Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(€1.70, 5-6/day, leaves from Lahn boat dock, drops you directly at cable-car station). Ro-
mantics can take the boat from Hallstatt's main boat dock to Obertraun (€5.50, 5/day July-
Aug, 3/day in June and Sept, 30 minutes,
www.hallstattschifffahrt.at
)—but it's a 40-minute
hike from there to the lift station. The impatient can consider hitching a ride—virtually all
cars leaving Hallstatt to the south will pass through Obertraun in a few minutes.
Returning to Hallstatt:
Plan to leave by mid-afternoon. The last bus from the cable-car
station back to Hallstatt (at 17:05 in summer) inconveniently leaves before the last cable car
down—if you miss the bus, try getting a ride from a fellow cable-car passenger. Otherwise,
you can either call a taxi (€13, ask cable-car staff for help) or walk back along the lakefront
(about one hour).
From Obertraun, this mighty gondola goes in three stages high up the Dachstein Plat-
eau—crownedbyDachstein,thehighestmountainintheSalzkammergut(9,800ft).Thefirst
segment stops at
Schönbergalm
(4,500 ft, runs May-late Oct), which has a mountain res-
taurant and two huge caves (described next). The second segment goes to the summit of
Krippenstein
(6,600 ft, runs mid-May-late Oct). The third segment descends to
Gjaidalm
(5,800 ft, runs mid-June-late Oct), where several hikes begin.
For a quick high-country experience, Krippenstein is better than Gjaidalm. Its “five-fin-
gers”viewpointfeaturesmetalwalkwaysthatextendoutfromthemountain(notforthefaint
of heart). From Krippenstein, you get 360-degree views of the surrounding mountains and
a good look at the scrubby, limestone, karstic landscape (which absorbs, through its many
cracks, the rainfall that ultimately carves all those caves).
CostandHours:
€26,lastcablecarbackdownusuallyatabout17:00,tel.06131/50140,
Cable Car and Caves Combo-Tickets:
Several combo-tickets are available for the
cable car and caves. The round-trip cable-car ride to Schönbergalm, including entrance to
oneofthecaves,is€27.The€33combo-ticketincludesthecablecarandentrytobothcaves.
If you're gung-ho enough to want to visit both caves and ride the cable car farther up the
mountain, the €39 same-day, all-inclusive ticket makes sense (covers the cable car all the
way to Gjaidalm and back, as well as entry to both caves). Cheaper family rates are avail-
able.
Located near the Schönbergalm cable-car stop (4,500 ft), these caves were discovered in
1910. Today, guides lead tours in German and English on an hour-long, half-mile hike
through an eerie, icy, subterranean world, passing limestone canyons the size of subway sta-
tions.
