Schellenberg Ice Cave

The Schellenberg Ice Cave is a cave in Upper Bavaria, Germany, near the Austrian border, located in the Berchtesgaden Alps. At 1570 meters above sea level, the cave is part of the Untersberg massif and is Germany's only open ice cave. It has an estimated ice volume of 60,000 cubic meters and has been operated as a show cave since 1925. The ice cave's explored length is 3,621 meters, of which 500 meters is a guided tour at temperatures near zero degrees Celsius. Closed from October to May,[1] the ice cave can only be reached after a several-hour walk from the valley below or a slightly shorter walk from the Untersbergbahn mountain station. It is one of only two show caves in Germany that do not have electricity and rely solely on carbide lamps carried by visitors. It is named after the nearby town of Marktschellenberg in the Berchtesgadener Land district. It was first mentioned in writing in 1826, and it was fully explored by 1874.

The Schellenberg Ice Cave is one of the Most Beautiful Caves in Germany. The fascinating cave is open to the public, but access is limited to those who are willing to hike for several hours up to an altitude of 1,000 meters (3,281 feet). The entrance is snowed in during the winter, but as the temperatures rise in the spring, the meltwater runs off and congeals into bizarre ice formations. Between May and October, the cave can only be explored as part of a guided tour.

Location: Marktschellenberg, Germany