Nature Ice Palace Hintertux: A fascinating ice experience in the glacier
Directions & Parking
Today is the Hintertux Glacier with his Natural Ice Palace the destination. By car, we literally drive to the end of the Zillertal, as Hintertux is the last town. The road does not continue here. The valley station of the Hintertux Glacier Cable Car (Hintertux 794) is located exactly at this point. We drive to car park 1, as it would be a long way from car park 2 to the cable car. Luckily, there is still enough space in car park 1.
tickets for the cable car
At the cash register it is confirmed that there is nothing going on in the postseason: Usually there is Natural Ice Palace hourly guided tours, otherwise the visit is not possible. At the beginning of September this is no longer the case: there are no guided tours, instead you explore the cave on your own. But we are not there yet, first we have to get to the top.
Three cable cars will bring you to your destination. Accordingly, the Ticket price for the Panorama Ticket Fascination Ice (Uphill and downhill ride to the Frozen Wall, 3,250 m). The ride to the end of the third station takes about 35 minutes.
ATTENTION: this is only the price for the gondola, not for the ice cave. You can buy the ticket for this upstairs, or there are a lot of different tours available online. But more on that later.
1st Station:
There is a small children's playground at the first station. On September 2nd there is hardly anything going on here. There is also a large restaurant where you can warm up and change if necessary. When we arrive it is 6°, in the valley it was still about 20°. We get out and take a short break. As luck would have it, 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 a lively skiing atmosphere. Here, too, you can stop off in a huge, multi-storey restaurant right next to the gondola. Attention: now you have to be careful where you go, as two gondolas lead away from here! The right gondola takes you to the ski slope, the left one, which is hidden behind it, takes you to the Natural Ice Palace. It is the glacier bus. We almost missed it because of the fog.
3rd station:
The glacier bus takes us up to the third station. There is a playground for children and a panoramic terrace. Unfortunately, the mountain is so covered in clouds that we can hardly see any other mountains. So there is no sign of a panoramic terrace.
But we are mainly here because of the Natural Ice Palace Directly to the left of the “Gefrorene Wand” mountain station/Gletscherbus 3 is the Container for registration and ticket purchase.
The basic tour incl. boat trip on the glacier lake costs 26€. No advance registration is necessary!
There are still many additional offers, which require advance booking, such as 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 top station of the Glacier Bus 3. You have to walk down the ski slope. It's only 200 m to the destination, but the path is still slippery. Good shoes are recommended. As mentioned before, there are no guided tours during our visit, which we're actually happy about, as it means we don't have to stress. You can't get lost either, as there is only one path through the ice - here too, there are ladders going up and down. For this reason, entry is only permitted for people aged 6 and over.
Natural Ice Palace
The ice world is truly unique. Don't forget to look up every now and then, as you'll always get new perspectives. It takes about an hour to do the whole circuit if you take enough photo breaks like I did.
At the end of the tour, there is a boat trip waiting for you if you have booked the VIP tour. This takes about another 10 minutes and is highly recommended, as you can learn a lot about the ice cave (for example, that you can surprisingly get cell phone reception inside).
After about 70 minutes everything is over, but we leave the Natural Ice Palace and make our way back down into the valley.
If you still have time, I recommend taking a walk along the stream in the village, as you can get really beautiful impressions of Hintertux from here.