Event: Austria - Salzburg

Werfen Ice Caves

When:	1 May - 26 Oct 2008 (annual)
Where:	Werfen Ice Caves
Costs:	€19 for cable car and cave tour; concessions €17; children €9.50; under 4s free
Opening Hours:	Daily 9am-3.30pm (until 4.30pm in Jul & Aug) Tours last 75 mins. Allow 4 hours for whole visit.

The astonishing Werfen Ice Caves are the largest in the world. The cave network disappears 42 kilometres into the mountainside, but only the first kilometre, walls encrusted with ice, is open to the public.

Guided tours show visitors the ice palace, reached by cable car from the valley floor below. The whole tour involves climbing 134 metres - equivalent to climbing the stairs in a high block of flats.

In summer, the average temperature inside the cave is 0°C, so do wear a warm coat even if the weather outside is boiling! The ice-covered floor starts straight after the entrance, and the walls of the cave have ice cascades of all sizes.

After the Entrance Hall, visitors pass into the enormous Posselt Hall, measuring 30 metres wide and high. Later on, the impressive Mörk Glacier is an eight-metre-high wall of ice, polished smooth over the years by the wind, made up of blue and white layers interspersed with deposits of brown cave dust.

An ice-free side passage leads the visitor down a few steps into the last large room, the Ice Palace. At this point, almost a kilometre inside the mountain and 400 metres under the surface, the tour is complete. But don't worry - the guides will bring you back out again!