It is the largest ice cave in the world,[2] extending more than 42 km and visited by about 200,000 tourists every year.

Although the cave has a length of 42 km, only the first kilometer, the area that tourists are allowed to visit, is covered in ice.

In summer, a cold wind from inside the cave blows toward the entrance and prevents the formations from melting.

The first official discovery of Eisriesenwelt was by Anton Posselt, a natural scientist from Salzburg, in 1879, though he only explored the first two hundred meters of the cave.

Alexander von Mörk [de], a speleologist from Salzburg, was one of the few people who remembered Posselt's discovery.

Von Mörk was killed in World War I in 1914, and an urn containing his ashes is inside a niche in the cave.

The final stop on the tour is the Ice Palace, a kilometre into the cave and 400 metres underground.