellbound hundreds of years ago - and still do, despite all the modern distractions that are out there.

opening hours
Guided tours all year around 10, 12, and 15 o'clock
In the summer months every hour between 9 and 17 o'clock

entry
Adults: € 23.90
Pupils, students (16-25 years): 19,10 €
Children 6 to 15 years: 14,30 €
Children up to 5 years: 1 €

postojnska-jama.eu/de

Wonderful nice woman for the guide

An undreamt-of magical world opens up here underground. Thanks to the beautiful lighting, you can't stop being amazed, while the background is constantly dripping. It is not without reason that the Attendorner stalactite cave is the most frequently visited cave in Germany. After the access tunnel, which is only 80 meters long, you are right in the middle of the colorful world of stalactites, stalagmites and stalagmates, in the middle of the largest connected cave system in Germany.

Opening hours:
Almost all year round, from 11 a.m. to 3.30 p.m., detailed information on the website

Entry:
Adults 8.50 euros
Children 5 euros

atta-hoehle.de