Werfen: An Ice Cave, an Eagle's Nest Castle, and a Long Way Up

Notes from a long day, written up quickly — a working draft we'll tighten later.

Of the four places we wrote up from this Austrian trip, Werfen is the one we knew the least about going in and the one we'll remember the longest. A small town forty minutes south of Salzburg by regional train, it sits in a steep valley between two enormous geographical curiosities: a fairytale castle on a crag on one side, and inside the mountain on the other, the largest ice cave system in the world. You can do both in a single very full day. We did, and we recommend it, with caveats.

The big caveat is the climb. Nobody quite prepares you for how much vertical you do at Eisriesenwelt. We did it in early September in walking trainers and were fine; we saw people in flip-flops who were not.

Getting to Eisriesenwelt: The 1,000-Metre Problem

Eisriesenwelt ("World of the Ice Giants") sits at 1,641m up the side of the Hochkogel mountain. Getting from Werfen station to the cave entrance is genuinely a small expedition: a shuttle bus from the village up to the lower car park, a steep fifteen-to-twenty-minute walk to the cable car station, a short and dramatic cable car ascent up the cliff, and then another fifteen-minute path along an exposed mountain ledge to the cave mouth. Then, when you get there, the cave tour itself is roughly 600 wooden steps up through the ice.

None of this is technical. All of it is steady, sustained uphill. We watched the cable car queue and made the right decision (queue early). The whole round-trip from leaving the village to getting back to the train station took us about six hours, of which maybe ninety minutes was the actual cave tour.

Inside the Ice: The Tour Itself

The cave system runs for 42 kilometres underground; tours cover roughly the first kilometre, which is the ice section. The deeper parts are bare limestone and closed to the public. You're handed a carbide lamp at the entrance — there's no electric lighting inside, deliberately, to keep heat out — and you set off in a group with a guide who lights specific formations with magnesium ribbon as you go. The light flares, the ice catches it, and a wall or a column or a fluted curtain of ice appears for a few seconds and then vanishes again. It's theatrical and slightly surreal and you very quickly stop caring about your camera, which doesn't work in there anyway.

It is also extremely cold. The cave hovers around 0°C year-round, and a steady draft funnels through it. We had fleeces and light puffer jackets and that was the minimum; people who'd come up in shorts and t-shirts (you'd be surprised how many) suffered visibly. If we'd written this guide in advance for ourselves, the headline would have been: bring proper layers even in July.

Hohenwerfen Castle: The "Where Eagles Dare" Fortress

Back down in the valley, on the opposite side, Hohenwerfen Fortress sits on a 155m rocky bluff above the river. It's the castle from Where Eagles Dare (1968) — the film with Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood — which is why a certain generation of British visitor in particular makes a pilgrimage here. We're in that generation. We made the pilgrimage.

The castle dates from 1077, has the usual blend of defensive towers, dungeon, weapons collection, and well-preserved Gothic chambers, but the real draw — apart from the cinematic association — is the falconry demonstration held in the inner courtyard twice a day. We caught the afternoon one. Vultures, eagles, falcons flying low over the heads of the crowd against the backdrop of the Alps; you don't have to be an especially enthusiastic birder for it to land. We were not, and it did.

Logistics: Can You Do Both in a Day?

Yes, but only just. The combined ticket from Werfen tourist office covers both attractions and is cheaper than two separate ones. Our running order: early train from Salzburg, shuttle bus straight up to Eisriesenwelt to beat the queue, cave tour in the late morning, lunch back in the village, then up to Hohenwerfen for the 3:15 falconry display, then the late afternoon train back to Salzburg. It worked. It was tight. We slept on the train.

If you have the time and like castles more than caves, you could split it across two days; if it's the other way round, Eisriesenwelt absolutely deserves its own unhurried day.

What to Bring (Honestly)

This is the practical bit we wished someone had told us. For Eisriesenwelt: warm layers (fleece minimum, jacket better), proper closed shoes with grip, gloves if you're prone to cold hands, a small backpack you can climb stairs with, and water. For the castle: nothing special, but the falconry is outside so a hat or rain layer depending on the day. For both: cash, in case card readers are slow; the queues here can be long enough that you don't want to be the cause of further delay.