Tyrol: Nature Ice Palace Hintertux

Directions & Parking:

Today the Hintertux Glacier with his Nature Ice Palace the destination. By car, you literally drive to the end of the Zillertal, as Hintertux is the last village. The road does not continue here. The valley station of the Hintertux Glacier cable car (Hintertux 794) is located right at this point. We drive up to car park 1, as it would still be a very long way from car park 2 to the cable car. Fortunately, there is still enough space in car park 1.

Tickets for the cable car:

At the ticket office, it is confirmed that there is nothing going on at all in the off-season. Nature Ice Palace hourly guided tours, otherwise the visit is not possible. This is no longer the case at the beginning of September: there are no guided tours, instead you explore the cave on your own. But we're not there yet, first we have to get to the top.

Three cable cars at once get you to your destination. Accordingly, the Ticket price for the panorama ticket Fascination Ice (Ascent & descent Gefrorene Wand, 3,250 m) from 40,00 € . The journey to the end of the third station takes around 35 minutes.

ATTENTION: this is only the price for the gondola, not for the ice cave. You can buy the ticket for this above, or there are a number of different tours available online. But more on that later.

1st station:

There is already a small children's playground at the first station. There is hardly anything going on here on 2 September. There is also a large restaurant where you can warm up and change clothes if necessary. When we arrive it is 6°, in the valley it was still around 20°. We get out and take a short break. As luck would have it, this is exactly when the Glacier king over 150 old tractors drive to the top of the mountain, what a spectacle.

2nd station:

Finally, we continue to the second station. There is already an exuberant skiing atmosphere. Here, too, you can stop off at a huge, multi-storey restaurant right next to the gondola. Attention: now you have to be careful how you continue, as two gondolas lead away from here! The right-hand gondola takes you to the ski piste, while the left-hand gondola, which is hidden behind it, takes you to the Nature Ice Palace. This is the glacier bus. We almost missed it because of all the fog.

3.station:

The glacier bus now takes you up to the third station. Here there is a playground for children and a panoramic terrace. Unfortunately, the mountain is so cloudy that we can hardly recognise any other mountains. No sign of a panoramic terrace.
But we mainly came here for the Nature Ice Palace arrived. Directly to the left of the "Gefrorene Wand"/Gletscherbus 3 mountain station is the Container for registration and ticket purchase.

The basic tour incl. Boat trip on the glacial lake costs 26€. No pre-booking is necessary!
There are still Many additional offerswhich require pre-booking, such as canoeing, kayaking, special photo tours, diving or even ice-skating: Paddling, kayaking, special photo tours, diving or even ice swimming. The VIP tour is enough for us.

The entrance to the ice cave is just a 5-minute walk from the mountain station of the Glacier Bus 3. You have to walk down the ski piste. Although it is only 200 metres to the destination, the path is still slippery. Good footwear is therefore recommended. As previously mentioned, there are no guided tours during our visit, which we are actually pleased about as it means we don't have any stress. You can't get lost either, as there is only one path through the ice and there are always ladders up and down. For this reason, entry is only permitted from the age of 6.

Nature Ice Palace:

The world of ice is truly unique. Don't forget to look up from time to time, as you'll always see new perspectives. The whole tour takes about 1 hour if you take enough photo breaks like I did.

At the end of the tour, a boat trip awaits you if you have booked the VIP tour. This takes about another 10 minutes and is highly recommended, as you learn a lot about the ice cave (for example, that you surprisingly have mobile phone reception inside).